A Tale of Two Heroes
by Genatools
Summary: Follow Hector on a different adventure, being torn from his reality and placed in another oh so familiar one. Is faced with trials he has never even started preparing for. The leader of his own team and friend to all, he plans to save the future however he can. But when he thinks he is getting the hang of it, another from his world is drawn to Remnant.
1. RWBY: Team HAMR chapter 1 REMASTERED

**AN- Welcome! To my brand new story of Team HAMR! Featuring Hector from Oh Gosh resulting from at 10-1 vote on whether or not I should bring him back to a different story. I suck summaries so please help me find a new one.**

 **To all who read my first story I would like to let you know that Hector is not going to be the same as he was in OG, this version of Hector will only share his personality, appearance and MAYBE his semblance, I haven't decided on that yet. To those who do not know who Hector is, you don't have to read Oh Gosh but if you want to get a gist of his personality and the way his character works, go ahead and give it a read! I have over 100,000 words invested in that story and about a month and a half of my time in it. The first few chapters I'll admit will probably be cringey but I've been told that I improved greatly as the chapters progress by my sister. That and this story are not going to end anytime soon.**

 **Now that I think about It I'm basically writing a fanfiction of my own fanfiction that is a fanfiction of RWBY. Say that five times fast. I was going to create a brand new OC but when I put it up to a vote literally everyone but one person said to bring back Hector, so here he is.**

 **This story will primarily be read in the first person perspective of the OC. It's just how I like to write.**

 **Lets get started! I suck with beginnings but bear with me as the story continues.**

* * *

 **EDIT/FEBRUARY 2nd 2019: This story is under a well needed rewrite, I started this story a long time ago, and I was nowhere near the level of skill where I am now. I can't fix every single mistake and mess, but I can improve the quality of the writing and fix some things here and there. but one thing is for sure, this story NEEDED a rewrite, this is my most unsuccessful story. You can keep going on by all means, after about the tenth chapter or so I'd say things start to get better. **

**Also, for those that read Unlikely Hero, this is not going to be the same exact Hector from that story, in this one he is younger, weaker, and a little more childish. So keep that in mind and try not to make too many comparisons.**

* * *

RWBY: Team HAMR [REMASTERED]

Chapter 1- Prologue

The initiation to become an official student of Beacon Academy is unorthodox at best. Flinging sixteen to seventeen year old students fresh out of training schools into a forest full of evil monsters that live to kill every living thing they see just for their own satisfaction, and only telling them to prepare their landing strategy and to destroy everything in their path. So yeah it's quite unorthodox to say the least. But in this alternate reality something… special happens. A rift opens up suddenly, pulling a young man from a different reality he has grown to love and hate, he was sleeping while it happened and nearly knocked himself out when the back of his head slammed against a tree. This dimensional rift pulls the unsuspecting seventeen year old with black hair and dark brown eyes named Hector Rivers right into the Emerald forest, right before Professor Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon Academy launches those first year students into the Grimm infested forest.

And so his adventure begins...

"Ugh... what the hell happened?" He asked as he dizzly looks around from his position flat on his ass and against a tree

"I was just in class a minute ago, I fell asleep like I usually do and then... I am in a forest?" Hector asked no one in particular as he looked around, seeing nothing but the brown bark of trees and green leaves. "At least I still have my clothes, it would have sucked if I didn't even have that with me." Hector said as he looked down at his own body. He is still wearing a plain long sleeve back shirt with two buttons that he has never really buttoned up before. Normal plain blue jeans, and a pair of tan colored steel toe work boots he has become accustomed to wearing almost at all times, mostly because he wore them to work as well, it just felt weird for him to check anything else. he checked his pockets for the cell phone he _always_ carried on him, but when he reached into his pocket he felt nothing but well... his pocket.

"Mother fucker, did someone just leave me out here?" He asked himself with a curse as he looked around the immediate area once more. He groaned as he realized just what kind of situation he was in, perhaps someone just decided it would be funny to take him out into the forest and leave him there to find his own way back to the high school. Hector went with that theory and tried to look around to try to find some landmark or anything he could use to figure out where he was and if it can lead him to other people. As he looked, and walked around the unknown forest he thought about how long he might have been out here, it was still light out so it must have been less then a few hours at most. The last thing he remembers was falling asleep in another one of his boring math classes, and then it just let back to him just waking up in the middle of the forest here.

Unbeknownst to him however, the stress Hector was giving off may as well have been a Beacon to the inhabitants of that forest.

Hector snapped himself out of his stupor when he heard some of the nearby bushes rustle behind him. He instinctively turned his body around as quickly as he could to see what it was. "Don't you even dare jump out of the bush whatever you are." He whispered to himself as he looked straight toward the bush, and already found himself backing up pit of terror. A very large monster, easily seven to eight feet in height came out of the bushes, black skin blacker than anything Hector has ever seen before, and red eyes piercing into his brown.

Hector gulped to himself as he realized where he actually was.

* * *

"Professor Ozpin, I don't believe this boy was with us earlier." Miss Goodwitch points out as she shows Ozpin the same camera feed she is looking at. This slightly worries Ozpin but he of course didn't take it too seriously since he has eyes on another student, this one a faunus, already on her way toward the commotion.

"Perhaps he is a student from a different area of launch. Surely you know that we have more than one area where we launch our students into the forest." Ozpin pointed out with a shrug of his shoulders as he took another sip from his mug trademark mug.

"Of course I know that, but I don't recognize him from any of our earlier meetings today, or yesterday for that matter. In fact I don't think I've _ever_ seen this boy before." Glynda pointed out as she scrolled through of all the students that are currently in the Emerald Forest. Not finding anyone that even resembled the mysterious young man rubbing his head in confusion.

"Then after initiation is over I will question him personally myself." Ozpin's eyes widen very slightly as he watched as a very large Beowolf stalked out of the bushes and stared down the young man paralyzed out of fear.

"Good. I'll go in, and extract him myself then. I only need the word." Miss Goodwitch declares as she gets her weapon ready, and walks toward the edge.

"No need for that." Ozpin said as he raised his cane and blocks her path.

"Ozpin this could mean the death of an innocent boy. You better have a good reason for this." Glynda warned as she glared at Ozpin, expecting an answer for his actions.

Ozpin showed her his scroll and she sees another student going on a direct path that leads right to me. A faunus girl with ashen colored droopy dog ears that matches the color of her hair that is put up into a ponytail, her hair also has small streaks of black in it as well. She is around the same age as Hector Rivers but with much more skill and expertise as she quickly maneuvers herself through the forest, keeping an eye out for anything that could resemble one of the relics that Ozpin told them they needed to find in order to pass. She also wears a long sleeve gray shirt with a diamond shape design that runs up her left sleeve and wraps around her waist and tight blue leggings that stop just after her knees. She has a weapon holster that wraps around her waist and bottom for her two short curved swords with very sharp edges that both have dust cylinders to add any kind of elemental power she chooses. She also wears combat shoes that help her keep traction with any surface she runs on, and help her with her fast paced fighting style. She has a pale milky skin tone that goes well with her hair color. She has a sharp but beautiful look to her face, a small mole on her left cheek, petite body and dark blue eyes.

"Why are you trying to kill me? I promise you I don't taste good! Is anyone else out here!?" She hears a very unusual call for help that is followed by an angry roar that is unmistakably belonging to a creature of Grimm and immediately adjusts her path in the direction of the voice.

"Finally someone, I feel like I've been looking for ages." Ashley Cain said to herself as she gets closer to the source of the voice. "You better not be disappointing _partner_."

* * *

The Beowulf started attacking Hector and he was currently running away in a random direction while dodging the swipes of the Beowolf by mere inches, sometimes not even that. It started attack once Hector returned to his senses and started running for his life. He barely dodged the next attempt on his life but this time he did it by falling backward and started to crawl away. The monster went for a pounce but he managed to kick it in the nose with his steel toe boot hard enough that stunned the monster for just enough time for Hector to get back up and start sprinting again. he was getting tired but he kept running as fast as he could, which is not nearly as fast as most of the other people in his general area.

The Grimm roared angrily as it ran after him on all fours, it's mouth foaming as it grew even closer to its prey.

"Will you just let me process all of this shit!?" Hector screamed back at the monster as Ihe ducked underneath a branch. But of course the chase didn't last long after that as Hector tripped over a surprise root from a tree and landed face first on the hard ground. A rock cut his cheek that makes and the sudden sharp pain made him yelp in surprise. He rolled onto his back and look into the glowing blood red eyes of the Beowolf, fear was replaced by realization as he saw that the Grimm was pouncing at him. Somehow someway Hector managed to dodge the creature as it slammed into a tree behind him.

"Why are you still chasing me!? I'm _sure_ there are other tastier people to go after." he yelled at it uselessly as he pushed himself backward across the ground until his back hit against a tree. "Oh... fuck." The young Beowolf noticed his cornered state, and slowly stomped its way toward him, digging its claws into the soft dirt beneath it with every step, and as it grew closer it growled softly at him, as if it is playing with its food. There was no more quips Hector could think of as he was now as staring into the creature that would now be the death of him. He shut his eyes tightly as the monster got closer and closer. The Beowolf got up in his face and roared with hatred. Its breath smelled like rotten excrement and Hector yelped as he felt its razor sharp teeth graze his face before it suddenly stopped roaring, and he felt something heavy fall onto his lap. He turned his head back and opened his tightly shut eyes to see the dissipating body fallen at the end of his feet, and the monsters bleeding head on his lap. Once he realized that it was dead he exhaled a sigh of relief and relaxed his already tired body.

"Care to explain why you didn't fight back?" A sharp female voice asked him from off to the side, her blue blade dripping with black blood as she stared daggers into his face. Hector looked the girl up and down, noticing her oddly colored hair and extra appendages, it too a few second for him to remember _where_ he was, and he was just caught checking out a Huntress in training. She rolled her eyes at him when he reached her face, and stared at the dog ears on her head with curiosity. "Yes I'm well aware that I have an extra set of ears on my head."

"No no I dont give a shit about that… I just found out where I am." Hector said as he raised his hands up in surrender and slumped his head back against the tree against his back. _Now I just gotta figure out when I am and then I can come to terms with what the fuck just happened to me._

"Well that's good, cause you're gonna be my partner and teammate for the next four years." The faunus girl said in a bored tone but somehow manages to wear a sassy smirk at the same time. But she did seem pleased with his response, so that was one good thing he had going for him.

He blinked his eyes a few times as he thought about what she just said... he was going to be her partner for the next four years!? Hector let his head fall into his hands and groaned loudly into them

"What was that for?" The faunus asked him, a little offended by his reaction

"I didn't do that because of you, I just did that because I realized where I was." He explained simply as he looked up into her dark blue eyes.

"Huh... I don't know how you didn't know where you were, but why didn't you protect yourself with your aura?" The girl asked with a tilt of her head, gesturing to the cut he still had on his cheek

"Would you believe me if I told you that I am from a different dimension where nobody knew what aura was and the Grimm didn't ever exist?" Hector answered her question with another as he looked back up to see her reaction.

She blinked a couple of times and recoiled slightly as she took in that information, before giggling out of amusement at Hector's expense. "Wow if you're making me laugh already you might be more useful than I thought." She backhandedly compliments.

"Wow... thanks." Hector deadpanned as he started getting back up to his feet. He turned to face her once he was up and mentally noted that she was about a head short then he was. Not that she cares about that at all, it just made him feel slightly better about himself as he reached a hand up to touch the bleeding cut on his face. She noticed the blood and took a step forward to get a better look.

"You still didn't tell me why you didn't activate your aura." The girl pointed out as she looked at his cut.

"You see... that's the problem, I didn't have aura to begin with" Hector revealed nervously as he rubbed the back of his head. Hector was still thinking about his current situation. So many things happened in such a short amount of time that he hasn't been able to _begin_ thinking about. So much so that he accidentally completely ignore the Ashen haired faunus to his left. That was until she pinched him on the shoulder to get his attention back, because that was just the right thing to do.

"Ow, why'd you do that?" Hector asked as he rubbed the shoulder she pinched hard.

"You were dozing off for some reason, and I was asking you a question. So I did that to get your attention." She explained simply with a shrug, not even saying sorry mostly because she just wasn't sorry about it.

"Sorry about that... a lot has been going on lately and I am still trying to process everything." Hector said as he reached his hand back up to rub away some of the blood that he felt running down his cheek.

"It's fine, just come here I think I know a way to heal that cut of yours." She said as she beckons me over with one finger. Hector immediately thought about his own aura being unlocked, was that really about to happen right now!?

"Okay." Hector said even though in his mind he was currently wondering about how this was going to feel.

"I'm going to unlock your aura, you're going to need it if you're going to be a Huntsman. It's a miracle you were even able to land safely on the ground here." She said as she reached a hand up and cupped the side of Hector's face, and placed her other hand over his heart. She shut her eyes and began to focus hard.

"So... what's your name?" Hector asked after standing still for about thirty seconds, unable to look at anything else besides the hair of white and black of the girl who has just become his partner.

"I'm trying to focus here." The faunus berated as she kept her eyes shut tightly, and finally a dark blue aura flared up around her body. Hector kept his mouth shut and awed at the beautiful color flowing around her body, and then he felt something within him stir. He started to feel himself get stronger and stronger, his stamina coming back in full and he started to see his own body glow a dark red color. Which is coincidentally also his favorite color. He sighed out of the pure pleasure of feeling this awe-inspiring power flow throughout his body

" _For it is in passing that we achieve immortality."_ The faunus began to chant. _"Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all, to bring all together. Infinite in distance and unbound by the hands of death, I release your soul, your hidden power, and by my will, unlock thy potential."_ Her voice sounded like she was singing, and Hector felt his body grow so much more powerful as his red aura flared up even brighter. Something within him becoming unlocked.

Their bodies flashed a bright light suddenly as he felt his aura finally become unlocked, it turned purple for a split second before going back down to red, but that must have been because of his partners aura mixing in with his. The girl opened her eyes but they were half lidded, she wobbled for a few seconds and almost fell if it weren't for Hector catching her by the shoulders. He didn't even feel the cut on his face anymore, and he was more worried about his new partner then he was about himself.

"Woah, are you okay?" Hector asked, concerned for his new friend.

"Yeah I'll be fine," The girl said with a wave of her hand. "You have a lot of aura, I nearly passed out because of it."

"Well... people do say that I am full of surprises." Hector said as he took his hands off of her shoulders and rubbed the back of his head, his red aura flickering a few times as he flexed his now stronger muscles. In truth he has always been strong, just naturally. He hasn't really worked out all that much but his body still looked like he did. But now after getting his aura unlocked, he feels stronger then he ever has before.

"It's Ashley, by the way." The faunus said with a smile as she held out her hand in greeting. "That's my name, Ashley Cain."

"Hector Rivers." Hector told her his name in turn, feeling a smile creep up from the corner of his lips as he happily took her hand in his own and shook it. Though he couldn't shake the feeling that 'Cain' was awfully close sounding to 'Canine' given her dog ears.

* * *

"It seems our unexpected newcomer has now found a partner." The headmaster mentions as he zooms in on Hector and Ashley running side by side, taking care to actually dodge the Grimm and not stay around too long in a single area, and only doing so to give Hector a few moments of rest before taking off again.

"It seems so. What are we going to do with him after this is over?" Glynda asks looking to Ozpin with a questioning look.

"I suppose we will, as the young ones say, 'Roll with it.'?" Ozpin says, cracking a amused smirk.

Glynda groaned at the unexpected joke and looks back to her scroll.

"You need to stop listening to the kids conversations." Glynda said with a shudder as she averted her eyes back down to her scroll.

"I believe it is entirely necessary in order to understand them better." Ozpin argued as he returned his own eyes. "Ashley Cain, a very skilled first year huntress in training that passed the entrance exam with flying colors. Although she has a mysterious background, and is much better at battling other people then she is against Grimm, she will be a good partner for our seemingly inexperienced newcomer."

"Agreed. I wonder how he will do in the challenges to come, he will have to start pulling his own weight soon." Glynda pointed out, one could only get so long without getting their own hands dirty.

"Although he hasn't shown any of his own abilities as of yet, I believe we will see some interesting traits coming from that boy. I can just see the potential in him already." Ozpin said with a smile on his face, as optimistic as ever. But strangely even more so in this young man.

"You seem to be very interested in this young man, may I ask why?" Glynda asked, raising her head back up to look at the headmaster.

"Glynda I have seen dozens of initiations in my time. Something like this has never happened before so forgive me if I seem a bit… intrigued." Ozpin explained simply, and with a shrug.

"Very well. I suppose that is understandable for someone such as yourself." Glynda accepted his reasoning with a shrug.

* * *

Hector and his new partner found a path, well... Ashley found the path, Hector was just following her and doing his best to keep up with her, and then took some of the credit for finding the path. He knew that they were looking for a stone temple of some sort, but he didn't really know how to explain that he knew that it was a stone temple. She didn't believe the truth once already, bringing it up again may as well just be making it a running joke that he didn't feel like exploring.

"So uh… do you know what we're looking for Ash? I'd say that I do, but I really don't." Hector said as he nudged his partner to get her attention.

Ashley noticed the little nickname that he gave her. "I wish I could say that I do, but why are you calling me Ash now?" She couldn't help but ask as she made her way through the bushes.

"Ashley just has too many syllables." Hector said with a noncommittal shrug. "It's just easier to say Ash."

"Its only two." Ashley pointed out, even stopping to look back at him with a confused look on her face.

"Yeah, and Ash is only one, it's easier." Hector countered with a grin.

"..." Ashley just stared at him.

"You can call me RJ if you want." Hector tried.

"I'm good." Ashley says as she begins to sniff the air around her. Another feature of her being a dog faunus. "I think we're getting close, do you see anything?"

"Nope, nothing at all." Hector answered honestly, squinting his eyes as he looked over her head to try and see through the dense forest.

"Wait a second." Ashley said as she stopped walking suddenly and stopped Hector by pushing him back with her hand. "You didn't have your aura, you don't know how to fight, you gave into your fear and you don't know how to track. What are you doing here Hector?" She asked, looking up at him with her dark blue eyes with an almost disappointed look on her face. Hector chuckled nervously on the spot and rubbed the back of his head nervously, it was one of his ticks that he did when he didn't know what to say. He knew that the truth was not going to be believed in, so he had to make something up. Luckily, bullshitting his way through things was one of his best traits.

"Well the truth is you're right, I don't really know how to do all those things so... I kinda, snuck in." He lied nervously, it got worse when she glared at him. She eventually just shakes her head and sighs, apparently going through something like this before.

"Whatever happened, leave me out of it. For now, just stick with me and I'll protect you. Once we get through this you can talk to the teachers once we are done." Ashley explained with a surprising amount of kindness, a lot more than he really deserved since he just told her a story about him sneaking into the forest during initiation. Another thing was he could actually vaguely sense what she was feeling emotionally, it must be a side effect of unlocking one's aura. She wasn't really angry with him, she was actually just a little surprised by the story he told her.

"Thanks, I appreciate it." Hector said with a relieved grin, if she left him then and there it would have been pretty problematic.

Ashley smirked back in response, and then nodded her head as she turned back around and started walking into a more open area.

Hector was about to say something else along the lines of her teaching him how to track and find where they were supposed to go, but a high pitched scream earned both of their attention.

 _AAAAAAHHHHHHHIIEEE!_

Ashley looked back at Hector, who was already looking back at her. They both shrugged at each other. "We're going to go help that person aren't we?" Hector asked, he really didn't want to ask that question, but sadly he just had too.

"Well, you're the one who snuck in here to try and become a Huntsman with no previous training." Ashley said with a chuckle, but that smile disappeared just as fast as it came when the two of them felt loud rumbling and vibrations of something stomping it's way toward them. Ashley grabbed Hector's hand and started sprinting, Hector felt his arm almost get shot out of it's socket as he was suddenly pulled along.

Hector wasn't stupid, he heard something behind him, and after ignoring that thought in his head to _not_ turn around, he eventually did turn around to see what was chasing him.

It was a Deathstalker, a really _big_ Deathstalker with a blonde guy hanging off of it's stinger screaming like a schoolgirl. He didn't even notice the head of red hair sprint right past him and yelled sorry at the two of them as she broke out into a clearing.

* * *

Hector and Ashley bursted through the clearing after the red haired girl did. A Deathstalker coming out right behind them straight after. It threw the blonde guy as it chased them, and Hector could only hope that the guy had the aura to take the force of gravity when he slammed into the ground a few hundred feet away from him. Ashley was still pulling him forward, unwilling to leave him behind as he struggled to keep up. He had long legs and was moving them as fast as he could, but his form was amateur at best and he just wasn't nearly as fast as the trained Huntress in training before him.

They saw a stone temple in the distance, and it was Hector's turn to pull along his partner as he forced them to change directions and toward somewhere he knew was going to have reinforcements. He waved wildly at the group of other people before him, screaming his head off as he tried to get his voice to be heard by their ears.

"Did those two just come running out of the forest with a Deathstalker chasing them?" He barely heard the girl with a black bow on her head ask as he got close enough to hear them.

"I-"

"Stop standing there and help! Please!" Hector asked, cutting off the blonde one as he got close enough for his booming voice to finally be heard and processed by everyone there.

He didn't even have time to process that he was just screaming at the future members of Team RWBY and team JNPR, and he ran past them with panicked breathing. They all broke off to fight the Deathstalker while Hector ran to one side of the temple and grabbed a random chess piece and stuffed it in his pocket for safe keeping. Thankfully, the others were taking care of the other Deathstalker, and the Nevermore that flew overhead went over to split them up, but he knew that they could handle it so he wasn't worried about it. What he was worried about was the other Deathstalker that just bursted out of the woods beside them, screeching angrily as it locked it's many eyes on Hector and Ashley, who were now backed up against a wall.

"So I don't reckon you have a trick up your sleeve for something like this, perhaps a semblance?" Hector asked nervously as his heart thumped in his chest. Ashley looked to him as a single sweat drop rolled down her forehead, and after she gulped nervously and chuckled once Hector already knew the answer and widened his eyes.

"I… haven't unlocked it yet…" Ashley admitted shamefully as she looked away from him.

"Don't you think that would be a valuable piece of information!?" Hector whisper screamed to his new partner as they both tried to become one with the wall, the Deathstalker taking its sweet time to even start killing them.

"This is coming from a guy who shouldn't even be here!" Ashley shot back as she reached for her weapons, she would rather go down fighting instead being like a cornered animal.

"Hey I thought we were past that!"

"We have four years for me to joke about that, I'm not forgetting it anytime soon."

"Ugh, if we can even survive today, I actually don't care what you say to me after that."

They continued their whisper screaming argument like that for a few more seconds, but when rocks fell from above them and onto the Deathstalker just mere feet away from them. Hector and Ashley both looked up to see another boy just staring at them with an amused smile on his face.

"Oh no don't let me stop you, I was enjoying your bickering." The new guy said with a laugh, flicking part of hie beige dyed hair out from in front of his left eye. This was another human a bit shorter than Hector, but taller than Ashley with a badass looking black and red-orange battle axe strapped to his back. He wears a no sleeved orange sweatshirt that shows off his arm muscles and abdominals, black dress pants because reasons, along with black dress shoes because more reasons. His hair style consists of being half shaven, with short black hair on the side, and a long gothic looking beige bang of hair that covers the other side of his head and part of his face, it matched well with his dark orange eyes. He lastly has piercings on his exposed ear. This new guy chuckled as we looked at him and stood up, placing a hand behind his back and onto the staff part of his battle axe.

"How long were you there?" Hector asked while looking up at him, Ashley doing the same thing only with her dog ears standing upwards and at attention.

"The real question here is why this Deathstalker hasn't bothered to kill you two while you were arguing amongst yourselves." The new addition to their little group said with yet another chuckle. The Deathstalker seemed to finally realized that it had two teenagers within it's grasp and immediately starts to charge at them. But instead of tearing it's prey apart like it wanted to, it slammed into the stone wall. Hector and Ashley dove to the side together and started to roll down the hill in a tangle of limbs. The one with the orange eyes jumped off of the stone wall and landed beside the two of them, battle axe at the ready and orange aura flaring as he stared down the angry Deathstalker.

"Hey Mike! It's finally time for some action!" He called out to the woods behind him.

'Mike' came out of the woods with a green book in one of his hands, while his other was buried in one of his jacket pockets. He looked like a thin looking guy with long blonde hair and light brown eyes, he also wore rectangular small glasses that rested on the tip of his nose, he pushed the glasses up and puts his book away with a sigh. He wears a zipped up brown and black leather jacket that with a silver zipper that has multiple pockets on both sides of his chest, as well as the normal pockets near his hips that mostly every jacket has. He wears normal dark blue jeans like Hector did at the moment but wears a brown belt with a golden buckle and his combat boots matched the color of his eyes with a calm brown color. Next, he took out his weapon which is a long chain with a sickle at the end of it, and at the end of said chain had some kind of iron weight that can be used to smash armour resting on his hip, most likely used against human opponents or for close range combat.

"What have you gotten yourself into this time Reggie?" Mike asked with a monotone voice as he slowly made his way to him.

So this was the roster Hector had to work with at the moment so far, A dog faunus girl who was actually pretty cool but wasn't afraid to say things like it was, a what seems like to be a very trigger happy guy with a battle axe that dressed, although he couldn't lie and say that he didn't look badass, and another guy who is going to be just a _ball_ to talk to after this is done, he honestly reminded Hector of the kind of person who would only speak to him if he had too, but who knows, appearances can be deceiving.

"Not much this time, just about to cut off this Deathstalkers tail and stab it with a couple of times. You know, the usual." Reggie said with a happy smile as he started running toward the Grimm creature.

"God dammit Reggie." Mike said with a few more curses at the end of that as he broke into a sprint to join his partner in battle.

Hector looked to Ashley for a bit of advice on what they should do in this situation. She simply just shrugged at him and stood up. Dusting herself off and getting ready for combat herself.

"Stay back or help, I'll leave it up to you." Ashley said as she started running to help Mike and Reggie, who were now just engaging that large Deathstalker creature.

Hector crossed his arms and thought about it, he had no previous combat experience, the only real experience he had was wrestling in high school, but even then compared to _Huntsman in training_ it didn't really seem all that impressive. _Okay so these guys got this right?_ Hector asked himself in his mind as he watched the three other people fight off the Deathstalker, dodging and attacking with a surprising amount of coordination.

But once Hector thought that he wouldn't be needed in this battle, the worst possible scenario happened. instead of the good guys winning, Hector gasped as he watched his partner get hit hard with the blunt side of the Deathstalkers stinger. Launching her into the forest and Hector winced again when he saw her slam against one of the trees. Her aura flared as it did its best to lessen the impact as she slid down the tree and onto the ground. Her swords fall to her sides and her head rests on her chest as she falls nearly unconscious.

As the battle raged on Hector snuck past the monster and kneeled down next to the faunus girl to see how she was doing. Luckily it turned out that her aura took the brunt of the force, but the bad news was that she was already very low on aura, she must have not had a lot like he did. But when her chest rose and fell as she breathed Hector breathed a sigh of relief and shook his head.

 _Okay so that happened, how are the others doing._ Hector thought as he turned back around, only to see the one called Michael get hit and tumble away as his green aura flared to protect his body, he only just stopped himself before he could hit one of the trees.

 _Oh gosh... I really am going to have to help do I?_ Hector thought to himself as he started running to his new ally, and made it just in time to tackle him out of the way of the incoming stinger that just dug itself into the ground. Mike gave him a quick thank you before running off again, the Deathstalker luckily chasing him instead of Hector, giving him the opportunity to get back to his own partner who was actually just beginning to stir.

 _Maybe there's a reason why these people weren't in the show... they might have died in initiation._ Hector thought to himself as he made his way back to his partner. It was a plausible possibility, but since there was literally no mention of them in the actual show he watched then maybe he was just overthinking it.

"What happened?" Ashley drowsily asked as she reached toward her weapons and weakly started to push herself back up to a standing position, and only getting there because of her partners help.

"You got hit pretty hard, but you should be fine soon." Hector said as he let her go, her aura seemed to have already started to regenerate luckily.

"Damn it... you know, but you can actually help us with this now that I think about it." Ashley pointed out with an actually embarrassed but hopeful look on her face. Hector couldn't even blame her, but even the other two were having trouble and they seemed to have things a lot more under control then they did. In truthy he was still very terrified, maybe a little less then he would normally be, but when not only his life is on the line Hector was able to push past that fear and put on a face of bravery against the front of evil.

"Well... if it means we all get out of this alive, then I'll do what I can." Hector said with a nod of his head as he came up with a plan. "Okay, I have a plan!" Hector shouted out as loudly as he could so that everyone could hear him. "I'm the bait! Follow my lead guys!" Hector shouted as he ran up to the Deathstalker while waving his arms around, thinking negative thoughts even as to get it's attention easier. It worked well, but a little too well, because Hector quickly realized his mistake and started sprinting in the other direction with a three thousand pound scorpion chasing after him.

"This... this is the person I asked for help from." Ashley said to herself with a shake of her head as she watched Hector run for his life while screaming in a high pitched _manly_ voice. "I must have been more desperate than I thought."

"Oh fuck…" Hector said between his heavy breathing as he can hear the creature catching up to him. "Okay, shit, uuuhh Ash! Do some of that Huntress stuff to it's legs!" Hector shouted as he ran in the opposite direction. Ashley to his credit actually followed his hastily made order, and after taking out her swords again to fight the beast, she ran up to the side of the monster and proceeded to cut off to of it's back legs as it focused on catching Hector. It roared in pain as it spewed black blood in her direction, luckily for the Grimm she managed to dodge it in time and watch as it leaked all of the dirt grassy ground.

I'm guessing from that deafening screech you did what I said! Thank you!" Hector shouted as he kept his hands clamped around his ears, they were still ringing and he couldn't hear any responses, but at least they were winning now.

"Hahahahahahaha!" Reggie of course was laughing his ass of the entire time and didn't think that he should help, even with the sight of an absolute masterful plan all coming together.

"Reggie stop laughing, we need to go help them." Mike said as he grabbed Reggie by the shoulder and started to push him forward the battle.

"Mike… just look at that and tell me... you don't find that funny." Reggie responds between laughs.

"I actually don't find it that funny, they could get killed at any second you know."

"Oh come on Mike there's no need to be a party pooper."

"Someone has to be."

* * *

"What am I watching…" Glynda asked no one in particular, and certainly not Ozpin as she watched a disaster of a plan somehow all coming together. Nothing made sense with what she was seeing. Hector running away while shouting orders like a true leader, Ashley Cain, his partner was slashing away at the remaining legs that the Grimm has, and the other two were only just now on their way to help after the one with the brown jacket finally snapped the one with the orange eyes to go help their teammates.

"I believe we are watching the making of a new team, though even I must say their methods are a little... unorthodox." Ozpin said with a shrug as he took a sip from his mug. Glynda didn't bother to ask where he got it from because he didn't have it before, he has made it a habit to summon things like that out of mid air.

"I'm watching a disaster waiting to happen. This Hector Rivers is not ready for this high level of combat and he doesn't even have transcripts for me to look up! Not only that but the only two who are taking this seriously are not equipped to deal with a Grimm such as this. If these kids become a team it will not end well for them. I can't even begin to think about who the leader should be." Glynda says as she massages her temple with her free hand.

"Oh please Glynda, I do believe we have had _much_ worse teams then this before." Ozpin said with a smirk as he remembered a very certain dysfunctional team he had the pleasure of directing and guiding personally. "But if you are so worried, much like some of the other first years this year I will personally handle it." Ozpin said as he zoomed in on Hector right as he barely ducked under the swipe of another one of the Deathstalkers claw.

"So apparently this random boy is now a student with little to no qualifications?" Glynda asked with a quite frustrated grunt, needing at least confirmation that the headmaster was going to make yet _another_ exception this year.

"But of course, I will not let this untapped potential go to waste. My in a span of just a few minutes he has become masterful in the art of dodging." Ozpin explained with a chuckle as he takes yet another sip from his mug. "His leadership skills will be needing some work obviously, but at least he is still alive."

Glynda sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, not answering verbally but showing that she is reluctantly going to allow this to happen. However, if one of them did get hurt she would not hesitate to disobey any order given to her in order to protect her future students.

"I'm glad to see that you agree with me." Ozpin said as he watched her make up her mind.

"No."

* * *

"Ah!" Hector yelped in a high pitched voice as he rolled away from another attack. Hector landed on his back and looked up at the death that was on its way, he shut his eyes tight and raised his arms in a piss poor attempt to block the powerful stinger, but he heard a _thunk_ sound and cracked his eyes open to see what it could have he opened his eyes he saw a green shield of energy presumably made out of probably aura of some kind, protecting him from the tip of the Deathstalker stinger. he looked around for his savior and saw that Mike guy from earlier a good distance away in a state of focus as his arms glow green, along with his eyes, even though they were a light brown earlier. Hector visibly sighed another sigh of relief when the Deathstalker kept trying to break through the shield, but just couldn't even make a dent in it. it was no doubt Mike's semblance, and it just saved his life. "Thank you my shield knight!"

"Call me that again, and I'll bring the shield down." Mike threatened in return as he kept his focus on keeping the shield activated.

"C'mon it's pretty fitting for you. I like it!" Reggie declared as he sped-walked past Mike and broke into a sprint toward the Deathstalker once more.

"Of course you would." Mike responded sarcastically as he rolled his green glowing eyes.

Reggie chuckled playfully as he readied his battleaxe once more. Ashley began to slow down as she maneuvered her way around the Deathstalker, the fatigue slowly catching up with her since she was the one who has actually been fighting the longest. hector made a mental note that if they got out of this, he would train with her on stamina, God knows he would need it too. The next thing he did was sit down in his protective bubble and lean back to get more comfortable, it was a hundred times more safer in there then outside, and he would take _full_ advantage of it. "Okay Reggie was it? It would be awesome if you would just go wild and attack the stinger on that thing. Just go wild man, no holding back required." Hector instructed from inside the safety of Mike's bubble.

"Really? Oh I like this guy already!" Reggie exclaimed happily as he powered up his battle axe with explosive fire dust along with adding some extra firepower as his arms and shoulders turn form skin into what looks like solid steel. He looked like metal man, to which Hector looked at with awe as he had a front row seat to watch that happen to his new ally.

With a huff and a hard launch Reggie leaped into the air and aimed himself toward to Deathstalkers stinger with a childish grin on his face. Once he set off an explosion from his axe behind him and gave himself momentum even faster than terminal velocity, Hector stopped thinking there was a possibility of that guy not being insane of some variety. After a few front flips he held his axe over his head and slashed down as hard as he could, cutting right through the Deathstalkers stinger and laughing as it fell to the ground after bouncing off of the creatures head, earning another pained screech as it rolled around on it's back after getting flipped over. As it did this Hector saw another opening, it's exposed underbelly was on display for everyone to see.

"Ash! Hit the belly!" Hector shouted as he pushed against the shield, only for him to fall right through the apparent one way shield and fall flat on his face with a pained grunt

"Pfft." Ashley tried her best to not laugh, but she ultimately failed that battle and started giggling uncontrollably, despite the fact that there was a massive Deathstalker completely vulnerable at the moment.

"Shut up, and do that Huntress thing." Hector groaned as he pushed himself up from the ground.

Ashley calmed down with a deep breath and nodded her head in understanding. It was time for her to get back to work. She ran around the Deathstalker a few times first, looking for an opening her speed and conditioning as a Huntress in training to deal the finishing blow. it actually looked like she was showing off when she kept dodging the desperate flailing with a smirk on her face, almost like she was playing with the damn thing when she had the perfect opportunity to kill it.

"Stop showing off and kill the damn thing already!" Hector shouted in indignation as he pointed to the belly of the Deathstalker.

"Ugh, fine." Ashley said with a roll of her eyes as she jumped up into the air after powering her legs with aura, and right as she landed she delivered a flurry of slashes and stab attacks directly into the belly of the beast. It was helpless the entire time, taking every single blow without being able to fight back. However it flailed one last time and managed to buck Ashley off of its body. She landed gracefully not too far from Hector himself luckily.

"Awesome job Ash!" Hector complimented and gave her a thumbs up, earning a thumbs up in return. "Now Colossus over there can use his giant axe to chop the thing in half!" He said next as he averted his eyes to the other guy in orange, who cackled in excitement at the way he was addressed.

Reggie crouched down and pumped some more aura into his legs, while he also turned his legs into metal to give himself an extra boost. With a grunt he launched himself into the air, his feet cracking the ground beneath him as he launched himself into the air. Once he was high enough he flipped through the air a couple times, laughing the entire time as he plummeted down toward the monster.

Hector realized that the guy completely made of metal and had an explosive fire axe hitting the ground at terminal velocity was probably not going to be healthy for him to stand around at the point of impact. "Er... Mike can you make another shield for me? Please?"

"Sorry bud, used all my aura for that one shield." Mike replied boredly as he says in his own protective bubble, a book in his hands and his lie becoming obvious as his shield was clearly protecting his own body.

"Oh that's just a load of fun now isn't it? Sure, just leave the guy who just had his aura unlocked just a few minutes ago with no protection, great idea." Hector deadpanned as he ran behind a tree, hoping that it would be enough to protect his body.

"You'll be fine. You didn't lose any aura to my knowledge so I doubt you would die." Mike said with an actual kind smile as he flipped over to the next page in his book. Which Hector could now see was titled _Ninjas of Love_ ; Because of course it would be that book in particular.

"Wait what about Ash-"

"Cannon ball!" Reggie shouted, cutting Hector off from his panicked question. He hits\ the Deathstalker at full force which creates a small but powerful shockwave to goes in all directions, followed by a bright orange explosion. Luckily, the only tree that actually fell down because of the force was the tree that Hector was hiding behind. Out of sudden desperation Hector was actually able to hold up the tree for a few seconds before jumping out of the way of the falling tree just in time, and watched as it landed in front of him with a thunderous thud. Next Hector placed one of his hands on his hip and brushed his brow of sweat with his other hand and looked toward the disemboweled pieces of Deathstalker that was sent flying around the area. It would be modest to say that he wasn't proud of himself for his plan working out the way it did. In the middle of the whole mess, Reggie was standing while covered from head to toe in black and dissipating blood. All with a smile on his face

"Well guys, our first official victory is upon us!" Reggie shouted as he pumped his axe up into the air.

"Yay!" Hector shouted as he pumped his own fists up into the air.

"You literally did nothing but shout orders at us, so I don't know why you're so excited right now." Ashley remarked playfully, no real hostility in her voice.

"Shut it, I happen to recall you specifically asking _me_ for help, so you're welcome." Hector shot back, earning an embarrassed flush on his partners face as she refused to meet his eyes. That little battle of wits was won easily.

Reggie suddenly ran up to Hector's side and through one of his strong arms around his shoulders, pulling him into a tight hug which almost made Hector pass out because of the lack of air. "You let me have my fun so you're good in my book new friend!" He says before letting me go. "How bout you Mike?"

"I guess he's alright." He simply replies.

"Well, thi sounds like the beginning of a beautiful friendship." Hector choked out as he struggled to breath.

"Yeah- wait, what about the relics!?" Ashley suddenly remembered one of the objectives they were supposed to complete. Blue eyes staring hopefully into her partners.

"Yeah sorry, I yoinked the last piece I saw there before I started talking to you guys." Reggie said as he takes out what looks to be a black rook chess piece. Ashley's head hung down from sadness as she thinks she is going to be sent home… well she wouldn't exactly call it a home, but it was the best that she had. Hector actually felt the sadness emanating from her before he remembered that he actually yanked one himself. With a satisfied smile on his face he was released from Reggie's grasp and placed his hand on his partners shoulder, earning her attention back as she adorable perked her faunus ears up as he showed her the other black rook that he selected from one of the pillars.

"Awesome man! How'd you even get your hands on this?" She asked as she took the chess piece out of his hands and looked at it with a bright smile on her face.

"Eh, I have my ways." Hector shrugged, and then looked toward Mike and Reggie, who also selected a black rook piece. "Looks like we are all going to be a team."

* * *

Ozpin has already made all of the teams except for one more. That one more consists of Hector Rivers, Ashley Cain, Michael Cedric, and Reggie Nole. They all sat around eagerly as they awaited to be called up. Ozpin even looked Hector directly in the eyes, narrowing them at him as Hector nervously scratched the back of his head and looked away.

"And finally, last but most certainly not least, Hector Rivers…"

"Wait what-" Before Hector could question how he knew his name, he was pushed up by his partner to go onto the stage.

"Ashley Cain, Michael Cedric, and Reggie Nole." Ozpin called up the other three, making them all line up beside each other. Hector's heart was beating a million times a second as he stood still like a pillar, hoping that he wouldn't be in any of trouble for sorta not even being from that dimension.

"You four have retrieved the Black Rook pieces. Therefore you shall now be known as Team HAMR, led by… Hector Rivers!" Now Hector just had his mind absolutely blown, him, someone with zero combat experience somehow becoming a leader of a team of Huntsman, Ashley seemed to be a little annoyed by it, but she nodded in acceptance and hid any animosity she might have had, although her surprise could not be hidden in the slightest. Mike remained completely unfazed as he simply shrugged and simply nudged Hector in the side with a small congratulatory smile. All the while Reggie just walked over to him and slapped him on the back playfully. Hector was staring at Ozpin the entire time, in pure disbelief.

"Congratulations young man." Ozpin said, he even had the gall to give him a thumbs up.

* * *

In another part of the outskirts of Vale, another young man not from the world of Remnant wakes up with a pained grunt. He looked around a different Forest, one with all red leaves with him in the middle of some kind of path. He is around twenty years old, wearing casual blue clothing as he looked around the area with a confused glint to his eyes. He pushed himself up to a standing position and looked around almost desperately.

"Where the hell am I!?" Robert Urra asked the world around him.

* * *

 **AN- And there goes the beginning of a new story that I have just been itching to write.**

 **Edit 2/3/2019: This Story is under a rewrite! There is just so much that I have to fix it is not even funny. Just so you know right now what is going on right now before you go on. If your read ahead, the quality is going to drop significantly and there will be holes in the story, of course if you enjoy it anyway then more power to you.**

 **What do you all think of this new remastered chapter one? Better? Somehow worse? Let me know! I am very curious to hear what you guys think!**

 **P atreon . com(slash) Genatools**


	2. A Tale of Two Heroes Chapter 2 REMASTER

**I didn't say this before in the previous AN before the actual start of the first chapter. This story is under a well-needed rewrite, which means that some plot points in the beginning here are going to be reduced to non existence. When I first started writing this story I was nowhere near as experienced as I am now. So hopefully I can resurrect this story by re-writing the first 10-15 chapters or so, as long. After that point however, I think I am going to be halting the rewrite process for a bit so I could continue the actual story with my co-writer and Beta CrowSkull. Just keep in mind that the almost every chapter past this point is not going to be the same quality of writing as the next few remastered chapters.**

 **For those coming from one of my other stories, specifically An Unlikely Hero. I am letting you know now that Hector in this story is FAAAAR different then the Hector of that story. So just keep that in mind as you read.**

 **Of course, if you want to read it all anyway, go right ahead. I won't stop you.**

 **Beta: CrowSkull**

* * *

A Tale of Two Heroes

Chapter 2 REMASTERED: First Day

Hector was in a state of shock, and bewilderment as he blinked his eyes several times and did his best to actually get words to leave his mouth, only to stammer and stutter at the beginning of every sentence when he tried to wrap his head around what the hell just happened to him. His partner didn't help at all of course, nudging him in the side and giving him a congratulatory smile. She would have preferred that she be made leader, but she is content with the results. It didn't mean she didn't have questions to ask however. The other two members of the newly formed Team HAMR already stepped away and got back into their seats, content with waiting for their leader and other teammate. Glynda Goodwitch was slowly running out of patience as the other students left the room already, leaving Team HAMR as the last remaining team to have yet to leave the room. The headmaster simply stands still, facing toward them with a kind grin as he took sips from his mug every once in a while. Waiting for the inevitable question to be asked.

"Why!? I mean what did I do to deserve this? How am I the most qualified- I mean, how do you even know my name?" Hector asked finally, pointing an accusing finger at the amused headmaster.

"Well if you're just going to say it like that... I am a little curious myself." Ashley agreed not so helpfully, honestly a little amused herself with her new leaders antics.

Ozpin simply smiled at them, finishing his coffee and frowning when he realized that there was none left. Next, he hid that hand behind his back and tapped his cane on the ground once. Getting himself the attention of everyone else once again.

"I am sure you have many questions, especially you Mister Rivers. Which one would you like to begin with?" Ozpin asked, already knowing that he has been asked three already.

Hector held back on the urge to raise his voice again, only stopping when Glynda's emerald eyes glared into his soul and terrified him into submission. Only after taking a deep breath and crossing his arms did Hector finally calm himself down enough to make his words sound coherent and well thought out. Now if only his partner would stop having that smug look on her face like she is enjoying watching him struggle.

"Why did you make me leader exactly?" Hector finally asked. "I don't mean any disrespect, I just really don't think I am the best choice for a role like this, and if you knew what I know you would know exactly why." Hector asked in as calm a voice he could possibly muster up. Ashley shrugged to herself as she realized that this wasn't about to end anytime soon, and this excused herself from that entire conversation, taking a seat near the exit and resting her head against the back of the seat. Waiting for her new leader to stop acting up like he is now. On the inside, she was actually getting a little annoyed now, this was just getting boring to watch now.

"Hm, and apt choice of words Mister Rivers. Come, I'll show you why I decided to choose you over your other teammates." Ozpin said as he gestured over to himself, a scroll in hand with a video already queued up on pause.

Hector shrugged his shoulders, seeing no problem with seeing a video explanation of why he was selected as the leader. He stepped up to beside Ozpin, and looked down at the scroll presented before him. Ozpin pressed the play button with his thumb and let it roll. It was a video of the encounter Team HAMR had with the Deathstalker, something that only just happened a few hours ago already felt like it was much longer ago. But other then that, Hector couldn't help but _not_ notice anything that was intended for him to see.

"Okay, I'm watching myself running away from the Deathstalker after spewing off a plan I came up with on the spot." Hector pointed out with a shrug, as if it was obvious already. "That's how I normally do things."

"Understandable, but I must ask you to look closer. The answer will be right before your eyes, all you must do is look for it." Ozpin said, intending to let Hector figure this all out on his own because he knew that he could. Also just for the fun of it, it was definitely one of those.

Hector internally sighed but ultimately listening to the headmasters advice and leaned closer into the screen, watching as the headmaster rewinded it back to the point where the Deathstalker fight first started. He watched as his own face changed from one of confidence to one of concern once his team started to lose the fight. The first thing he did when he finally convinced himself to jump into the fray was help anyone who was down back up, starting with Ashley Cain. After that, he used himself as bait to distract the Deathstalker so that the others could catch it off guard and land a fatal blow. When Reggie was coming down for his mini nuke, Hector saw that he was the only one left without protection from the blast even when he asked for it from Michael Cedric. Luckily his aura protected him, and the tree he was behind blocked most of the blast.

Once the video ended Hector began to understand why he was chosen over anyone else, and then rubbed his face with one long stroke as he realized that there was really no other way out of this. His faunus partner of course listened in to the whole thing with her faunus dog ears listened to the whole thing, and felt just a little bad for not offering her own protection since he helped her before, possibly even saved her life. But only a little bad, he was still alive after all. No harm done.

"Alright I get it," Hector said with an external sigh this time. "I see how you would have chosen me over anyone else to be leader."

Ozpin smirked at him. "You also showed many qualities of how a true leader should act and behave during a life or death battle such as that. You put the lives of your teammates before your own, and when you saw that there weren't any other options when they all left you out in the open as a destructive projectile was plummeting toward the ground at terminal velocity." Ozpin points out, shooting a glare toward Mike, Reggie and Ashley, to which they all turn away and begin whistling as if they are minding their own business. Except for Mike of course, who simply shrugged his shoulders and lazily turned his head to meet eyes with both of them.

"Guilty as charged." He said as he puts his hands behind his head.

"So as you can see, despite your objections you were the only real option for the role of leader for Team HAMR. As for how I know your name, _do you really think I wouldnt find out that part of you._ " Ozpin whispered that last part to Hector, his tone hitting a serious edge for a moment as if to let Hector know that he had his eye on him. If that didn't happen already of course, that would be a question for another time. Preferably when he had an actual idea on how to defend himself, and fight.

"Oh that's nice," Hector ended up saying, doing his best to not show the fear he felt. "I'm glad you did your research because that would've been an awkward conversation to have in front of so many people.." Hector said as he looked away from Ozpin, and walked off the stage, already feeling the looks of not only Ozpin, but also Glynda Goodwitch herself.

"Oh, you finally ready to be a leader boss?" Reggie said as he jumped up to his side and playfully punched his shoulder.

"Ow, and sure Im ready lets go to our rooms and we can discuss this further." Hector said as he rubbed his shoulder of the pain.

"Guess I'll come to." Mike said in a bored tone as he joins us, walking up to the leaders side.

" _Miiike_ , don't you have something to say to our leader?" Reggie said, nudging Mike with his elbow with more power than what was necessary.

"Ugh fine." Mike rolled his eyes to look at Hector. "I'm sorry I didn't give you protection from the blast earlier. It was immature of me." He apologized as he bowed his head slightly in his new leaders direction.

"It's alright man I don't hold grudges. No point to them." Hector said with a friendly smile. On the inside he did kind of hold a grudge, but he felt like there would literally be no point to it. He'd rather start off nice rather then on a bad note.

Hector looked to his partner as they grew nearer to the exit of the room, she was still sitting down sideways on the chair with her head down. But Hector could see her blue eyes looking into his as he got closer to her.

"C'mon Ash we got shit to do." Hector said with a wave of his hand, gesturing her to follow, and she did.

/-/

After a couple more minutes of quiet walking they finally make it to their room, which was on the third floor, room thirty two. Hector hid the fact that he made that up because he honestly had no idea on where they actually needed to go. Eventually, they found it, and after failing to open it with his scroll, Reggie kicked the door down and welcomed them all into their new room that they have claimed. Reggie even carved in the words 'Team HAMR' on the outside of the door, so unless the door is replaced this is now going to be their room by right of conquest. Then they realized that something was a bit wrong with this room. There's only three beds.

Reggie and Mike claimed two of them almost right away, pushing them up together so that they almost made one bigger bed. Their actions caused Hector to raise an eyebrow. He figured that the two of them were close already because of initiation, but he didn't think they were _that_ close. He could just leave it be and not ask, but he felt it important that he have some confirmation about something.

"Is there… a reason for this?" Hector asked carefully.

"What? He's my boyfriend." Mike said with a shrug, as if it should have been obvious. It only confirmed it even further when Reggie planted a kiss on the other boys cheek, snuggling him into his chest as they lied on the bed.

"Okay, that would have been nice to know before, but I have no problem with it." Hector said with a shrug, using the desk pushed up against the wall to hold himself up

"So, what are we going to do about our bed situation here?" Ashley asked from beside him.

"You can take the bed, I'll just sleep in the chair or something." Hector said with a shrug, he wasn't unused to sleeping sitting up, it was something he did all the time in school. Speaking of school, he still had a lot to think on. He hoped that this was just some crazy dream that he was going to wake up from and find himself still in that boring math class when the bell rang, but with each passing second this was beginning to feel more and more real to him.

"Or you guys could share the bed." Reggie suggested with a laugh as he rolled to face them with a smug grin on his face. They both rolled their eyes at the childish quip, even if it managed to make Hector chuckle a bit and actually grow nervous as to what is going on in her head because of that, luckily, he saw that she was just as amused as she was with the idea.

"Alright, since we got everything settled now," Hector said as he sat down on his new sleeping chair, completely ignoring what Reggie said and not responding to it. He looked down at the scroll he found in his pocket, he figured Ozpin must have slipped it in while he was distracted. So far, he was thankful that he was reverse pickpocketed.

"NOW let's go over our schedule for tomorrow morning," I say as I pick up a schedule meant for all of us that was conveniently left out on the desk.

"Alright so combat class at nine am, and that ends at twelve, then we have Grimm studies at- Hey are you guys listening?" Hector noticed that Ashley was just glued to her phone, typing away a message to someone, probably family or something. Reggie was asleep, Mike still wasn't very interested in anything and kept reading his Ninjas of Love book.

"Oh great, so we're doing this now." Hector cleared his throat, preparing himself to become just a _little_ louder so that he couldn't possible be ignored.

"SO!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, catching the attention of his whole team while also startling them. Ashley fell off the bed halfway while Reggie jumped up awake from his quick nap, Mike got startled as well as he threw his book across the room accidentally. Hector was pretty sure that he could be heard from another room, but at this point he had already hit the fuck it button.

"SINCE YOU FUCKERS WERE BEING ASSHOLES, THIS IS HOW WE'RE GOING TO DO THINGS. EIGHT TO EIGHT FIFTY AM IS BREAKFAST, NINE TO TWELVE PM WE HAVE COMBAT TRAINING, AFTER THAT WE HAVE TO GO STRAIGHT TO GRIMM STUDIES 12:15 TO 3:15, SO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A HEALTHY BREAKFAST." He coughed a few times after that, and that was when the loud voice was no longer needed, nor was it welcome for anyone within a five meter radius.

"Lastly, we have World History at the end of the day, so are we all good now or do I need to raise my voice again?" Hector asked, rubbing the base of his throat as it began to get a little sore after he nearly blew up his voice box.

"I think we got it…" Mike spoke up and removed his hands from his ears.

Reggie just nodded furiously, and Ashley just slams the pillow over her head, already trying to will herself to sleep. He didn't even notice that it was night time already, and honestly, he was glad that it was night. Hopefully he wouldn't be here anymore when he woke up

"I'm glad everyone understands." He said with a yawn as he sat back down in his chair. The next thing Hector did was close his eyes, and slowly drifted off to sleep as the dorm room grew darker.

* * *

Hector was still there when he woke up, and while that may have been a moment of celebration for most. For him it was terrifying really. He was the one to wake up first, and he ran into the bathroom as soon as he did. Wetting his face with water and thinking to himself.

 _So... I'm still on Remnant... this is going to be a thing apparently._ He said as he held his face with his hands, and then groaned into them. _Okay, maybe this isn't permanent, i'll just play along for now, and hope that one day I'll go to sleep, and wake up back on Earth._ Hector was the kind of person who did his best not to overthink things, and in this situation he has found himself in. He really could not afford panicking. After brushing his teeth and freshening up, he let himself out of the room, and took a peek at the clock near the corner of his desk.

Turns out his alarm was only loud enough to wake himself up only, so now he was tasked with waking up the rest of his colorful team who are all training to kill monsters from the restful sleep at seven in the morning. It sounded just has fun as it was to actually do, but of course being the leader, he was the one who had to do it.

"Mmm." She whined as she slapped his hand away

"C'mon Ash time to wake u-"

 _ **BRRRRRRR**_ Goes a whistle from behind the wall beside them.

Reggie and Mike both shoot up and get into battle positions at the sudden whistle and Ashley jumped up from the bed and wrapped herself around Hector's head and shoulders to get away from whatever she thinks was attacking them. Hector didn't enjoy it much since he was already losing balance and almost fell a few times if it wasn't for the other wall just a few feet to his right, using it as support to hold up his now top heavy body.

"Boss, man what was that?" Reggie asked tiredly, yawning even as another blast of a whistle pierces through the air.

" _Mmph!_ " Was all that Hector could respond with.

"Eh, must have been the wind or something!" Reggie yawned again and tried going back to sleep, but luckily for Hector it was the M of their team that kept him awake. Mike just silently laughs at the whole situation since he figured it out right away.

 _"Mmph!_ Okay, we're good now." Hector said as he finally managed to push his partner off from around his head, catching his breath as soon as his lungs were able to take in air again.

Ashley opened her eyes for the first time since she was rudely awakened, she stammered off her apologies and stormed off to the bathroom to do her morning routine. It was odd to see her light grey hair with those black streaks down and not in it's usual ponytail. But something tells him that is going to change quickly pretty soon.

"Alright, since that is settled, we gotta go-"

 _ **BRRRR**_ Another piercing sound nearly made him go deaf again, making him cover his ears with a soft gasp as the. From inside the bathroom he could hear a slip and then a thump, followed my a variety of curses yelling at whoever it was blowing that damned whistle. Then screamed out a curse to whoever it was that was actually doing that.

Hector followed up on her curse with one of his own, and banged on the wall to get their attention.

"Hey! What's the point of that?" He asked loudly.

" _Bonzai!_ " Is the only response he got. Making him widen his eyes in shock as he immediately recognizes the voices. It made him feel incredibly stupid that he forgot that he ran into the whole team of girls back in initiation, all of Team RWBY. It nearly made him choke on air but he managed to recover quickly and hide his nervousness with a emotionless mask. After shaking his head to completely bring himself back to reality, he handed his scroll to his other teammates, a hastily yet smart idea running through his mind at the moment. Mostly just to distract him from his own shock.

"Give me your numbers so I can make a group chat for the team." Hector said after he handed it to Reggie, who types his number in and saves it before handing it to Michael. He didn't even have to look at the scroll to type his own number in a save it. Hector figured that he must have spent a lot of time on phone- no, not phones. Scroll's, it was definitely going to be taking some time to get used to all that.

"Awesome, I'll get Ash's number before the end of the day." Hector said as he went to the one massive closet in the room. Of course since he didn't bring himself any clothes, he didn't have any besides some stock school clothing, but of course it seemed like the rest of his team did. There was four sections in the closet, each with labels on them. That explained what Mike and Reggie did while Hector and Ashley packed it in early. Speaking of whom, Michael and Reggie both seemed to be ready to head out of the room already, with their own sets of clothes in their arms.

"We know how girls work so we're going to the public restrooms, and showers to get our stuff done, we'll be back soon." Mike explained easily, something Hector was easily able to understand. He gave them a two finger wave and reminded them where the classrooms were and what time they were supposed to be there. Just because he felt like it was expected of him to do so since he was the leader of this team.

Maybe something like this wouldn't be too bad... being the leader of a team? Sounds fun, sure. If you forget the part where he was the leader of a team of superpowered teenagers who were able to bend steel with their bare hands. And there he was, nowhere near as strong as any of them with not a second of actual combat experience besides some years of grappling and wrestling tournaments. Besides all of the cast and the world of RWBY suddenly becoming his new reality, it didn't seem all that bad. he did miss his family, but for some reason he didn't really miss his own life. That should be touched up on in the near future for sure. But now, it was time to be a leader. Time to be someone actually worth something. With a soft hum to himself. Hector made up his mind, he would make the best of this predicament.

Ashley poked her head out of the bathroom shyly, and asked him to get her the clothes she forgot to bring with her.

Hector sighed, his self-hype moment completely ruined because of the interruption.

Well... maybe not _every_ second of it would be awesome.

* * *

After dealing with that little issue, Michael and Reggie returned to their dorm room. Shortly after that, all of Team HAMR all sit in around in a random empty lunch table that Reggie marked as ours my taking a spray paint can that Hector really hoped came out of a magical back pocket, and not where his messed up mind thought it might have came from. Then proceeded to spray paint the words 'Team HAMR' on the tabletop In multiple colors. Dark red for Hector, dark blue for Ashley, green for Michael and an orange for himself. Hector tried to stop him at first but by the time Reggie started listening to his words he already finished writing the letters.

Ashley decided to sit next to me, while Mike and Reggie are on the other side sat next to each other. They all devoured their food in such a short amount of time that they still had some time to hang out for a few minutes and just talk. Ashley was been much more chatty and friendly that Hector originally thought she could be, even throwing a few jabs his way playfully in the forms of some witty quips. She seems alright so far, not a bad person at all. Pretty, friendly, witty at times. But there was one thing that Hector felt like he needed to get used to, which were those extra set of ears on top of her head.

"So what's it like being a faunus with your traits?" He couldn't help but ask, and hoped that he didn't offend her in any way. Luckily, she didn't seem to mind as she perked up at his question, her canine ears also standing up and at attention. "Do you have super hearing because of the four ears thing or sense of smell because of your canine parts?" He made sure to make it sound like he was genuinely curious, which seemed to have pleased her and maybe a few other faunus listening in. Looks like he was off to a good start already, if there was anything he _was_ good at, it was talking to people in a certain way. By acting like he was something better than what he actually was. The best and worst thing about it was that it worked most of the time.

"I can't really answer that super hearing part, because well I've never known how humans hear, I only know how I hear. But I do know that if someone blew a whistle it hurts, but I definitely got the smell thing." She explained politely. "So please make sure you take a shower ever night, I'll be able to tell if you don't."

"Hehe, sure." Something else popped into his mind. "What about that night vision thing, is that true too?"

"Yeah, it's a thing for all faunus." Reggie answered before she could, surprising his leader and other teammate with his quick response. Just in case Hector somehow managed to miss a person with animal parts, he took a quick glance toward Reggie, looking over his face, the top of his head, and even his exposed arms to see if he happened to have any more patterns or anything of the sort on his body.

"Yeah it's pretty useful when power goes out." Reggie said as he swallowed his food.

"Wait, you're a faunus?" Hector asked him with an arched eyebrow.

"Yeah boss," He confirmed as he flexed one of his arms. "I'm a rhino faunus, but when I was younger I got into an incident and lost it." Reggie explained simply, he must have been able to get over whatever happened to him back then. He even moved his hair to reveal a scar in the middle of his forehead where his horn used to be. It looked like a scarred circle slightly darker then he usual tan-caramel colored skin tone.

"Oh shit… Well with the way you like charging into battle I guess that was a giveaway." Hector said with a shrug. They already had one faunus on the team, why not two? At this point, nothing is going to be able to surprise him.

" _Would all first years please report to their first scheduled class."_ the intercom spoke up in Glynda's voice, and that alone was enough to get most of the people in this cafeteria running scared.

"How did all that time pass already?" Hector asked as he took a peek a the clock on his pho- scroll. Seeing that it is just five minutes before their first class starts. He scrambles to get out the schedule on his scroll to see what class they have, and he originally thought that they had combat training, but saw that he had the times mixed up. "Oh fuck, we're going the wrong way!" He shouted as he re-directed his team to the rightmost hallway, using a map app on his scroll to guide him.

"How do you mess up that badly?" Michael asked, slightly annoyed as he keeps pace with the rest of his team.

"Hey, at least I am trying!" Hector defended. "How come none of you decided to take a peek at the schedule, huh?" He countered with a internal satisfied cheer when he saw that the rest of his teammates flushed and chuckled nervously.

In the end, they all managed to make it barely on time. They actually walked into the classroom right as a green blur zoomed right past them and into the center of the room. If Hector wasn't already in the 'I don't care' kind of mood, he might have been shocked to see someone like Professor Oobleck standing at the head of the classroom, eyes already locked with his.

"Ah! I'm so happy that you could have joined us Team HAMR!" The teacher exclaimed. "Just in time as well, please take your seats next to Team JNPR right over here." The hyperactive professor instructed as he pointed his arm Team JNPR. Hector didn't even respond, at least not verbally. Rushing up to take the open seat beside the blonde of the team, while Ashley next to him, and then Michael and Reggie following after that. Right as the blonde guy was about to introduce himself, the door barged open again, allowing four girls to push through and into the room. They took the last four seats before even the teacher could properly acknowledge them beside looking at them with a slightly agape mouth.

"Ah, it seems like we have a lot of late comers today. I will let it slide just this once since its the first day, but I must warn you all, this will be the only time I allow this." Oobleck warned as he raised a finger to push his glasses back up the bridge of his nose.

As the lesson started, Michael and Ashley already found themselves trying to keep Reggie awake while also trying to keep up with the lesson. Hector keeps trying his best, but he can't do two things at once, so he silently handed off that responsibility to his willing teammates. After a few minutes of that, Hector finally built up the courage to look to his left, only to see a pair of azure eyes already looking back at him. Jaune Arc, here he was, in the flesh.

"Hey I'm Jaune. Jaune arc." Jaune Arc in the fleshed introduced himself with a friendly nod.

"Hector Rivers." Hector didn't miss a beat, and introduced himself in turn with his own kind nod.

"Hector? I haven't heard a name like that like... at all. Where are you from?" Jaune asked curiously, even adding a tilt of his head for extra effect.

"Err..." Hector didn't know how to explain this. "Lets just say that I am just _otherworldly_." He put up air quotes as he said this, technically he did tell the truth. He wasn't really from Remnant, and by the amused look on Jaune's face he could put together that he must have thought that he was foreign or something of the sort. For now, Hector was content with that.

"Nice one, I hear you're the leader of your own team. Right?"

"Yup, that's me." Hector affirmed, before jabbing his thumb in the opposite direction toward his ashen haired friend. "And this is-"

"Mister Arc, Mister Rivers! Care to explain what you two are talking about in the middle of my lecture? On the first day of classes no less!" Oobleck scolded, suddenly appearing in front of both Jaune and Hector and startling them immensely. They stammered to try and defend themselves, much to the amusement of the rest of the class, but only one of them were actually able to form cohesive words in the heat of the moment.

"This blonde guy is my new friend." Hector said simply, and even placed a hand on Jaune's shoulder as the words came out of his mouth.

"And this black haired guy is my new friend." Jaune said in a panic and did the same thing to him, making even the teacher chuckle amusedly.

"I see, well, since you two or so friendly with each other, please refrain from speaking with your new friend during lectures. Or at the very least don't speak to each other loudly as to not disrupt the class." Oobleck said right before he sped away and continued his lecture, something about a faunus war from the past from what Hector was actually able to catch.

"Well... we're off to a great start." Hector said as he leaned back, using his quietest voice.

"Yeah, I'll have to agree with you on that." Jaune said with a soft snicker. "It's nice to meet you though, my mom always did say that friends are just strangers you haven't met yet."

"Yeah..." Hector chuckled nervously in agreement, and it was only thanks to Jaune's denseness that he didn't notice.

* * *

In the middle of the Forest of Forever Fall, a young man roughly around the age of twenty or twenty one years old woke up from his makeshift lean-to tent made out of branches and red leaves. He woke up with a yawn and stepped out of his shelter. He was just like Hector was, he was just walking around the subway at some point in the day and decided to sit down on a bench, it was late at night so he was understandably tired. He fell asleep on that bench, and suddenly woke up in a forest of just red. He was currently wearing simple black jeans, black shoes not really meant for an environment like the one he was in, and a striped black and blue shirt that was snug against his body.

Unlike Hector, he actually liked to keep his body in shape most of the time, and was also able to make shelters for himself in the case of getting lost in a forest like this. At first he was freaking out, who wouldn't when you fall asleep and suddenly wake up in a forest surrounded by nothing but red leaves? But he figured that it was better to stay calm then it was to lose his cool. Especially when he had no idea where he was. Robert Urra has never seen a forest like this before from where he was from, and he was someone who wasn't unused to seeing some spectacles in his life.

"Alright... phase 1 of my foolproof plan." He said to himself as he started traveling through the woods, trying to remember where that stream of water was from before that kept him hydrated the day before. "Try to find out where I am, and then try to find a landmark. Then phase 2-12 is beating the shit out of the person who put me here." He chuckled to himself. Talking to oneself wasn't exactly a healthy thing most of the time, but in his case, it kept him busy and stopped him from thinking about how shitty his situation was. Obviously, someone or _something_ brought him here while he was asleep, and just left him there.

Other then keeping himself alive, there wasn't really much going on in his life at the moment beside worrying about his own family. They must have been worried sick about him, and he them in turn. He would have to get out of here whenever he can, or so he thought to himself. He honestly had no idea where to go from here.

He considered the idea that this scenery looked eerily similar to some spot in a show he loved watching. But he shrugged it off as some silly idea, there must have been someplace like this somewhere in the world. There was a lot of things left to be discovered after all.

Now, where was that stream of water again?

* * *

 _Three hours later..._

The rest of the class went on without any issue, it was mostly thanks to Ooblecks strictness at making sure that no one spoke or got distracted during his class. It was... interesting to say the least. Hector found himself strangely enjoying the less that the Professor - sorry, _Doctor_ was giving them. He made that mistake a few times when he asked some questions throughout the class, earning himself a stern correction each time. The time that went by didn't even feel like a full three hours with how into the topic Hector was. He didn't really know _anything_ about Remnant beside what he was able to watch himself, and he seemingly turned himself into the kind of person who always asked questions throughout the class, not that he cared really.

"We got combat training lets go." Mike said suddenly, cutting off any further deep thought that his leader was having.

"Ah man, I can't wait to finally stretch my muscles." His boyfriend said as he stretched his hands out above his head and let out another yawn. "Lets go!"

"Yeah, let's go team." Hector said as he stood up. Surprisingly, it seemed like Jaune and his team were also going in the same direction. So the two leaders decided to just let their teams join together and walk to their next class. Jaune was chatting with Hector again, the ginger haired one, Nora as she introduced herself started talking to Ashley. And while the faunus didn't really seem to be all that invested in their fast paced introductions and conversation, she seemed to be amused by the ginger haired girl, so they made quick friends. Other then that, Michael and Reggie were talking to both Ren and Pyrrha Nikos respectively. Hector overheard that Michael and Pyrrha actually knew each other from a school in Mistral, and apparently they were good friends there, and also apparently they used to be rivals. Which was great for Hector to know so that he never pissed of Michael, from what he heard, he was the one who was the closest to giving Pyrrha her first tournament loss.

"Oh Jaune, is this the new friend you made?" Pyrrha asked as she caught up with them. Hector was startled a bit to hear her voice, but recovered quickly as he gave her a two finger wave.

"Yeah, that's me." Hector greeted. "Name's Hector Rivers, leader of Team HAMR."

"Pleased to meet you Hector." She greeted back, and didn't point out that besides his last name, he didn't have the kind of name related to a color of some kind. "I am Pyrrha Nikos, Jaune's partner and teammate

 _Stay calm._ Hector had to tell himself. "Good to meet you." He said as he held out his hand in greeting, and smiled when Pyrrha took it happily and shook it. She had a tight grip, but luckily he had aura to numb the pain he felt as the bones in his hands grinded together.

"To you as well, I hope our teams can have wonderful relationship for the duration of our term here." She said kindly as she let go of his hand.

"Yeah... same here." Hector said a little hesitantly.

Ashley was about to speak up to ask about Pyrrha and her time as a champion. But when Glynda Goodwitch suddenly appeared and _glared_ down Hector, they all stopped. Hector froze, and feared for his life. Why would this woman- _dangerous_ woman want anything to do with him? He was practically harmless!

"Did… I do something wrong?" He finally managed to ask. His team along with JNPR all dispersed out into the classroom, making Hector realize that he was actually in the classroom as well. He didn't even remember when he entered to room itself, he must have been too involved with the conversation he was having with Jaune and Pyrrha.

"I'm glad you arrived just on time Mister Rivers." The professor said with no real pleasure in her voice. "You will be sparring in the first practice match today per the Headmaster's personal request. Please, do not disappoint. Now sit, class is just about to go in session."

Hector looked around the classroom a little frantically, seeing that most of the seats and spots were already taken. However, he was lucky to have a partner who came to his rescue during his greatest time of need and whistled to get his attention, and then gestured to the seat beside her. Hector gladly took it and sat down in the empty spot.

"Thanks for that." He said with a bow of his head.

"I couldn't really let my leader just stand there like a deer in headlights now could I?" Ashley asked with a smirk.

"Heh, I appreciate it." Hector said as he thought to himself on what the actual _fuck_ he was going to do in his match. Why Ozpin apparently wanted to see him fight, he didn't know, and likely would never know. "I don't know how to fight and in the next half hour or so I am going to be thrown in there against someone who does, please help." He said suddenly, clapping his hands together in a begging gesture as Ashley stared at him with wide eyes.

"Uh... I don't think I am the best person to ask that question." Ashley said honestly

"At this point, I'll take anything you can give me." The leader of Team HAMR pleaded even more, finally breaking his partner after the fifth please.

"Alright, fine! What weapon do you use?" She asked, trying to get some foundation going first before doing anything else.

"Uh..." Hector looked down at his hands, and clenched them a few times. He didn't really think about that yet, which was another reason for him to curse himself out in the comforts of his own mind. "Yeah... I don't have a weapon to use."

"No training, no aura, no combat experienced, you don't know how to fight, and to top it all off, you don't even use a weapon." Ashley said as she pinched the bridge of her nose, and each time she spat out another truthful statement Hector winced. "Alright, honestly all I have to go off of is your dodging skills from the Deathstalker, so for now just go with that, and try to grab them or something. If you're too close a lot of weapons become useless, try to use your explosive strength to pin them down and eke out a win that way."

"I''l keep that in mind, thanks." Hector sighed and nodded his head in understanding. "What about offense?"

"You're on your own there."

"Sounds like fun..."

"Don't worry, I have full faith in you my _fearless_ leader." Ashley teased with a snicker.

"I am just glad you even have enough faith in me to even fake it, really, it warms the heart."

"Glad I could help!"

"For the first hour and a half of this class we will have three matches. One on one, two on two, and four on four. Each with a maximum time limit of thirty minutes, in order to win you must deplete your opponents aura, or render them unable to fight back. Unnecessary violence will be punished severely and if you kill a fellow student you will be expelled and arrested for murder. Understand?" Miss Goodwitch explains the rules of the bouts quickly and makes it easy to understand. Good for me and any other dummies like me. "Furthermore, after the combat sessions are completed I will assign you and your partner exercises according to the weaknesses of that pair for the remainder of the time we have. If you were involved in a match beforehand it will be optional but I suggest that you take that time to improve yourself. Any questions? Good. Now Mister Rivers please go change as I decide your opponent."

Hector sighed and listened to the teacher, sparing one last look toward to Ashley as she gives him a thumbs up for good luck. Since he had no real combat gear, he would have to go back to his long sleeved shirt and blue jeans. It wasn't much, but it was better than fighting in his school uniform.

"Miss Cain. I'm sure you wouldn't mind sparring with your partner correct?" Miss Goodwitch asked, making Hector stop in his tracks and look back toward his partner, begging her with his gaze to _not_ accept that proposal.

Ashley gave him an apologetic look as she gave her his answer.

"Sure, why not?"

* * *

 **And there we go, REMASTERED chapter 2 is now finished, finally. I didn't think rewriting would be so difficult, but I am managing it so far. Fixed a lot of mistakes and typos already. I am actually embarrassed that I had this posted for so long. So I am glad that I am finally fixing some of it.**

 **Those of you who still see Team HAMR at the top of some chapters, that is the old name. I changed it because well, Hector isn't the only MC anymore. The ones who read this story since the beginning would know that I kinda shifted the role of MC back and forth, and so this new title will be able to fit this story better.**

 **What do you guys think of the remaster? I hope you guys like it as much as I do.**

 **Please review or send me a PM to let me know what you think, if you are new to the story then welcome, if not and you already reviewed chapter 2 back when it came out, then I am sorry but you may have to send me a PM or review as a Guest if you want to let me know what you think again.**

 **Thank you all for reading!**

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	3. A Tale of Two Heroes Chapter 3 REMASTER

**Alright, remaster chapter 3 of this story. Imagine how much fun it is for me to look at my own early cringey work. I will get this done all the way eventually, I have about 12 more chapters to get through. I have faith in myself though.**

 **Just letting you all, that if beyond this point if you see the title :Team HAMR: That is the old title of this story. A Tale of Two Heroes is the new title of this story, and probably will not change at all in the future.**

 **Also, as much as I would love too. I can't get _every_ single mistake I made. There's just too much...**

 **Thanks for reading**

* * *

A Tale of Two Heroes

Chapter 3- Bonding time

Hector sat in the boy's locker room looking for the locker he didn't know if he was assigned or not while wondering what exactly he is going to do in this fight against his partner that he met about three days or so ago.

"You're good at dodging, but good luck with fighting back." Hector chuckled to himself with no real amusement. "Wow Ash, thanks for that amazing advice." He said to himself sarcastically as he searched for any locker that might have the initials H.R on it. Or just any kind of sign that he might have a locker at all. That was until he remembered that all the lockers are numbered, and not named.

"Ugh, I have like two minutes left. Throw me a bone here." Hector said as he began to panic, and grabbed the strands of his hair on top of his head.

As if on command, his scroll vibrated in his pocket just as he finished speaking that sentence, and without really thinking about it he immediately reach into his pocket to fish it out.

Unfortunately, It was a message from the group chat. And it was selfie of Ashley with the arena behind her while she was in her combat attire, she winked at the camera in the picture and the captions that said 'Don't leave a girl waiting ;)'. She of course had to put the winky face there. Hector slumped my head against one of the lockers and began to softly bang it against the locker for a straight minute until he heard footsteps coming up from behind me.

"I surrender!" Hector shouted as he jumped into the best stance he could possibly get into and for no reason whatsoever.

"You look rather tense Mister Rivers, is everything alright?" Ozpin asked as he took a step forward. His face had an amused smirk on it, and once again Hector found himself wondering why the headmaster was speaking to him of all people in private.

Despite that, Hector stood up straight while wearing a nervous smile, realizing that he had just made a fool of himself in front of the headmaster of Beacon Academy.

"No actually, I can't say that I'm alright because I am about to fight my ninja partner who actually knows how to fight. Unlike me. So, all in all I am not doing so well, and I forgot to mention that I don't know what locker is mine so I can't get the clothes that I came in with, and I have about… thirty seconds left? I think? I think it's safe to say that I am about to get humiliated out there."

Ozpin moves to see if Hector is alright when he starts coughing heavily. But stopped when he waved his hand signaling to him that he was okay. After a few seconds Hector caught his breath. However, when he fully recovered, he continued his rant "And i'm still trying to figure out what the fuck I am doing here and why you have so much faith in me for some unknown reason." As he said those words, he slid down against the lockers and landed on his bottom with his face hidden in his hands. Completely exasperated.

Ozpin nodded in understanding and stepped up closer once again, then squatted down to eye level.

"Do you think I've made a mistake?" Ozpin asked him suddenly, snapping Hector out of his stupor.. "Do not worry about time by the way, I have made it clear to the Professor that you will take as long as you need with me in order to mentally prepare yourself."

"Well, to answer your question yes, I think you did. But I since there is most likely going to be an explanation on why you do." Hector said as he let one leg rest on the ground.

Ozpin made an approving humming sound as he stood up, and tapped his cane on a locker that was right next to Hector. It opened quickly and revealed the very clothes that Hector has been looking for, but this time it was a little augmented. So subtly that it was nearly unnoticeable, he turns around and faces the door in which he came in through.

"Go on, change. As you do I will explain myself." Ozpin said as he turned his back to Hector to give him the privacy he needed to comfortably change his clothing.

"Of course it was right next to me this whole time."Hector muttered to himself in his surprise as he stood up and started to change into the clothes in the locker. "Wait, my clothes weren't like this when I first came here." He said as he noticed some of the changes.

"I had them ordered for you the moment you, and your team defeated the Deathstalker." Ozpin answered without hesitation. At this point, it didn't really surprise the Earthling.

"Wow, thanks man. So what were you going to say?" Hector asked as he slipped his shirt off over his head.

"True, I was going to question you, and then send you away when I first laid eyes on you." Ozpin mentioned as Hector moved down to take off his pants.

"What stopped you?"

"When Miss Cain unlocked your aura I saw a very unique kind of aura, a kind of aura that I have never seen before. That is especially unusual since I have lived a long enough life to know about the many varieties of aura."

"Wait, there's different variations of aura?" Hector asked as he slipped on his new black shirt.

The new combat pants now wore was an olive green in color with built in flexible knee pads that wrapped around his entire knee. It was extremely comfortable, which was suggestive due to their light baggy nature. It almost felt like Hector was wearing nothing at all, even when he put on the brown leather belt provided for him. After fully dressing himself, Hector turned back to Ozpin expectantly.

"We can get to that another time." Ozpin said as he took another sip from his mug of coffee.

"So… Im special? Also what did my 'unique' aura look like?" Hector asked next after quickly accepting the headmasters terms. He looked down to his black shirt to see some kind of red dragon design that travels from behind my back and the head stopped right where his heart was. It was very good looking, so he had no complaints about it.

"In a way yes. As for how 'special' as you put it, I am not quite certain of that as of yet. Finally, your aura is red, I know that is quite common but let me continue. When I look into your soul, which is the source of your aura, I see an undying blaze, and when I focus on your whole body I can see it covered in your aura that appears to look like a purple haze. What's unique about it is that it never goes away. Almost like it is waiting to explode out with power and heat. That is the reason I allowed you to become a student here despite the fact that you have little to no combat experience." Ozpin explained, doing his best to make it easy to understand.

"Huh, so I am special. Man my team is going to be so jealous if I survive today." Hector said as he kneeled down to tie his dark brown combat boots. Anything else I should know? Maybe some advice to not get myself killed by my own partner?"

Ozpin could only offer the leader of Team HAMR a smile as he placed a hand on his shoulder. "Surprise me, it is what you are best at so far." He said as he patted his shoulder, and then turned around to head back to the classroom. Gesturing toward himself for Hector to follow him.

Hector sighed to himself and nodded his head, thinking on the advice that was given to him as he walked with the headmaster. "Surprise him he says… Well, all I can do is my best here. Gotta pull every trick out of the book for this one though.

Hector shook his head to stop myself from thinking any more negative thought. Moving faster so that he could catch up to the headmaster. Together, they walked out of the locker room. As soon as he stepped out however, everyone in the room including Team RWBY all laid their eyes on him, scaring him out of the mental pep talk he was just about to give himself.

"Uh… Did I do anything wrong?" I ask as I look around the room.

"Lovin the new look boss!" Reggie shouts from the other side of the room, making himself the new target of attention. If it was a part of his plan to become that, then Hector would thank him later. But if not, he'd probably still do the same thing.

"Get down!" Mike whisper screamed as he yanked Reggie down back into his seat.

"What? I'm trying to help him, and besides he does have pretty sweet clothes on." Reggie whined.

As Hector tried to walk down to the arena without so much as looking left or right, he couldn't help but overhear a certain group of girls chatting about him.

"Wow, I didn't think that guy could clean up so well." Yang said absentmindedly as she stared at Hector in the back, eyes looking all over his body while her little sister focused on what he didn't have.

"Does he not have a weapon?" Blake asked what was on Ruby's mind as she also notices a lack of a weapon.

"Of course he does. He must have them concealed in those long sleeves or those pants. I'm sure they wouldn't allow a student to fight Grimm and criminals with their bare hands." Weiss said with a glorified huff, as if she knew the answer from the start.

"It would be so cool if he didn't though! Just imagine someone who is able to beat up Grimm and bad people with just their bare hands! So cool!" Ruby childishly cheered at the mere thought of it. She read an adventure story about someone able to do that, for it to come into real life would be amazing to her.

"That would be cool if he did fight with just his hands. I wonder if he can match me?" Yang wondered as she grows a competitive smirk on her face.

"Yang, please don't start a fight with our neighbors just to see who would win." Ruby pleaded as she placed a hand on her sisters elbow.

"Oh this is the guy that lives next door to us? The one with a carved in team name on the door? What was the name… Team Hummer?" Yang pondered, getting it three quarters correct.

"I believe it was Team HAMR, Yang." Blake corrected, not even bothering to look up from her book.

"Eh, whatever."

"That girl… she's a faunus." Blake points out, quite surprised when she notices Ashleys droopy dog ears.

"Yeah so? I like her weapons, I might ask her to let me check them out after classes are over." Ruby said as she turned her eyes to the other girl in the center of the arena. Eyes practically glowing at the sight of her dual blue curved blades.

Not hearing the rest of their conversation, Hector kept heading down the stairs without so much as looking behind himself. For some reason, the stairs felt longer than they should have been. As he did so, he was thinking about how exactly he was going to last the entire duration of the match without tiring himself out or losing. If he could make it past the first minute that is. He did do wrestling not too long ago, so maybe he could find a way to pin her down and win that way?

Hector smirked to himself at the thought. Maybe I can win this match, I just gotta tire her out and catch her off guard!

"Mister Rivers, I must let you know that for this match and every match you are involved in will have no time limit. This stipulation was given by the headmaster himself, so every match you are a part of will only end by ring out or if you or your opponents aura level gets into the red. Understood?" Miss Goodwitch explains from her little floating platform.

Hector's face paled as soon as the professor said the first part of that whole thing. There went his plan to tire her out.

"Yeah… I understand." Hector said with a heavy sigh as he started to roll his shoulders and crack his neck. If he was going to get his ass kicked, he might as well be flexible while it happened.

"Well boss, you ready?." Ashley asked him as she places her hands on the hilts of her swords.

"As ready as I'll ever be I guess." Hector said, hiding his true fear behind a mask of neutrality.

Ashleys smile stayed on her face, even as Glynda Goodwitch started the countdown to the start of their sparring match. "Are both combatants ready?" She asked mid countdown.

"Ready."

"Sure."

Hector started to get nervous the closer the Professor got down to the number zero. His heart was beating up in his ears, and his throat felt dry already. He could feel himself start to sweat before the match even started. All the while his partner simply got into a low stance, ready to pounce the second the word zero is announced to them.

"Begin!" Glynda yells, cutting her hand through the air as she began the match.

Immediately, with speeds that his untrained eye can't see. Ashley dashed towards him as a mere white and blue blur. When she reappeared, the faunus slashed diagonally at him at the chest, to which he barely spotted the attack coming at the last possible he without thinking managed to maneuver his body out of the way to dodge the attack, shouting his surprise as he did so.

"Oh Fu-" He cut himself off when he remembered who his teacher was at the moment.

After that, he dove into a role away from his aggressor to gain some distance, and then as soon as he landed back on his feet he turned his body to face her again. Ashley jummed curiously as she gets ready to lunge again, surprised that Hector didn't get hit by her first attack. Quickly however, her eyes narrowed, and once again she dashed at Hector before he could get too full of himself. But this time, she moved in a more unpredictable pattern, it wasn't like Hector was actually able to keep up with her, he just got lucky the first time.

The second time, he was not so lucky.

When she appeared in front of him again, he wasn't able to get his arms up in time, and he dodged in the wrong direction. When he saw the blade getting closer to his body, he panicked and pushed his arm out in front of his face. Surprising himself and his partner when the blade clashed with his forearm, creating a small shockwave as Hector felt his bones shake under her incredible strength.

Once they broke off, they both took a glance to the aura gauge, noting that Ashley was still at a hundred, while Hector went down ten percent. Still though, it was a miracle that he only lost that much when he was expecting his arms to be cut up at the very least. But he'd take it for what it was.

While gritting his teeth, Hector put all of his strength into pushing back against her. Surprising her with his explosive amount of strength. She was momentarily knocked off balance, but regained control even faster than when she lost it. When she recovered, she looked to her partner with a competitive grin, as if saying that she was going to get serious if he kept this up.

Being filled with newfound confidence for having lasted more than thirty seconds. Hector did his best to throw a punch at her. But it was slow and choreographed, and Ashley was easily able to dodge it and slash up his side, making him wince in pain as he lurched forward. He recovered from the new sensation of pain, and tried to throw another punch at her, which yet again Ashley dodged quite easily, hitting only the air and the tip of her ponytail. As she was dodging, she got low to the ground and threw her foot up into his gut, making him cough up saliva.

But that was when she made her first mistake. Hector grabbed her leg before she could pull it back, and threw her to the other side of the stage. She landed with grace, but for the first time her aura went down just a tiny amount, and she found herself wincing at the dull pain she felt in her ankle.

What neither of them noticed was that his hands at that moment flamed red, giving him the strength he needed to throw her like that.

"You're doing great boss!" Reggie cheered for his leader. "Mike, what do you think so far?" He asked the other member of the team.

"He lasted longer than I thought he would already, perhaps we don't need to bud in for him." Mike said without really paying much attention, and continued to read his book.

"Wow, he's doing great so far with just his hands!" Ruby exclaimed as she sat excitedly watching the match unfold.

"Sh! Don't distract me." Yang complained as she kept her eyes locked onto the sparring match, even though nothing was happening at the time this time. She was actually happy to see that she wasn't the only one who preferred to use her body as a weapon. Even if she didn't know that Hector just didn't have a weapon to begin with.

Hector rubbed his stomach with one of his hands and coughed heavily, but kept his full attention on his partner. In a strong stance just on the other side of the arena. His stomach hurt a lot, and for some reason his hands burned. But Hell, if he was going to go down, he might as well try to at least make his partner get serious.

"Mister Rivers, please remember to activate your aura in defense against any and all attacks." Glynda spoke up before the match could resume. "While it is mostly passive, you still need to think about using your aura instead of defending with purely your body."

"Oh… so that's how it works." Hector said as he took his hand off his stomach, and for once actually thought about using his aura to keep his body still in one piece. "That feels better, thanks for that- Shit!"

He got cut off when his partner threw one of her blades at one of his legs which just barely grazes the side of his knee. He was going to get ready to dodge the next one, but notices that the blade embedded in the ground next to his foot had a red tint to it.

His eyes widened as he realized exactly what that meant, and with the use of his aura and dodging skills. He jumped, and dove away from the explosion, which still catched him around his back, but didn't do nearly as much damage as it would have if he just stood there trying to block it himself.

He landed on his back when he rolled with the momentum given to him, and before he could push himself back up, Ashley pounced right on him, mounting him with a knee in his stomach, and using her one blade to slash and stab at him, draining even more of his aura away. He did his best to block most of the attacks with his arms, but more than a small amount of them got through. It looked as if the fight was about to be over, and Glynda was going to call the match, but stopped when she spotted a red ember start to smoke off of his arms.

"Alright Ash, you're seriously started to piss me off!" He yelled as he slammed her wrist away with his own, and slammed his fist as hard as he could into her face. This time, he was easily able to notice the red flame around his hand, and the fact that his partner actually recoiled back hard. Her grip loosening and incredible amount. Hector saw his chance to grapple her to the ground and reverse their positions, but his ninja of a partner flipped backwards with the momentum given to her and landed several feet away from him.

Another glance to the aura gauge told him that his partners aura dropped a significant amount suddenly, a whole twenty five percent, leaving her at around seventy four percent of her aura. While he sitting not so comfortably at fifty eight percent of his aura. What that told him however, was that he just had more aura than she did. She did mention that he had a lot, and as evident from their fight, and after one hit landing on her. She seemed to have a lot less aura than he did.

"Where did that come from?" Ashley asked him as she rubbed the spot where his fist hit her in the face. She was actually surprised by the force of that attack, Hector didn't look like he could have that amount of power behind one of his strikes, and she was certain that this might have been a cake walk judging by how he was panicking about a potential match in this class.

"No idea, I think it was because you got too close to my neck with that sword, and I might have gotten a little emotional about it." Hector answered as he looked down to his fist, just catching the end of the flames as it faded away. He was barely able to notice it himself even though it was his own power.

"Awe, I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings." Ashley said with a certain amount of sarcasm and bite to it. Hector chuckled in return as he spotted the blade she threw at him earlier still stabbed in the ground. From the corner of his eye he could see his partner's face go from amused to something akin to franticness.

"Isn't this the thing that nearly blew me up?" Hector asked as he yanked the sword out of the ground. It was a lot harder than he made it look, but he didn't need her to know that.

"Hey, don't touch that!" Ashley exclaimed, standing up straight, and actually growling at her opponent.

Hector widened his eyes and took a step back, ready to defend himself the best he could if his partner attacked. But she didn't, she simply stared at her sword. Hector thought about the weapon, looked at it in his hands, and thought that he'd rather deal with the Ashley that was toying with him.

Ashley stopped the blade from sliding across the ground when it got close enough for her to do so, and then squatted down to pick it up. When she did, she gave her leader and questionable and puzzling look as if she was asking him why he would do something like that in a middle of a fight.

"It wasn't like I actually knew how to swing that thing." Hector explained with a shrug, trying his best to keep a straight face and not let it be known that he was actually afraid of the consequences if he didn't give it back to her.

Ashley actually chuckled at him as she twirled her blade with one of her thumbs, and then got back into her stance. "You know, you're actually alright." She said with a teasing wink.

"Thanks, are you going to take it easy on me now?" Hector asked next, more than hopeful for the answer to be a positive yes.

Ashley even made it look like she was considering it too. "I mean, I don't think I can go any easier on you." That sparked a rhythm of giggles from the class at Hectors expense.

"Oh, great. You got jokes now." Hector muttered as he got back into the best stance he could get into, doing his best to ignore the last remnants of the giggling fit the class was just in.

Ashley snickered before she dashed toward Hector again, he thought that he was improving his reaction speed when he was actually able to keep track of her this time, but when he saw the smile on her face he realized that she was actually doing what he said and taking it easy on him even more than she was doing before.

He was able to dodge most of Ashleys attacks this time, every attack that landed cut down another percentage point of his aura and he didn't get another chance to land another one of his thunderous blows back. But for someone with zero combat experience before hand fighting against someone who evidently had plenty, he was still doing relatively well on the defensive side of things.

"Wow, you really took my advice to heart." Ashley said as she swung her swords, and once again missed as Hector narrowly dodge them by a hair's width.

"It was good advice!" He replied as he jumped back from a slash.

"Mister Rivers, you won't win the match if you continue to only dodge. Start going on the offensive or else I will stop this match myself. Miss Cain, I know he is your partner and it is good that you would like to treat him well, but you won't be helping him by going easy on him as you are now. Fight seriously." The Professor demanded, tapping herself on the shoulder with her riding crop impatiently.

"Shit..." Hector said to himself as he watched as his partner shrugged at him and saw her mouth the word 'Sorry' at him.

She went back to a blur kind of speed and before Hector knew it he was roundhouse kicked straight in the side of the ribs. Ashley landed several more hits after that, all on and around his midsection, and to the same side where she first kicked him. Ashley took the Professor's advice and powerfully roundhouse kicked her poor leader one more time in the same spot when he was off guard, his aura was put up just after the kick was landed, which made Hector cough up spit and a tiny amount of blood too small to see.

Ashley smiled to herself for finally landing a few good hits on her leader, even if he was a bit too slow for her. But that smile quickly faded when she realized that she got her ankle grabbed again. She barely had time to widen her eyes when she was single legged takedown to the ground, this time with her leader on top. He let go of her leg and forced it underneath him, and used one of his own legs to pin down one of her wrists, and his free hand to pin down her other hand.

Hector barely caught up with himself when he realized that he was actually in the dominant position. Despite losing the combat part horribly, and being down by a lot of aura, he was still able to pull something like this off amazingly. Ashley quickly learned how big of a mistake she made when the grip on her right left wrist tightened significantly to the point where it almost hurt.

She tried to get him off of her by bucking up, but with the way that Hector was positioned he barely moved and inc before locking her down right away. She was trapped underneath his surprisingly heavy weight, and couldn't muster up the strength to push her off from her very disadvantageous position. She scolded and berated herself for being so careless, and awaited for a fist to slam into her face as her punishment. But when pain didn't come, she cracked her eyes open to see that her leader was threatening to punch her, but not going through it.

"Yield." Hector said as he tightened his grip, and lowered his fist back down to his side.

Ashley didn't really know what to think. She was destroying him in their match the past few minutes, and when he finally got into the perfect position for revenge, he decided to not take it. She looked up at him with a questioning gaze, she wanted to speak but the words failed her.

"I don't see a reason to beat down someone who's already in a bad spot." Hector said with a smirk as he let her go, and stood back up. He offered her a hand to help her up, and she looked at it with a bemused expression.

"You're one of the weird kinds then." She said with a scoff as she took his hand. "You got me here, I yield."

From the corner of his eye, Hector could see Ozpin nodding approvingly at him, before disappearing out of the room. He got lucky, there was no arguing that. His partner got cocky and overconfident, and the one time she let her guard down was when he used his slightly superior strength and heavier weight to pin her down. If this was not a sparring match, he would have lost. Hands down.

"That was very mature of you Mister Rivers" Glynda complimented. "Now everyone as you just witnessed there is more than one way to win a fight in a tournament like setting, if you can pin your opponent and they can't fight back then it will be considered a victory for you, even if you are the one with less aura." Miss Goodwitch explained. "Mister Rivers, you must focus some training on aura control, as well as combat skill. While you did win, you did so only out of luck." She says as she begins to patch up all the damage that was done to the ring.

"Yeah… sounds about right." Hector said as he nodded his head, and rubbed his stomach and ribs were he was kicked multiple times.

"Miss Cain, you did a great job in the beginning, but you got overconfident and it costed you the match. Since you did not give it your all, I cannot give you a proper evaluation. Next time, do not hesitate to give it your all, no matter who I put you up against."

"Understood mam." Ashley said with a nod. Even though it was a blow to her pride, she did not think it wise to talk back to the woman.

"Good, now both of you, change back into your school clothing and take your seats afterwards.

* * *

Hector headed back up the stairs and into the locker room, once he was out of view he folded up in pain and fell to the floor coughing. "Fuck… fuck… fuck that hurt… so much pain" He said as he held the side where he was viciously assaulted by his partner. He lift his shirt up to reveal a nasty bruise that covers that entire side. He made the rookie mistake once again and forgot to activate his aura in defense when Ashley went for that roundhouse kick, he blocked some of her attacks with his aura but after that the inexperience in combat and aura usage showed itself. Tears even start to form up at the corner of his eyes since he was not used to experiencing this amount of pain.

Mike and Reggie wanted to congratulate him for his upset victory. Well, Reggie wanted to at least, he just dragged Michael along with him. They entered the locker room with smiles on their faces, but they quickly disappeared at the sight of the young man on the ground in pain.

"Dude you alright!?" Reggie asked nervously as he moved to his side on one knee. His mood changing from happy to concerned on a complete dime, even Michael showed a decent bit of concern.

Returning to the leader of Team HAMR, Reggie helped him up and onto one of the benches. Hector points them to the locker that has his school clothes in it so they could get it for him.

"What happened?" Reggie asked, looking to his recently established leader with a curious expression.

"He forgot to use his aura to protect himself again." Mike said as he pointed out the massive bruise he had the left side of his body.

"Yeah that's about it, it just kinda hurts to move, and well, breathe. I'm sure I'll get better soon." Hector said as he put on the first shirt of his school uniform, hiding his bruise from the world.

"It's just a bruise so it should get better over time, just not quickly because of the size of it. I recommend practicing with your aura before you go into battle again and get yourself hurt worse than before." Mike suggested as he helped him put on the coat that went over the shirt.

"Wow, I think that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me." Hector pointed out playfully.

"Well… I feel a little bad for leaving you out in the open like that the other day for no good reason. So consider that an apology." Mike explained.

"That means you're his friend now." Reggie whispered to his leader, which earned a smack to the back of the head from his partner. Hector chuckled at their antics, thinking on how amusing being with them constantly is going to be like. While they're distracted he slipped on his school pants after he took off the combat pants that he got from Ozpin, and then quickly tied on his school shoes.

"Thanks for the help guys. You're the best teammates anyone could ask for." The leader of HAMR complimented as he stood back up.

"Oh stop!" Reggie playfully said, playing at being flustered.

"After the day is over you and Ashley need to set things straight with each other, being on good terms with your partner is very important since you're going to be stuck with each other for the next four years. You might as well be tolerant with each other at the very least." Mike says as he rounds up Reggie and leaves Hector to his thoughts. Mike stopped after Reggie leaves the room and looks back at him, one last thing on his mind he needs to know right away.

"Why didn't you hit her when you had her pinned?" Mike asked with an arched eyebrow. Hector hesitates with his answer because he really doesn't know why. He just saw her in that helpless state, and just couldn't take advantage of it.

"Well... its like you said before I think, might as well get along with her if we're going to be partners for the next four years." When that didn't work, Hector rephrased himself. "I didn't see punching a girl who was already pinned as a good honorable thing to do, how about that?"

"Huh, good choice." Mike said before he followed his own partner out of the locker room, leaving his leader alone with nothing but his thoughts.

When he leaves Hector thinks back on everything that has happened, especially on the matter of his team, and the future.

"Huh… Next four years huh- Wait a second…" Hector mentally, and physically, slapped himself in the face. "Oh gosh… do I have to do something about Cinder and all that shit?" He thought to himself as he finished tying his other shoe and shakily stood up. "I am going to need to train a lot for that to even become possible…"

While thinking on that, Hector started to walk with a small limp as he made his way back to the classroom part of the combat training room. He took the same seat he was in before when he asked Ashley about what he should do, and he didn't expect her to come back to sit next to him like after what happened. He leans his head back on his seat until he feels someone tap his shoulder.

"Hey!"

He opened his eyes faster than he closed them as he heard a familiar voice. His eyes colored eyes staring right back at him with unmistakable blonde hair. Hector gets startled at how close she is and almost falls out of his chair with a yelp, earning a giggle from Yang as she sits on the desk in front of him.

"So I noticed you like fighting with your fists as well. I like how you handled your partner." Yang said, leaning on her side facing toward him.

Hector was too bewildered to respond, and could only speak in Uh's and huh's.

"Yang! I told you not to go after him right after he came out of the locker room." Ruby complained as she walked up to her big sister, followed by Weiss, and Blake.

"Sorry! I just couldn't help myself." Yang replied with a shrug of her shoulders.

"He must be tired after that match he just had. I think it'd be a better to talk to him in lunch later today if you're that interested in him." Blake suggested as she noticed the dark rings around his eyes.

"Oh, you do have jokes! I like this version of you." Yang fired back with a smirk, earning a roll of the eyes from her partner.

Hector couldn't exactly speak at the moment since all four members of team RWBY are all of the sudden right in front of him, and talking about him... To say the least, he was more than a little shell shocked.

"You!" Weiss shouted suddenly and pointed an accusatory finger almost directly into his nose.

"Good morning!" Hector greeted back with a nervous chuckle, earning a snort of amusement from the blonde of the team.

Weiss however, was nowhere near as amused.

"How did you get the teachers to let you fight without a weapon?" Weiss asked in a suspicious voice.

"I… didn't." He responded with hesitation since he didn't really know what else to say. "How would I be able to convince ANY of the teachers her to let me fight without a weapon?" He pointed out, gently moving her finger away from his face with one of his own.

"Wow, over me that fast?" Ashleys voice called out from behind him. Surprised he looks at her with a weak smile, as does Team RWBY.

"Mission abort, everyone fall back!" Ruby whisper screams as she grabs the collars of all the girls and pulls them back with her semblance. How she managed to grab the collars of three girls when she only has two hands? Hector was too tired to bother to think about it.

"Oh Ash, I thought the next time I saw you would be when you kill me in my sleep." He mentions as she walks over to him and sits down in the same spot as before. He can sense a faint emotion from her, he can't quite put a finger on it but it almost felt like… guilt?

Ashley sighed sadly before looking to him.

"Mike told me that you didn't protect yourself properly with your aura." Ashley mentions, now he can really feel the guilt coming from her. This side effect from unlocking someone's aura is going to really help him to read Ashley in the future.

"Oh… he told you about that… Yeah basically my entire left side is bruised a lot, but I'll get better don't worry." Hector said with a wave of his hand.

"Show me." Ashley demanded suddenly.

"Well this is a little sudden, usually when girls say that to me it takes a lot of dates befo-"

"No, you idiot! Take off your shirt and show me what I did to you!" Ashley cut him off from his tease by she whisper screaming at him, attracting the attention of some of the other students around them.

"Ash I'm not going to take off my shirt, and show my bruise to everyone in the room, but since you insist on seeing me with my shirt off we can do it when classes are over. Deal?"

A glare is all he get as a response.

"Alright thats a yes in my book, just letting you know."

"Mhmm. Just like I'm letting you know that if I was serious I would've beaten you in seconds."

Ah, so that's why she was in a bit of a bitchy mood...

"Oh, I have no doubt about that, I just got really lucky you decided to kick me in the same spot like five times." Hector said as he rubbed the side of his ribs again for emphasis.

"It was actually seven times." Ashley corrected with a smirk.

"Oh really? In that case, shut up."

Both of them started to chuckle at each others expense. Enjoying the small moment they had together, but they were silenced by the mere gaze of the female professor.

"Mister Rivers! Miss Cain! Is there something you two wish to share with us?" Miss Goodwitch shouted to them suddenly.

"Nothing!" Hector, and Ashley shout back in unison.

"Then be quiet. The selection for the duels battle is about to commence."

* * *

The duels matchups ended up being two random teams that Hector didn't really care about, Team No one cares and Team who? Exactly.

After that, it was just workouts. Hector had trouble with the machines, but Reggie was happy to assist him. While Mike and Ashley worked out together, Reggie was showing him the ropes the whole time. When the bell rang, the leader made a mental note to give Reggie some kind of reward for his well needed help.

"Oh, I am so happy that is over." Hector said as he walked out of the classroom, rubbing one of his sore shoulders.

"That was so boring." Reggie muttered his agreement

"Well it was good for me because I literally knew nothing about those machines." Hector replied "Thanks for the help by the way."

"No problem!" Reggie smiled. "That's what teammates are for!"

"Well good for you, I believe we have to wait here for the professor for Grimm Studies do we not? I think I remember you screaming at us about that." Mike remarked as they all took their seat, in the usual Team HAMR order that they subconsciously came up with.

"Yeah, I remember that like it happened last night," Hector paused for a second, drawing the silence out. "Oh wait… Moving on, after this there's lunch so at least there is that, and after that I think we have one more and than we have some free time. I think I should spend that trying to unlock my semblance." He said as he remembered the flaming red fist that just popped up in his mind. He knew something was up when Ashley got launched across the arena, and his hand burned with power he didn't know he had.

"Monsters! Demons…" A booming voice sounds off that catches everyone's attention. He didn't know how but the entire room that was just a combat arena was just transformed into a lecture hall without anyone noticing. He tried to wrap his head around that as he looked into the face of the very bushy mustache bearing professor. Behind him is a very large white board with every type of Grimm listed on it with body parts and weaknesses listed.

"Prowlers of the night. Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names. But I, merely refer to them as prey. Hu-hah!" Professor begins his lecture with a little joke that literally no one laughs at. Hector could swear he even heard crickets, and tried not to think on why and how they actually got there.

"Haha… Uuh, and you shall to! Upon graduating from this prestigious academy. Now as I was saying, Vale, as well as the three other kingdoms, are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world…" Mister Port begins his lecture. Hector slumped on his head against the desk before the lecture even started. In his mind, he remembered that Port will soon list off the traits and qualities of a leader, then Weiss be be like 'I am!' And then she'll barely kill off the Grimm and then get all bitchy with Ruby only to forgive her, and get her coffee at night.

At least that's what he thought would happen.

"...Now who thinks that they are the embodiment of these traits?" Mister Port asks the class.

"I do sir!" Weiss immediately raised her hand as I thought she would.

"Excellent! Mister Rivers please go get your combat gear and come down here."

Wait, what...

"Wait, what?" Hector echoed the thoughts in his mind. "I wasn't the one who volunteered." He felt the need to point out.

"Yeah! It was me!" Weiss shouts off hoping to get her spot back.

"Nonsense! I wish to see what our barehanded huntsman in training can do in battle against a Grimm! Now young man please get your gear, I will be waiting patiently."

Why...

"The fuck…" He muttered as he slammed his head against the table. Reggie helpfully whispered to him his good lucks as he patted his back slowly.

"Don't worry boss, if you get into too much trouble I'm sure the Professor will stop the fight." Michael said with a yawn. Showing just how much of his support he was willing to throw into the mix.

"Yeah hopefully…" Hector groaned into his desk for good measure.

"Mister Rivers, I am quite sure I called you down did I not?" Professor Port asked loudly. More than loud enough for Hector to hear him.

"Alright, I'm going!" He exclaimed as he got up to go get changed again, luckily the locker rooms were still in the same spots and it didn't take as long to find his stuff since Ozpin sent him the information on where his locker is and what the code for it is. How and why he knew the perfect time to send it to him, Hector didn't want to think about. He had a bad enough headache as it was.

"Young man, are you ready to face your opponent?" Mister Port asked with a goofy grin which was hidden under that mustache of his.

"As ready as I'll ever be." Hector said with a sigh, already trying to concoct some kind of plan in his head to get through yet another fight.

"Great! Now this Grimm is usually saved for the older students, but I've been given specific instructions from the headmaster himself to give you specifically, a harder opponent." Mister Port reveals as he begins to unlock the cage.

"...Hijo de perra." (...Son of a bitch) Hector mumbled to himself as he rubbed his face in annoyance.

The cage opened up to reveal not a boarbatusk, but an Alpha Beowolf.

"¡¿POR QUE?!" (WHY?!) Hector shouted as he jumped back from the monsters immediate attack.

Since he had no weapon the Grimm was going to be even more aggressive since it thinks that Hector will be easy prey. It looked like much larger Beowolf but with more bone armour on its torso and arms, all connecting to its bone helmet. It swings its paws wildly at him as Hector dodges every single one the best he can… Which meant that he managed to dodge the first two swipes, trips a bit. Then gets knocked to the side by claw to his sides (his bad sides at that), stumbles and falls on his butt to accidentally avoid a bite, and then gets knocked across the arena with a claw uppercut. He gets up and ducks under a lunging horizontal swipe of the alpha and kicks it behind the knee, but it does nothing as it just reaches back and hits him away.

"Ah, I see that you are a sturdy one and also… decent at dodging! But how will you be able to take down such a powerful and durable opponent?" Professor Port commentated as he stands with his weapon hidden behind his leg just in case he needed to step in.

"Usually I'd run the Hell away, but I don't think that is an option this time." Hector muttered to himself right before the alpha started charging at him again. This time, there was no dodging it, Hector got shoulder charged to the other side of the arena, his aura taking a heavy it.

"Okay there's no way he is going to be able to win this without a weapon." Blake commented as she even started to feel a little concern for the stranger.

"He'll be fine Blakey! I can win a fight against an Ursa with just my hands I'm sure he can beat a Beowolf." Yang boasted.

"Yang you have Ember Celica to power up your punches, he has nothing." Blake points out.

"I have faith in him." Ruby says as she stands up, then gestures for her teammates to do the same. "Let's cheer for him! It might help."

"Aw my lil sis is making friends!" Yang teased as she placed hands on her heart, and pretended to faint.

"Shut up, and cheer!" Ruby demanded, not even registering the tease.

Hector was barely dodging some of the attacks now as he was beginning to understand some predictable patterns… but also to run out of stamina, his body wasn't used to moving this fast for so long, and he still didn't recover fully from his match with Ashley.

He tried to counter a couple times but his bare fists, but his natural strength wasn't enough to even put a dent in it and he was losing ground, and aura. He wanted to summon up the strength that he had before, but it came to no avail. His aura was blocking all of the damage so far but he could feel himself running out of it already.

"You got this Hector!" He heard the high pitched cheer that no doubt comes from one of the girls from Team RWBY. He chanced a quick glance at the source of the voice and notice Ruby, Yang and Blake all standing and cheering with a flag that says Team HAMR on it, he wanted to ask how exactly they made something like that so quickly. But he sorta had a giant monster to fight at the moment.

"Boss! Go for its legs!" Reggie shouted out helpfully like it wasn't like that was the first thing he tried to do.

Hector chanced another glance to his own team to see Reggie cheering for him and Mike and Ashley also with Team HAMR flags. Michael at least tried to show that he was supportive by actually looking down at the arena, while Ashley was just playing on her scroll with her free hand while waving the flag with her other.

"Alright… fine." Hector said to himself as he cracked his neck.

With newfound confidence he pushed past his own exhaustion and ducked under another swipe from the monster and kicked at its leg again, but this time his leg flamed up just like his fist did before, and he watched with awe as the alphas leg was broken.

The monster roared in pain and tried to reach behind itself to hit him again like it did before, and to it's credit it did actually hit unfortunately for the Grimm, Hector grabbed its arm, and used his explosive strength along with a bit of red flames to wrestle it down to the ground, and stuck his knee on its back as he locked its arm between his free knee and that same arm. Next thing he did was cock his fist, and slam it into the back of it's skull.

"Gah, fuck!" He shouts as he shook his hand of the pain. He can't stop though, he was running out of energy soon from keeping the alpha in place.

"Don't forget to use your aura!" Professor Port happily tipped him off as he twirled the ends of his mustache.

"Oh, right." Hector said as he thought about his aura surrounding his fist.

He cocked his fist back once more and with a scream, and this time with a flaming fist he punched the alphas head again, this time cracking its bone helmet. it really felt good for him, and his hand didn't almost break a second time. He cocked his fist back and punched it again, over, and over, and over again. He screamed even as black blood spurted onto his body, and face as he pummeled the alphas head into the ground with unnatural strength.

"You. Mother. Fucking. COCK!" Hector screamed between punches.

With one final roar he punched as hard as he could, breaking apart the monsters head and hitting the ground. Causing a small shockwave of cracks around the point of which his fist connected with the ground. The audience and professor all stare in silence as the alphas body disappears and the leader of Team HAMR fell back and lied down, panting from exhaustion. Completely and utterly drained. It was at this point did Ashley finally look up from her scroll.

"Phenomenal! I've never seen a huntsman in training able to kill an alpha with his bare hands! You will certainly grow to be a very successful huntsman I'm sure!" Professor Port commended Hector as he shakily sat back up.

Hector gave a thumbs up to everyone as a response, and hummed happily when they all started clapping for him in an congratulatory manner. He might have just made a name for himself, and he was happy for it.

When he tried to get back to his team however, he was met with the complete opposite of what he was expecting from them.

"Don't get near me!" Ashley shouted as she jumped up and away from her leader while holding her nose.

"Oh come on, Im sure its not that bad." Hector said with a chuckle as he fell back onto his seat, not wanting to move at all.

"I don't care about that, it's the smell! I can't take it." Ashley said as she moves to the end of that row of seats.

"I'll make sure to jump in the fountain outside real quick." He said as he slumped his head back on the desk.

"Well, I think it's great that you bathed in the blood of your enemies." Reggie commented.

Hector looked up for a second, mildly confused in his tiredness. But once it finally registered, he shook his head and made an amused chuckling sound.

"Thanks Reggie, you are not the first mate of this team."

"Woohoo!"

* * *

"And a ring around and around and around and aaaaah! Where does this motherfucking forest end!" Robert screamed, he had walking for hours, how he didn't find anything other than red trees, some rocks and nothing much else was beyond him.

"Oh come on where am I? Like uh…" he tried to think of anywhere that had red trees but he wasn't coming with anything, not any forest of that size at least. "Uh… nope got nothing." He kept walking until he found a large boulder on a little glade, he took the chance to rest for a bit.

"It's getting late too…" He said, and a rumble from his stomach mentioned another of his concerns. "And it appears someone is being needy, come on you have gone with less food before and you didn't complain this much." A sound came as a response, but it wasn't his stomach, it was the sound of someone or something stepping on some twigs.

"Uh…" He looked up immediately and saw something he wasn't prepared for a Beowolf to suddenly be in front of him, some good meters away, but in front of him, multiple things went through his, mind, mainly that it was a Beowolf, and the multiple implications of that.

"Uh…" Was all that came out of his mouth as he stared at Beowolf with wide eyes, the Beowolf snarled at him.

"Oh por la reputisima mierda." (Oh by the bitching shit.) He said, the Beowolf for its part howled.

* * *

 **Well, there it is, Remastered chapter three of this story. Geez, I find myself cringing so much at my own work. But this time, I had some help. Thank you CrowSkull for the help. He's my Beta and co writer for this story by the way.**

 **Hey, what's up. -CrowSkull.**

 **Anyways, as always. Beyond this point is going to be much worse chapters in terms of quality. It gets better over time, but it takes a while. So read at your own risk, we'll get to rewriting most of that one day, but for now just bear with us. If you happen to enjoy reading it anyway, than more power to you.**

 **Please remember that this story is under a rewrite, some plot points you may or may not see might not exist when we get to that point.**

 **Please review and let us know what you're thinking, we'd appreciate that feedback.**

 **P atreon . com (slash) Genatools**


	4. A Tale of Two Heroes Chapter 4 REMASTER

**Here we are, the next remastered chapter of this happy mess of a story. This time I have a lot more help, and hopefully this will feel even more remastered than the ones before. Same goes from the other chapters, from this point onward the quality of the writing is NOT going to be the same, this was me almost a year ago when I was just dipping my toes into writing. So for now, bear with myself and CrowSkull to get this done, we're going to stop around remaster chapter 15 maybe. We'll see what happens, because I know some of you guys would rather just see the story continue as a whole.**

* * *

A Tale of Two Heroes

Chapter 4 REMASTERED- The Two Wonders

The lecture about Grimm anatomy finally comes to an end. Ashley got up and sat at the end of the row so she wouldn't smell the disgusting black blood of a Grimm that Hector may or may not have punched to death. How he managed to do that is something he really has no idea how to answer himsel. But what he does know is that whenever he felt determined to win and survive, which is understandable due the fact that for some reason he was put up against an alpha Beowolf with little to no combat experience and was scared shitless, his fists, legs or whatever part of the body he used gained a red flaming aura. Making him exponentially more powerful and faster in those areas. Something to work on, he figured.

"Hector."

"Hm?"

"What's up with that red flame you get on your fists everytime you fight?" Michael asked him, too curious and interested by his seemingly powerful ability.

"No fucking clue, but it saved my life so I like it." Hector replied as he looked down at one of his fists, opening and closing it as if trying to find something different about it.

"That would have been handy against the Deathstalker from initiation." Reggie mentioned with a yawn, walking beside them with his hands intertwined behind his head.

"Well, I'm sorry I didn't get scared for my life enough for you." Hector apologized sarcastically.

"Still, if that's your semblance waiting to break out, you should train to unlock it." Mike suggested, making a fair point.

"Dont worry thats the next thing we're going to do today once I find that fountain I promised Ash I would jump in. Speaking of, where is she?" Hector asks when he notices that Ashley isn't walking with them.

"Oh she's back there." Reggie points out Ashley walking several feet behind us, clenching her nose closed. "She has a sensitive nose."

"Oh yeah, forgot about that from my boredom of listening to that guy talk about his past like we care." Hector says while looking behind him and spots Ashley giving him a dirty and disgusted looks, she probably meant no ill will in them, but if what was said about dogs were true then a dog faunus would have a really good sense of smell. Poor Ashley.

"Weiss!"

Hector perked up at the sound of that name being shouted by another familiar voice. He could tell that his teammates heard it as well, but didn't pay any attention to it.

"What!?"

"What's wrong with you? Why are you being-"

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with YOU…"

"Oh, so that's how this day is going to go… Don't get involved Hector, it's supposed to happen." Hector whispered to himself as the sound of Ruby's and Weiss's argument about who should have been the leader began

"You're supposed to be a leader and all you've been so far is a nuisance!"

"Oh Goddamnit, fine." Hector muttered to himself as he made a decision. "Guys I'll catch up with you later, I think I forgot my scroll." He said in a hurry, excusing himself from the group as he turned on his heel and walks toward the shouting.

Mike and Reggie just shrugged it off, but Ashley saw his scroll in my back pocket and raises an eyebrow as to why he lied. Without saying anything she broke off from her teammates and followed him quietly, curiosity getting the better of her. She follows him but stops at one of the corners when she sees me walking toward two other girls and stops at the corner to eavesdrop, out of sight of any of them.

"...You've done nothing to earn you position-"

"Hey, hey, hey." Hector calls out, catching Weiss's attention from shouting at her teammate. They both look up to me, Ruby with a grateful look in her eyes, and Weiss with a look of anger and bitchiness."Let's take it easy for a bit.

"Excuse me, what are you doing here?" Weiss asked, rudely shoving a finger into his chest.

"Well, for one thing I was just passing by when I heard a girl shouting at another girl about how she shouldn't be leader, and me being the nice guy I am, came to check things out, and now I'm going to wing it." He said honestly and very gently push her finger away with his own.

"Oh really? Then please help me understand how this child who has done nothing to earn her position somehow managed to sneak her way into becoming a leader of a team named after her?" Weiss asks rudely, crossing her arms and looking up to with with scorn in her eyes.

"Okay, first things first, let's calm things down a bit, deep breaths." Hector suggested wit a nervous smile, holding his hands out to his sides in surrender. "Now, why are you not going to bother to give her a chance?" He asked next, calmly and carefully.

"Hmph, it's simple I just deserve better then to be lead by a child of all people." Weiss answers with a huff.

"Weiss where is this coming from?" Ruby asks, already on the verge of tears but doing a great job at hiding her sorrow.

"Yeah, where is this coming from?" Hector echoed, locking on to that notion. "If I may be frank, you're the one acting like child right now."

"What!? How dare you-"

"How dare me? How dare you!?" Hector snapped back, getting more brave and confident as things heated up. "This is your partner, teammate, and leader and look at how you're making her feel." He said as he gestured to Ruby's very sad demeanor with one of his thumbs. Weiss is taken aback at my shouting and struggles to find words to counter, but ultimately fails.

"If you want to shout at someone who doesn't deserve their position shout at me, I didn't even have any combat experience before I came here. And before you call me a liar just ask the Headmaster himself. It hasn't even been a full day of hours since leaders were selected, give her a chance to prove herself before you go off and complain like you're doing now. Ozpin choose Ruby over you to be the leader of your team for a reason, a 'child', and if a 'child' is able to gain a position that you couldn't it sounds to me like you're the one who needs to grow up." Hector ended his rant with a deep breath. His heart was beating a million times a second, he wasn't used to talking back like that. But for some reason, something just made him do it.

As much as Wiess wanted to shout at him for speaking to her that way, deep down she knew that almost all of what he said was right. So instead of talking back, she looked away with a red flush on her face out of embarrassment. Then looking toward Ruby, before finally looking back toward Hector straight in the eyes.

No words were said as she turned around and started walking away. Hector, seeing that this may be his cue to leave and that his work was done here, started walking away as well.

"Wait!" Ruby called out to him, stepping forward and grabbing the sleeve at the end of his wrist.

"Oh we're still talking?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I just wanted to say thank you… for doing that for me." Ruby said gratefully.

"Eh no biggie, what are next door neighbors for?" He says with a bright smile, making Ruby giggle with amusement.

"Does this mean we're friends now?" Ruby asks hopefully. His heart skips a beat or two, not out of embarrassment but out of the thrill at becoming friends with basically his favorite character from the RWBY show. Well… one of them.

"Hell yeah!" He exclaimed with a happy smile.

"Yay! Take that Yang!" Ruby exclaimed as she pumped a fist in the air.

"Heheh." Hector chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head nervously. He wasn't showing it, but he was a bit embarrassed to suddenly become friends with her. It must have been good for her, since so far her only friends must be Jaune and maybe Blake, Yang is her sister so automatically that puts her on her good side. So at this point in time he might actually be Ruby's second or third ever friend in Beacon.

"Before you go I wanted to ask you how you fight with no weapons. I've never seen someone who can beat an alpha beowolf to death with their bare hands, or defeat another huntsman in training with no weapon, and that red flame on your fists was that your semblance?" Ruby asks a very long question that he could barely keep up with due to how fast her mouth moved.

"Well like I said before I have no experience with any of what you just said besides that last part. I don't know what the red fire that shows up means but me, and my team aim to find that out when we go train later." He answered, he really only understood like 9 words out of her rant but pieced together the rest in his mind because of big brother skills he picked up because of his big brother experience.

"Well it was nice meeting you but I should go catch up with Weiss. Y'know… leader stuff." Ruby says before waving and dashing away in a flurry of rose petals. Of course one of those petals landed in his mouth and he started to spit up and scrape the top of it with his tongue.

"Well you handled that quite well." The sound of Ozpin's sudden voice snapped the leader of Team HAMR out of his stupor. Hector gets startled and jumps back comically at the sound of his voice.

"Jesus christ how do you do that?" He asks as he puts a hand over his poor scared beating heart.

"I've been standing here for quite time, I'm surprised you didn't notice me." Ozpin replied with a small chuckle.

"Okay… Why though?"

"Because I overheard two young women arguing and came to investigate. But it seems as though I am no long needed." Ozpin says before he drinks from his mug.

"Yeah, that was me. Sorry about that I couldn't just sit back and let partners talk to each other like that." Hector explained.

"Oh? And what about you and your own partner? How are you and she fairing? Being able to understand each other and work some differences is an endless task."

"Oh we are doing okay, she seems a bit cold but deep down I know we're friends and have mutual respect for each other." Hector answers almost without hesitation. Ashley from around the corner who is now sitting against the wall with her legs tucked up into her chest listens closely the conversation. Hector wasn't wrong in any way they did so far respect each other.

"You speak as if you have experience with relationships like that." Ozpin points out.

"Eh not really. I've just learned how to read people, Ash just seems like she needs space from time to time, but also someone who can take her shit and throw some shit of their own. Metaphorically of course."

"Well you certainly did show her that you are no pushover earlier. Would you care to explain how you 'don't have any combat experience' yet you were able to best Miss Cain in combat by way of pinning, and defeat an alpha class Beowolf on your first attempt, despite not having any experience in combat beforehand as you insist on claiming. Care to explain yourself?"

"How the hell do you expect me to answer that? Dude I spent like eighty percent of my free time playing video games and watching anime before I got here yesterday. That's the best answer I can give you. During those fights I had moments where I got pissed the hell off and the parts of my body I was using to attack flamed that red color so… that's all I can give you about that before you ask me more about it. Unless you'll take that I have the power of bullshit in my hands."

"Quite, well thank you for your time Mister Rivers. Time is short for me and I have much more paperwork to be done since I brought in a certain surprise student into this academy. Good day." Ozpin said, giving Hector a nod before making his leave.

Hector had exactly two seconds before another voice popped up.

"So you got your 'scroll'?" Ashleys voice rings out from behind him.

Hector jumped in place for a second, before tensing up and rubbing the back of his head in nervousness. He's been caught. "Oh hey Ash… How long have you been there?" Hector asked, slightly scared at how much she heard.

"Only about everything. So you wanna tell me how you know exactly what I need?"

"Oh that's great. As leader I decide to have this conversation later and go eat lunch." Hector declares holding one finger up and walking in the opposite direction of the cafeteria.

"Wrong way dipshit." Ashley pointed out with a chuckle, stopping him. He facepalms himself and turns around and walk in her direction.

"I would say that I knew that, but I didn't." He said as he walked past her. Ashley snickered slightly and walks up next to me and we walk together through the courtyard.

"I thought I smelled bad." Hector points out to her lack of running away while holding her nose.

"Oh yeah you still do, I just wanted to have this opportunity to do something hilarious." Ashley said as she placed her hands on his chest, looking up at him with slightly narrowed eyes and a taunting smile on her face. Hector felt heat creeping up from his neck as she gets closer to his body. Being this close to girls was never a usual thing for him.

"Uh… what would that be?" He asked nervously as he let his partner gently push him until the back of his knees were pressed against the foundation of the fountain.

"This." Ashley said quietly as she leaned in slightly. Before suddenly pushing with most of her strength and causing Hector's entire body to be submerged in the fountain water. The freezing water reached every nook and cranny, making Hector yelp under the water only to swallow some of the water itself. Only after a few seconds of that did Hector finally get the idea to get out of the water.

"Oh that was just perfect! You did promise me you would get in there for me." Ashley said between her laughter. She was just bawling with laughter, her tears were getting watery as Hector stepped out and sat on the stone foundation, clothes drenched and pride wounded.

"I don't know if those were my exact words, but whatever." Although his brand new clothes are were now wet. He did have a good enough sense of humor and couldn't help but start laughing with her.

"Hey Ash." Hector's eyes shined as he got a new idea. "How about a nice big hug for your partner?"

Ashley immediately stopped laughing, and glared at him.

"Don't you dare."

Hector simply smiled.

"Oh, I dare."

* * *

Today had turned from weird to worst, to crazy, to fucking in danger of being eaten, mauled and who knows what else in Robert's mind, he was escaping a Grimm, a Beowolf, from RWBY. A literal creature of darkness from a fictional internet show!

How the fuck did this happen!? He thought to himself as he was running, so far he had been able to avoid the Grimm by staying close to the trees and running... and running, and not stopping. The Grimm caught up to him and lunged at him, but he scrambled and dodge just in time, the claw got stuck on a tree and the Beowolf tried it's hardest to rip it out, Robert booked it and managed to get away, he had run for a couple of good minutes now, and he had to catch his breath for a second.

But therein laid the other problem. He could still run, no problem, but he didn't know where to go, where the Grimm was, and he also kind of lost the direction he was going before, and also where he came from.

"Mierda, Mierda, Mierda, Mierda, Mierdaaaa." (Shit, shit, shit, shit, shiiiiiiit.) He chanted to himself looking for an option, or direction, or anything.

"Okay, uh… this way!" He scrambled, crouched down and hid behind a tree, and started thinking, there he thought of his options, which was either running, hiding, or climbing a tree… and none of those appealed to him that much, he was panicking… and he remembered that Grimm are attracted to negative emotions, then he was panicking about panicking and making an effort to not panic. Which only made things worse

"Lugar feliz, lugar feliz mierda concentrate!" (Happy place, happy place shit concentrate!) He said to himself, he took a couple of breaths and tried to think things clearly, he managed to calm down, adrenaline and the need fix his situation being enough to calm him a bit, this was challenge, a puzzle to solve, a situation he needed to fix, he could do it, he needed to do it and if not, well he'll be shred to pieces…

"No big deal right, just survival that's all." He thought, until he noticed the Beowolf again, it seemed like he had been thinking to himself too much again. The monster was stalking around trying to find him, and he was still behind the tree.

"Okay, Robert this the moment where you slowly creep the fuck away from the thing that can kill you, you do it slowly, and pray that it doesn't see you, lest you be ripped a new one through your throat and gag on your own blood, and he won't be gentle, so don't bother trying to beg for mercy... now just gently and quietly, get the fuck away." he thought while following his own instructions and crawled away trying to not be seen. As he slowly crawled the Beowolf seemed to start inspecting a different area, he sighed with relief, that was until he heard a quiet huff and a snarl behind him… there was another one. He looked back and saw a Beowolf staring right at him, there was another one too just behind that one.

"... Fuck me." He thought, the Beowolf howled, and got up and tried to run away, but the Grimm back handed him with its claw and tossed him to a tree, Robert scrambled and tried to run, but both of the Beowolves where on top of him soon and where trying to kill him with big big claw swipes, they were kind of telegraphic… so Robert was able to crouch the first one and sidestep the following one, then it was just a game maintaining distance he dodged and got away with a few grazes from three to four big swipes, when one Beowolf got close he shoved it away with a kick and tried to run for it, but the other pounced him grabbing him by the shoulders and making huge wounds with its claws thanks to the force of the pounce.

Robert yelped in pain while trying to keep the mouth of the Beowolf away with his arm, it was trying to bite his face of and he was holding it at bay, the claws continued to dig into the wounds ever so slightly, he groaned but also saw the other Beowolf coming close, his mind started to see things in slow motion. He didn't plan to die like this, he didn't want to die like this, he wouldn't let himself die like this.

He used his other arm to hit the arm of the Beowolf and make it's entire body go lower, then he grabbed the Beowolves head by the side and stuck his thumb on it's eye, the Beowolf wailed, Robert took the chance and wiggled the claws out of his shoulders, he still was holding the Beowolf's head, he cocked his free hand and jab his fist quickly at it's throat, he did it quickly with all his strength, the third time he did it it seemed to have effect as the Beowolf stopped pushing him down and seemed to start choking. Robert pushed the Grimm of him with his feet and while getting up grabbed a sizeable rock and smacked the same eye he had hurt before, the Grimm fell back catching it's breath and it was now missing an eye, the other soon was on top of him.

He ducked a lunging swipe and held the Beowolves arm up, blocking them, he then kneed it's chest to keep it a distance, lest he be bitten, after the knee the Grimm snarled and Robert immediately, kicked it on the groin, it had an effect incredibly and the Beowolf crumbled down, Robert smacked it's face twice with the rock and then did a roundhouse kick to its face.

He immediately backed away and looked at the Grimm, they were getting back up again, he needed to run, he took the chance and ran past some bushes, the Grimm followed him naturally, he vaulted over a rock and started to catch some speed… until a claw came from his side, and hit across the back and side, making him fly into a glade with a new massive wound across his back and his right side, he also lost his only friend… the rock he had.

"Grrr." Robert groaned in pain, getting up shakely and looking at another Beowolf, he assumed it was the one that he had run from before.

"Genial." (Great.) He said with sarcasm, he also saw the two other Beowolves from before, the one with the busted seemed angry in particular, they were surrounding him, and now he had no cover, no trees, no bushes, no rocks… nothing, he was trying to think but honestly his situation seemed to be going from bad to worst, and his bleeding wounds weren't helping, he had the big wound on the back, his shoulders, he cuts and grazes on his cheeks and his arms and legs and he was getting tired too.

He could only take deep breaths as he was staring down the Grimm, he didn't really have anything to say, he just was trying to focus on surviving, on formulating a plan, on anything. If they attacked him again, he didn't know if he could avoid them all… and even if he could he didn't knew for how long… and he wasn't in much of good shape to start running, it wouldn't be fast enough… his legs were already shaking.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck…" He was scared and without an idea of what to do, the Grimm decided to attack, and he seriously thought that that was it, that this was it for him.

And then one of the Grimm was blasted by a shotgun blast, Robert seriously was too surprised by that, the Grimm were too. There was an old man with a double barrel shotgun in the glade with them, the Grimm split in two, one of the Beowolves went after the old man and the other went after Robert.

The old man effortlessly shot the the Grimm that went after him and started to reload while Robert was attacked by the one eyed Beowolf, It pounced at him, but Robert reacted filled with an adrenaline he never felt before, he jumped at the pouncing Beowolf and delivered a flying kick that was just enough for the Beowolf to not hit him and fall on his back, Robert also on his own back, groaning at the pain his wounds caused him, he got up quickly and saw the One Eye getting back up, he rushed it pressed his knee on it's back forcing it down and holding it place, the old man came and with a clean shot at the Grimm it blasted it's head off.

With black body dissipating, Robert fell backwards to the ground, exhausted, the old man reloaded his shotgun again.

"You live kid?" The old man asked, nudging him with his foot.

"Huh… barely." Robert said, he got up on his elbows and looked directly at the old man. "And you are uh…"

"Retired, Huntsman." The old man corrected his unsaid assumption.

"Ah… great." Robert groaned as he let himself fall back down onto the ground.

"What's wrong with ya?" The old man asked as he noticed Robert breathing into the ground.

"Oh nothing… just hurting everywhere… no big deal." Robert replied.

"Sure... and what were you doing here alone exactly eh? Do you have any idea how dangerous it is out here young one."

"I don't have the slightest idea, like really for neither of those, I don't know." Robert answered.

"Hmm… did you came here with somebody?"

"None that I know of."

"Hmm…" The man ran a hand through his bright gray hair. "Well, I can hardly leave you here on your own all injured and stuff. If you've got nowhere to go I've got some space around where I live. Interested?"

"...Sure, sounds like a start." Robert said without much energy left in him. The old helped him up to his feet, and then without a word started leading the way, Robert followed while holding his injured sides.

* * *

Weiss enters the room late at night after staying up to study for a class she found herself to be weak in. She has done a lot of thinking on what Hector said, although she thinks that guy could have said it in a nicer way, she is grateful to him for opening her eyes and calling her out on what she really was. Unfortunately Ruby was not able to find her after we parted ways a couple of hours ago.

Hesitantly she steps on the edge of her bed so she can peek up to Ruby's to see if she is awake, only to find her asleep in a pile of books with her head on her notebook and a pen in her right hand, sleeping soundly. Weiss with the intention of apologizing, taps her shoulder gently and Ruby snaps awake when she notices Weiss in front of her.

"Oh! Weiss I-Im sorry! I was s-studying and-" Ruby is cut off when Weiss places her hand on her mouth and a finger on her own lips.

"Shush. How do you like your coffee?" Weiss asks, confusing Ruby for a moment before she responds.

"I-I dont.-"

"Just answer the question!" Weiss demanded, cutting her younger leader off.

"Cream and five sugars!" Ruby blurts out, scared at being shouted at by Weiss again.

Weiss huffs and shakes her head at finally getting a straight answer from her leader. "Okay, wait here." Weiss left the room and a couple of minutes later, comes back with a coffee of exactly what Ruby ordered.

"Here."

"Oh, thanks Weiss." Ruby thanks before she begins to drink it.

"Ruby… I think you have what it takes to be a good leader. Just know that I am going to be the best teammate you'll ever have. And I'm sorry it took someone shouting back at me and telling me everything that I should have understood beforehand." Weiss apologized with a rare smile.

Ruby is taken aback by her sudden change of view toward her but doesn't hide the excited smile of happiness that's laced all over her face.

"Good luck studying!" Weiss says in a happy tone before ducking down to her own bed. Then jumps back up to point out something that is wrong in Ruby's work. "That's wrong by the way." Weiss says before she ducks back down and heads toward the door.

"Hey Ruby?" Weiss calls out before she leaves the room.

"Huh?"

"I always wanted bunk beds as a kid." Weiss mentions before she shuts the door.

Ruby smiles to herself at her achievement of finally getting the approval she's been looking for from her own partner. Before a sound of something falling over comes through the wall, followed by shouting.

"I warned you, you know I did. Now you have to pay the price!" A female voice shouts, she assumes its the faunas girl since she is the only girl on Team HARM's dorm.

"How the Hell was I supposed to know that our dark red clothes would be see through after that?!" The voice of Hector shouts back. In the end, he was able to catch her off guard and hug her. Bad thing was that apparently, when the school clothing was wet, it became very see through. Which was not something anyone expected, and now he was paying the price for his error.

"Because of common sense!"

"Uh, guys lets just calm down a bit please." Reggie pleaded, trying to act as a mediator.

"She's been chasing me for FIVE hours Reggie. She is not going to stop until she gets her paws on me."

"Paws?"

"Because you're a dog faunus… I made a mistake."

"I am going to hurt you!

"The only thing you've hurt so far is my feelings."

"Fuck your feelings."

Ruby giggled at their team interaction before going back to work on her studying. Despite the dog fight get got himself into.

…

She hated herself for making that accidental pun, Yang was getting to her.

* * *

Back in the Forest of Forever Fall, Robert was sitting on a chair inside a wooden cabin, he had bandages all on his body, and he was drinking a stew out of a wooden bowl. The old man had patched him up for the day, now they were going to plan what to do next. Just recently, Robert figured out that the old man's name was actually Bruin, Bruin Grey.

"You seem to be doing better already, that's good." Bruin said as he started taking off his bandages.

"Really? How?" Robert asked.

"Well, your minor wounds already scabbed, and your bigger wounds seem to be doing okay behind the bandages, the bleeding already stopped." Bruin explained as he took a peek at the more major wounds.

"I've alway healed quick… sometimes… anyway, I think it's mostly because nothing pierced too far into my flesh or into my organs." Robert said.

"That's true… you were lucky there, but you did survive long enough for me to save you."

"I guess that counts for something." Robert said as he drank the last of the stew on his bowl."

"Do you have any idea how many people die helpless against Beowolves?" The old man asked.

"No… but I know for a fact that I have pretty stupid luck and I know how to recognize it, saved my life more than once, but never helps for anything else." Robert said.

"Hmm, well you told me how you got chased by the Beowolves, how they almost killed you and you got free, and then the rest I was able to see with my own eyes… hmm, you don't look like a liar kid, I've seen, and dealt with many, and your eyes don't say that about you."

"You don't know me very well then." Robert said with a laugh.

"Well I just met you, but I trust my gut kid, and at least about that you didn't lie, hmm… yeah I can see it, you are someone that's tough as nails kid, you know a thing two it seems." The old man said.

"I've trained here and there, had to come in handy someday." Robert said.

"Really, how long have you been doing that for?"

"About… maybe twelve years I think?" The old man raised an eyebrow at that.

"Really? And in all that time you didn't unlock your aura?

"Well… no."

"Hmph, seems like a bit of waste, you could be doing a lot of things if you had, didn't they unlock it at combat school?"

"I didn't go to combat school." Robert said.

"You got rejected?" Bruin asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No… I never applied." Robert answered.

"Huh… then where did you learn to fight?"

"Some little gyms out there, some hobbies, stuff like that?"

"Uh huh… how old are you again?" The old man asked.

"I'm twenty." Robert answered.

"Huh, older than you look then, well either way I still don't see the liar in you kid, you look like a schmuck that learned couple things out there and got good at it, but never decided to go for something more, why?"

"Well for starters where I come from, options for unlocking one's aura aren't really available."

"And you are from?" The man asked.

Robert looked away, not knowing how to explain it. Instead, he went for a different excuse. "... Far away, and let's leave it at that."

"Why? Is it something personal?"

"Well… I don't know if you would believe the answer." Robert said, the old man looked at his eyes, Robert returned the stare, he really didn't have much to say about where he came from, mostly because he didn't know how it was possible that he was on Remnant, his mind really hadn't fully process that yet. Eventually the old man stopped staring directly to his eyes.

"Well, you can keep your secrets kid, but now we need to decide what we'll do with you, because it's not really an option for you to stay here forever just like that."

"Okay."

"So kid, what should I do with you? I don't know where you live, or where you're from. I'm lost here."

"I… honestly just want to go back home, I didn't plan for any of this and I don't know how I ended here, soooo… If I could get directions or anything or someone that could help me with that, that would be okay." Robert said.

"Aah… the home that you also don't want to talk about, that isn't really helpful if you don't want to talk about it kid."

"It's… complicated okay? More on the side of I don't know what happened rather than anything else." Robert said.

"We are going in circles like dog chasing its tail." Bruin said raising his tone.

"I know! It's just… I don't know, I have really no idea on what to do next." Robert said holding his forehead.

"Hmm… well as I see it you won't be doing anything if you are this helpless, starting by leaving this forest."

"Couldn't you just guide me to the exit or something?"

I mean I could, and I would do it, but I see also something else in you… you are frustrated, why?"

"...You said it yourself… I was in a way helpless, I am helpless, I don't know what to do either."

"Hmm, well you said you never got admitted kid, but ye are fighter, I see it and I see a lot of people that think they are but really aren't you are fighter and you want to do better right?"

"..." Robert didn't answer but he did clench his fist.

"You told me you never really had a chance to train with Aura before, there's something in you, that kick I saw… I saw some discipline there, some practice, wouldn't you like to take that bit further, to not be helpless against Grimm again?" Bruin asked, Robert thought for a while, and eventually he looked back at him.

"I really would like to be better than that, to not be that helpless again." Robert said with a more sure tone.

"You weren't kid… you really weren't, but if for now we train and practice a little bit more, and just untap and learn what you could really do, nothing in this forest will be able to kill you, I can see it, I also see that if you can do that, you'll be one step closer to going back to your home… or wherever you wish." Robert thought for a while, it was true, if he could survive Forever Fall, then maybe the rest would be easier, and he could more surely find a way to go back to his family, with a goal in mind Robert nodded.

"Then I'll train." He said, Bruin had a warm smile on his

Bruin smiled. "Heh, if you really trained for as long you said, then we won't need much kid, with that discipline you have, you'll be a proper Grimm killer in no time." He took a long swig out of a flask, and didn't stop until after a few seconds, making Robert raised an eyebrow at him.

"'Bout damn time I got something to do."

* * *

 _Weeks Later..._

A few weeks of training and trying to be a good leader later, and here he was. This day begins just before that class when Miss Goodwitch the day before announced that today will be Cardin against Jaune in the first solos matches. As Team HAMR was walking with a sister team of theirs, Hector told everyone to go on ahead so he could talk to Jaune about something. Maybe he thought that he could give him some advice.

Whether it was good advice or not, was up in the air.

"Wear a cup." Hector warned him.

"What? Why a cup?" Jaune questions, unsure of the first bit advice Im giving him.

"Just do it you'll thank me for it later, now wear the cup Im sure you have one."

"Wait, how would you know if I have a cup or not?"

Hector replied by giving him a look that screams 'Because I know' and Jaune nods his head and chuckles nervously.

"Yeah I do have one…" Jaune eventually revealed, hanging his head in shame for his own personal reasons.

"Exactly, so when you go change into your armour make sure to put that on."

"But why for this specific fight?" Jaune asked, he had a lot of questions, and most of them Hector didn't know how to answer. He still tried, at least.

Not wanting to confuse him with all the details that he was from another world Hector went for a different approach.

"Okay, when you see Cardin what do you think?"

"Uh, big dude, bunch of friends, is this supposed some sort of trick question?"

"Alright well this is what I see, big guy with big mace to compensate for his small penis."

"Wuh? How did you think of that?" Jaune asked, confused and somewhat embarrassed at my analogie.

"Let me finish, guy surrounds himself with guys he can boss around to make himself feel better about himself, racist toward faunus because I see the dirty looks he gives my partner, and finally is a big bully that needs to be put in his place." Hector explained, taking a breath in after he was done speaking.

"Wow… now that I think about it you are not far off from the truth. But how did you get all that just by looking at him?"

"Because I spent four years of my life in a place called high school." Hector answered with a shrug.

"High school? Is that a training academy or something?" Jaune asks, not knowing the true horrors of high school. He almost envied him for it..

"Hehe… yeah, sure, let's go with that." Hector said with nervous laughter. "I'll tell you more about that later dude, another thing you should know is that you should probably dodge, and parry more instead of blocking everything. Defence is good and all but if you don't fight back you're not going to win. Cardin is also the kind of guy to blindly rush in, thinking he's invincible. So use that aggression against him and catch him off balance then do some awesome swordsman stuff."

"Wow, you know alot about fighting don't you?" Jaune asked curiously, somehow impressed but the completely improvised advice.

"Nah, just pulled most of that from video games." Hector answered honestly, then shrugged. So it wasn't really that improvised.

"Oh…" Jaune chuckled, finding it funny thankfully. "Well thanks anyway, I guess." Jaune says as we stop at the door leading into the classroom.

"No problem bud, just remember the cup. You'll thank me for it later." Hector said with a friendly wink at him before going off in his own direction to find his team after entering the classroom.

He made it to his team team and took his usual seat next to Ashley with Mike and Reggie beside her on her other side. Once he took his seat, their eyes turned to him.

"So how was your talk with your new blonde friend?" Michael asked, sounding not interested and interested at the same time. Hector didn't know how he did it.

"Well, I hope." Hector said as he leaned forward, a hopeful smile on his face.

"If it is making you smile like that, then something is definitely going to happen." Ashley commented.

"Would Mister Arc, and Mister Winchester please put on their gear and make their way down to the arena. As announced yesterday you two will be kicking us off for today." Miss Goodwitch announces with her loud booming voice that Hector just barely managed to have become accustomed to just recently.

Jaune gets up and forces a smile of reassurement to his own team before he heads off to the guys locker room. Hector rubbed his hands together and hoped that he was able to at least help Jaune in any way possible. Seeing this, his partners curiosity gets the better of her.

"Okay what did you tell him?"

"Everything he needed to know my wonderful partner." Hector said with a wink, causing Ashley to roll her eyes at him.

After a couple of minutes both combatants enter the combat arena. Jaune and Cardin stand across from each other and await the Professor to start the match. Jaune shifts his crotch around just a bit, no one really thinks about it much. Hector however, let his small smile grow out of self satisfaction. Now even if Jaune still lost he wouldn't have to go through the pain of being kicked in the balls at the end of his match. Glynda eyed both the boys for a few moments, before raising her hand in preparation of beginning the match.

"Begin!"

The fight went on as well as Jaune could have expected to do. He put on a slightly harder fight against Cardin, taking Hector, and with a doubt his own teams advice to heart. The cheers he got gave him a second win and he got a good hit on Cardin. Which started making him serious, and when that happened, it went downhill completely. Jaune still lost, which sucked, but hey. It wasn't like a few sentences of advice was worth the years of training almost everyone else in the classroom had.

At least the cup worked out well enough, Cardin of course tried to knee him there. But the cup saved his jewels from being crushed. Didn't mean that his groin wouldn't be hurt though.

"That's enough." Glynda called out before Cardin could keep beating on a downed Jaune. "Students as you can see Mister Arc's aura has dropped into the red. In a tournament style duel, This would indicate that Jaune is no longer fit for battle, and that the official may call the match." She turned to Jaune with a scolding eye. "Mister Arc it's been weeks now, although you did improve, please try to refer to your scroll during combat. Gauging your aura will help you determine when it is the appropriate time to attack or when it's better to move to a more… defensive strategy. We wouldn't want you to be gobbled up by a Beowolf now would we?"

"Heh, speak for yourself." Cardin mutters before heading off the stage and into the locker room to change.

"Now instead of announcing that the Vytal festival is on its way in a few months we have just enough time for our two on two match for today." Miss Goodwitch mentions as she looks through her scroll. It must be my lucky day because she happens to lock her eyes on my name during the flurry of the other names that are in her scroll.

"Mister Rivers, you and your partner will be in the duals match to end us off for the day. Please head to the locker rooms and change as I decide who should be your opponents."

"Oh of course, well Ash we had to fight together at least once in this class right?" I ask with a hopeful smile.

"Yeah, can't be that bad." Ashley said with a shrug.

"Good luck to you too."

"Come on Blake, lets go get ourselves some action!" Yang exclaimed from across the room, pulling Blake up with her. "We volunteer!"

"Yang please, don't." Blake futilely pleads for her blonde trigger happy brawler to change her mind.

"Aw c'mon Blakey, I've been itching to fight that guy for a while now." Yang whined. "It also gives us a chance to use that combo move Ruby has been making us practice."

"Hm, fair enough." Blake accepted.

"Very well, you two get changed, and ready yourselves for battle." Miss Goodwitch accepted their little argument as a volunteering. Ashley remains indifferent as we part ways and head into the gender marked locker rooms.

"Oh great, now I get my ass kicked from two of the main cast at the same time." He thought to himself as he got into his combat clothing. Over the past weeks Hector has managed to somewhat managed to gain some more combat knowledge and some control over his semblance. It wasn't perfect, but he can draw it out at will almost all of the time.

After finishing getting dressed, he made his way down to the arena where Ashley and his opponents were waiting for him. When he started stretching his shoulder, he noticed that his partner was already in a combat stance.

"Why are you standing like that already? We haven't even started fighting yet." Hector couldn't help but ask.

"I dont judge you when you think you look cool with the way you fight." Ashley snapped back, she was a little moody today, which was understandable because she has yet to find a new uniform that fits her body as well as the original did.

"Hey! I am offended by those words."

"Good."

"Hey Hex!" Yang called out to them calling me by the nickname that Ruby calls me every now and again. "You better not disappoint me! I've been looking forward to clashing fists with you ever since you punched that alpha to death."

"Depends, you're gonna have to make me feel threatened first!" He shouted back, feeling more confident than he probably had any right to be.

"Heh, I'll make you feel more than just threatened." Yang snapped back.

"Be quiet the both of you." Miss Goodwitch demanded, shutting them both up right away. Without saying anything more she raises her hand straight over her head and looks to both teams. Preparing to start the match.

"Alright the blonde one is going to come after me so you go after Blake, sound like a plan?" Hector asked while doing minimal strategizing. A major part about being a leader he figured.

"Okay." Is all I get as a response without her even looking at me.

"Alright I hope that means a yes and not that you're going to ignore everything I say and go after the blonde one. Make sure not to do anything to her hair to, I have a feeling she might go ape shit if anything happens to it."

"How would you know that?" Ashley asked with a raised eyebrow.

Hector realized his mistake. "Alright good." He blurted out without really thinking.

Ashley blinked her eyes in confusion a few times.

"What?"

"Begin!" Miss Goodwitch shouts before floating off of the stage.

When the buzzer sounded, Ashley was forced to fend off against Blake, leaving Hector and Yang with the rest of the arena as they fought in a different corner. As Hector expected, being another person who fights without a weapon would get Yang's attention, just not the fun kind. A fist being thrown at ones face tends to be a turn off for most people. Luckily, Hector has trained his reflexes to react to such speeds, raising his forearm to block the blow, putting aura into it and wincing when his back foot dug into the ground as he tried to push back against her monstrous strength. It took almost everything to block just the first hit, and from the looks of things, Yang is only just getting started.

Ashley and Blake locked blades with each other almost right away. Ashley intends to fight off Blake so she could go help her leader, but the black haired huntress proved to be more experienced than she originally thought, just as she was. She may have lost her first match against Hector of all people, but she was still a very experienced fighter, she would not go easy on anyone anymore, not after that humiliation.

She and Blake were actually quite evenly matched in terms of speed, skill, and endurance as they are locked in a flurry of combat neither side could get the advantage of the other. Blake used her semblance for the first time to leave a clone behind that is struck down by Ashley, confusing her immensely, and creating a window of vulnerability. Blake used this distraction to kick Ashley in the side of her head hard.

Ashley twisted her neck to lessen the force of the blow, and used the momentum from the kick to roll back into a standing position and throws one of her blades at Blake, hitting her right in the forehead and getting a good chunk out of her aura. They both lost the same amount of aura and smile to each other at how equal they are before they dash toward each other again.

Yang and Hector kept fighting on the other side of them, one putting in a lot more effort than the other. The dodging skills Hector has developed have also come into play here, saving him again and again, prolonging the fight which should have been over quickly.. Yang hasn't been able to land any good hits, and neither has Hector, not that his punches would hurt her a whole ton anyway.

The training Hector has done with his other teammate, Reggie, has helped him get better at fighting those stronger than him. Knowing about Yang's semblance to absorb damage and deal it back twofold is also discouraging him from attacking too much. He wanted to beat her the same way he beat his partner, but he had a feeling that wasn't going to work here.

Finally, Hector's endurance was outlasted, and Yang used that opening to slam her fist into his stomach so hard that he rose off his feet, then when he was in the air, struck him again in the side of his head. Hector tumbled and rolled across the arena, but stopped himself before he could get to the edge. In a improvised low stance, Hector launched himself off his back foot straight toward Yang, catching her off guard for the first time.

Surprised at the sight of a flaming red fist coming toward her, she wasn't able to properly defend herself in time, and suffered a burning fist into her own face. She stumbled and fell over, tumbling over herself and nearing the edge of the arena. It was unknown if she was going to fall out or not, but no one would have ever known because Blake saved her by throwing her ribbon around her ankle, stopping her before she could get too close

"Thanks Blakey!" Yang cheered as she stood back up, and rushed to go fight her own opponent again. Her cheek stinged a bit, but it was nothing compared to the excitement she was now beginning to feel. Blake rolled her eyes, and turned her attention back toward her faunus opponent.

Ashley used the second that Blake was distracted to save her teammate, and slashed at her back in an X formation, but instead of damaging her aura, she disappeared in a puff of Black smoke. She appeared again a few meters away from her in a low combat stance. Although Ashley does not have her semblance, she is actually being serious, even winning in the aura department by being above Blake by five percent. It isn't much but for Ashleys low amount of aura it's great for her. Even though Blake was using up most of her aura by using her semblance.

They stare at each other for a couple of moments before they make a move at the same time, clashing blades once again with a metallic clang that rings around the stage. Using her dual blades to her advantage she strikes Blake while blocking her sword and cuts at her aura. Blake twirls her blade and pushes the one she is blocking away, parrying the counter and with a powerful diagonal slash cuts Ashley's aura down to thirty percent, which is just above critical. Ashley's aura flares dark blue from the powerful attack.

Before Blake can finish her off, her leader jumped in front of her. Using his forearms to block the projectiles coming from Yang, and the bullets coming from Blake. Ashley watched with wide eyes as his aura drained as he protected her. With a roar, Hector batted away the last projectile, and deflected it back toward Yang. She took the attack head on, and her aura flares to protect her. But she she still had plenty to fight with.

Blake on the other hand, had to roll out of the way of the blast, and used the black puff of smoke as a cover to attack Hector. Hector panicked, and did the first thing that came to mind.

He leaned back, and dodged her attack by a hairs length

After she missed, she was left wide open. Hector grabbed her wrist and twisted, forcing her to drop her blade. He would have to thank Michael for teaching him that little trick. With Blake disarmed, Hector had the advantage in grappling with strength and weight. He pushed her back with one hand, and tripped her over with his leg, causing her to fall to the ground on her back.

He wasted no time and mounted her like he did his partner back in his first match, and cocked his fist back. He thought about attacking her, but hesitated when he saw her bow twitch, distracting him momentarily.

He was about to demand for her to yield, but he got shot in the back by Yang instead. The grip he had on Blake's wrists weaken, and she was able to slip out from underneath him. Yang's roar as she launched herself toward him with Ember Celica encouraged him to dive out of the way, wincing as a few pebbles flew up and struck him in the back. He took the chance to take a peek at the aura gauge, it showed that they were mostly even. But he didn't feel like that was accurate with how winded he was already.

"Yang! Blake! Do the thing!" Ruby shouted from the stands, cupping her hands over her mouth to amplify her voice.

"Oh yeah! Blake lets do it!" Yang calls out after knocking Ashley away.

Blake looked like she's wondering about what Yang could mean but then remembers the team attack that Ruby has been trying to get them to name. She nods to Yang with a smile and wraps her ribbon around Yangs wrist.

"Oh shit… Ashley! We gotta get high!" Hector shouted to his partner, running to her

"What? This is hardly the time or place to suggest something like that!" Ashley shouted back, thinking about the other kind of high.

"No, not that you dipshit I mean dodge!" Hector yelled as he dodged a blur of yellow and black.

"Oh… shit-!" Ashley is cut off and the audience cringes when Yang is thrown into her and her aura is immediately decimated into almost complete depletion. She was taken out of the match when the buzzer rang, her aura was in the red and at just two percent.

"We really gotta work on our teamwork." Hector muttered with a sigh as he turned to face up against Yang and Blake.

Ashley winces as she propped herself up on her elbows outside of the arena, mentally cursing at herself for getting caught off guard again.

"Looks like your girlfriend got knocked out. What are you going to do on your own?" Yang taunts playfully, punching her fists together and readying herself for another round.

"Well, she's not my girlfriend for once thing." Hector pointed out. "Also, I guess I'll have to fight you by myself."

"Oh so you're single then?" Yang asked with a flutter of her eyebrows, even as her partner rolled her eyes and gagged. "Now you have my attention." She joked.

"This is the weirdest match I've ever had." Hector said as he shook his head, ridding himself of the heat he felt in his cheeks.

Yang responds with her signature smirk and cocking both of her shotgun gauntlets, Blake also gets ready to get back into the fight as she unsheathes her blade again and holds her ribbon in her other hand.

Pushing his nervousness off to the side, he decided to settle for the "Might as well go out swinging" approach, and charged straight into battle. He focused on his semi-unlocked semblance, and both his fists flame up with power. Blake is surprised by his red light, while Yang intends to meet him head on. Her eyes go red and her hair goes aflame as she taps into the power she has stored up through the ten minutes that this fight has lasted so far.

Hector noticed this, but decided to keep going anyway. He powered up to full strength, and resisted the urge to scream in pain as his body flared up in red fire and pain, even the dragon design on his shirt flames and every muscle in his body feels hotter than the sum, but at the same time, he has never felt stronger.

Blake dips out of attacking, not trusting herself to be able to take that attack, and a protective barrier goes up to protect the audience from any debris that Miss Goodwitch had installed for situations like these.

With a flash of orange light, Yang and Hector clash fists at full power, creating a much much larger shockwave that destroyed the stage beneath the two, and sends both out of the arena with aura in the red. They eliminated themselves with that last strong attack, and Hector powered down and noticed that his right sleeve was burned and ripped all the way up to his shoulder.

With Blake as the last contender standing Team RWBY is declared the victor. The audience applauds, impressed by the display of power and skill.

"And in that last display of excellent combat Team RWBY is the victor. Mister Rivers and Miss Cain, you must work on teamwork. Both of you are great on your own against a single opponent but when you are put up against more then one you struggle. At least one of you at least one of you tried to work together." Ashley nodded at the teacher, to which she moved her attention to her leader instead. "Mister Rivers, good job at protecting your partner while she was down and congratulations on unlocking your semblance."

"Yeah, sounds about right." Hector said as he massaged his shoulder in an attempt to null the pain down.

"Dude that was awesome! What's your semblance? I haven't seen another power semblance in like… ever!" Yang asked as she ran up to him, and offered him a hand to get him up.

"Honestly, I have no idea what to call it yet." Hector replied as he took her hand with his left, and let her pick him back up. "But it's stupid strong if it was able to match with you."

"Yeah, that's going to be fun in the future."

"That was a stunning display of power you gave off." Blake complimented as she stepped over to them. "I must ask though, why didn't you hit me while you had me pinned?"

"Well, I just didn't want to. Not the best way to give a first impression." Hector said with a shrug, being completely honest. "I was going to demand you yield, but someone shot me in the back."

Yang shrugged, not that apologetic.

"Well, I thank you for your kind heart." Blake showed her gratitude with a nod of her head.

"Yeah, no problem. Friends?" Hector asked, almost hopeful.

Blake let an amused smile appear on her face as she nodded her head once again. "Yeah, sure."

"Wow, I've never seen anyone become friends with Blake that fast." Yang teased with a snicker, shrugging off Blake's glare. "Why don't you and your team come sit with us? I always see you guys sitting on your own, and I'd love to meet Ruby's new friend that I just so happened to catch her hanging out with the other day."

"Oh…" Hector looked surprised, but not unwilling at all. In fact, he would love to sit with them. It was just his team that he was worried about. Not all of them were… as social as most others was. "I'd love to, just let me get my team on board and we can set that up. I'm trying to get two of my teammates to socialize more anyway." He said honestly, making Yang giggle a bit and Blake smile in amusement.

After saying their goodbyes for now, he made my way back to my team. He got a high five from Reggie, and a nod of acknowledgement from Michael.

"Come with me. I want to ask you something in private." And just like that, he had to stand up again to follow his partner.

"Am I in trouble?" He asked Reggie as he walked by him.

"I don't know but good luck." Reggie said, giving him a cheerful thumbs up.

"Oh gosh… Why do I feel like this isnt going to end well but at the same time I feel like it's going to go great?"

"Because you're weird." Michael said quietly.

Hector made his way to his partner, standing at the entrance to the locker room. She doesn't look angry, just confused, and maybe a little shy? It was the first time he has seen her that way.

"I need your help." she sheepishly admitted when he got close enough to her.

"Okay, with what?" Hector asked, completely serious. If his partner needed his help, he wasn't about to turn her down over anything.

"Can you help me unlock my semblance?" She asked instead, throwing him for a loop.

Hector blinked a few times.

"You want me to help with that!?"

* * *

 **Hah, this story man. I didn't know just how much I needed to revamp. So yeah, this is the fourth remaster chapter of Tale of Two Heroes. If you go further into the story, you might see the title being Team HAMR. Ignore that, Team HAMR is the old chapter, and slowly I'll be fixing the titles of each chapter as well.**

 **As much as I would love to by the way, we just can't get every single mistake that I made when I first started writing this. I can get a bunch of them, yeah, about 99 percent of them maybe. But there is going to be some left here and there. Bear with us please, and thank you.**

 **Thank you for reading my story and please review.**

 **P atreon . com (slash) Genatools**


	5. A Tale of Two Heroes Chapter 5 REMASTER

**Here we are with chapter 5, the remastered version of course. I don't really have a whole lot to say besides what I said before in the previous chapters carry over. From this point forward the quality is going to drop significantly, pronouns are mostly going to be in first person, and it doesn't really get planned until about chapter 20. I just sorta slapped a bunch of shit together and hoped that it worked, some of it did of course, but then again most of it did not.**

 **Thank you for reading however, and I wish you luck.**

* * *

A Tale of Two Heroes

Chapter 5 REMASTERED- Solving problems

"Huh?" Was all that Hector was able to reply to Ashley.

"You heard me." She said.

"I definitely heard something." He answered back.

"Can't you… listen to me for like… two minutes?" She asked a bit embarrassed.

"It's certainly possible." He said

"Hector…" Ashley warns him with a look. It had been awhile since she actually called him by his first name.

"Hector? Okay now I know you're serious."

"I am actually certain that I've called you by name before dickhe-" She cut herself off, and took a deep breath. For some reason, he just knew exactly how to push her buttons, so instead of giving him the satisfaction of getting her to lose her composure, she just glared at him with a raised eyebrow.

In all seriousness, Hector just didn't expect to be asked for help with any kind of training. It wasn't exactly not well known within his team that he really had no idea what he was doing most of the time, and was mostly acting on other peoples motions and following patterns, and yet here she is, his partner Ashley who has to be much more skilled than him asking him for help on whatever it was that she needed.

With a sigh, he accepted the fact that this was just how things were going to be.

"Alright, I'll bite. What do you need help with exactly?"

"I… need help to unlock my semblance." Ashley said sheepishly, as if embarrassed for requesting said help. Which wouldn't be all to surprising considering who exactly she was requesting help from.

"Hm…" On the outside it looked like Hector was thinking about it, but on the inside he was cursing himself and everyone around him. Blaming Fate for what she did to him just now. How was he supposed to help someone unlock their semblance when he was barely getting a grasp on his own as it was? Assuming that he wasn't just overclocking his aura as Michael suggested that one time.

"Sure, why not." He ended up deciding, going along with the flow of what was expected of him as a leader.

"Really!?" Ashley asked a little too quickly, and paid for it with a red face.

Hector either ignored it, or didn't see it. "Well I am the leader of this team. What kind of leader would I be if I didn't help out a teammate in need?" Hector asked rhetorically, pointing a thumb into his chest and tried looking like the leader he apparently was.

"In any case...Thank you." Ashley said with a small smile.

"No problem Ash it's what I do. You wanna get started right away?"

"I want to say yes and no at the same time." Ashley said, earning a chuckle out of her leader for it. "Don't we have class in like three minutes?"

"Would you rather sit in Professor Ports class for the next three hours listening to his stories that I doubt actually happened?"

"...Good point." Ashley said, already starting to stretch her arms in legs in preparation for what was to come.

"And this is why we make such a good pair of partners. Now let me let Mike and Reggie know that we won't be attending class and the excuse is that you are sick because you ate a dog treat." He said as he was already beginning to type said message.

Ashley was on him a second later. "Don't you dare!" She howled as she reached over his shoulder to try and grab his scroll before the message could be sent.

"Too late already sent it." He said victoriously as he rolled away from his partner.

"..." Ashley slowly reached down to he weapons, each holstered at her sides.

"You know you love me." Hector said as he prepared to use those dodging skills he has become reliant on.

* * *

Reggie hummed curiously as he felt his scroll vibrate in his pocket. While wondering, he takes it out during class and hides it behind a book he was pretending to read like many others were. The scroll indicates that he has received a message from the team HAMR group chat. Its from his leader and the first word that he reads is the nickname of his faunus teammate given to her by his leader. He smiled to himself and reads opens his scroll to read the entire message.

"Ash needs help with something so we're skipping this class. Tell the professor that she was feeling sick after she ate something that turned out to be bad."

Reggie pouts disappointed, hoping it would be something much more juicier than a simple favor.

"Mister Nole! What seems to be the matter?" Professor Port asks after noticing his disappointed look.

Reggie snaps out of it and stutters out of nervousness at being put on center of attention all of the sudden. Luckily for him his boyfriend comes to his rescue.

"Our teammate Ashley is sick, so our leader is taking her to the infirmary. Unfortunately they won't be able to attend class this time. That's why he looked sad just now." Mike defends successfully.

"Oh how unfortunate! I was hoping to see him fight another Grimm I have saved just for him. Make sure you give them both the work I gave this class later." Professor Port says before he goes back to giving his lecture that is actually another story about his younger huntsman days.

Reggie sighed in relief as he leaned back in his seat.

"You're honestly the best boyfriend I could have ever wished for." Reggie whispered to Mike after wiggling his eyebrows at him suggestively.

"Mhm." Mike hummed, a light dust of pink going across his face as he looked away.

* * *

After searching for a few minutes, Hector and Ashley just made it to a quiet part of the school where nobody really hangs out in even during their free time. It's nothing special really, just the school building on one side with a couple trees here and there.

"This seems to be a good spot to kill someone and get away with it." Hector said playfully. Sitting on the random bench that was put up against the building for some reason.

"Is that how you open up a conversation with every girl you're with alone?" Ashley asks as she takes a seat next to him.

"Nah only you. You're special."

"I am so flattered by your kind words." Ashley sarcastically responded

"That was the goal of that exchange of words of course."

"Didn't we come here to train on unlocking my semblance?" Ashley brings up.

"Of course but I don't know where to start with you yet, so I am waiting for you to state your problems and share your secrets." Hector explain the method to his madness… which was no method at all, he had zero experience in training anyone and even less with helping others unlock their semblance. He barely unlocked even half of his own but he won't back down from this challenge. Even he actually wasn't able to help

"Then how about we start by you explaining how the you catch on to everything so fast. Barely a month ago when I met you you were some defenseless kid who hasn't even unlocked their aura and barely knew how to throw a punch. Now all of the sudden you're drawing with one of the best hunstresses in training here, AND you are already tapping into your semblance. So we can start there." Ashley says quite questioningly. She had caught onto that trend that was more than obvious, she was suspicious and maybe a little jealous. Hector didn't really have an honest answer, but he figured that there might be some bullshit involved... Or maybe a natural ability to learn things quickly, at least that's what he told himself.

"Honestly not even I can answer that question. I've been asking myself that pretty much everyday since I started using it. My semblance on the other hand I just do. I don't exactly try to bring it out except for those rare moments I do. If I had to guess then that little release of power earlier was just the beginning parts of my semblance." He answers as honestly as he could, not being that boastful, there is genuine confusion and curiosity in his voice. If that wasn't enough Ashley could sense my honesty.

"If that's true then team HAMR has the most powerful bait of all." Ashley said with a laugh/.

"You're the one who asked me for help y'know." Hector pointed out.

"Well then enough of all these mindless bickering." Ashley said a little too automatically. "What do you think I can do to help?"

"I was hoping you would know that already… that's why I came to you in the first place."

"Did you really think that? Or were you too embarrassed to ask someone else?" Hector accuses in a teasing tone. A wave of nervousness washes over Ashley as she struggles to deny it truthfully.

"Of- of course not! I just thought my partner would be the most willing." Ashley says in an attempt to excuse herself.

"Haha, no problem Ash. Let's just start with this, tell me about yourself."

"What? Why?"

"Because I feel like the closer we get the easier it'll be for both of us to unlock our semblances." He explains.

"And how do you know that?" Ashley asks, reluctant to share her past and secrets.

"It's a hunch." He answers honestly. Ashley glares at him suspiciously, but then remembers that he is at least trying. So she'll humor him for a bit.

"Fine… Just don't expect me to reveal everything to you right away." Ashley says, looking to him from the corner of her eye.

Hector leans forward from the back of the bench to show her that he is all ears. He remains silent and waits for her to get ready. Little did he know that she was actually waiting for him to ask her something about her past so she could start.

"Well? Ask something."

"Okay um… where are you from?" He asks the first thing that pops to his head.

Ashley winces slightly from the choice of question, which he notices, and hesitates on answering it. If he wasn't so kind to faunus she might have not answered truthfully. Even though she claims she doesn't care about humans being racist it does sting when every little racist remark toward her species is made around her.

"Menagerie." Ashley answered truthfully.

"Damn thats far from here… I think. Alright progress toward our blooming friendship has been made. Now let's do some regular physical training." He declares as he stands up and start doing some ballistic stretching… or tries to.

"Already? I thought I had to open up." Ashley says, on the inside she is grateful for his choice but she is confused by his constant change of tactics.

"Well judging by the way your voice sounded when you answered that and this side effect when you unlocked my aura, I could tell that you were really uncomfortable with just that question and I can't even begin to think when we get to the actual personal questions. So we'll stick with one question a day unless you're feeling cheeky." He explain himself once again. Truth be told he wasn't used to that connection yet… it made his spine shiver from time to time, not in a bad way but also not in a good way.

"Well I was itching for a rematch after that embarrassing loss on the first day of school. Good choice." Ashley says as she stands up and does the same as him, only better. "Lets see if you can make me serious."

"You're a great fighter Ash, but you have weaknesses." He points out. Truth me told he only won that fight a couple of weeks ago out of pure luck of catching her off balance and using whatever little combat experience he had at a time to pin her down. In a one on one she is better than him, even at the point he's currently at. Throughout the weeks he saw her fight a couple of times in the singles matches and she won every single one, that leaves her at about 4-1 with that only loss being against himself. If she took it more seriously she would've wiped the floor with him.

"Oh really? Why don't you show me then oh fearless leader?" Ashley asks in a taunting tone as she gets into her fighting stance.

"Take things seriously every fight, even if its a spar." He responds in a much more serious tone that she hasn't heard from me yet.

"Huh?"

"When we first fought you weren't serious, you were toying with me and in the end you underestimated me and I caught you off guard and pinned you. Take every fight like its life or death unless its a spar of course. In that case just fight to win."

"Wow that is actually well thought out for you." Ashley compliments, impressed by his train of thought.

"Why thank you but that is just one of them. Now lets see how long I can last against you in serious mode. Just please don't kill me. I could die from that." He jokes, Ashley didn't seem to catch on that he was joking though.

"Are… you serious?"

"Absolutely. Now come at me!" He exclaims as he beckons her over with one hand.

Ashley smirks as she enters combat mode. She really enjoys fighting and beating him here would prove to herself that she is no pushover. Despite no one actually thinking that after the epic ninja fight she had with Blake earlier. With no verbal response needed she unsheathes her blades and slowly steps toward Hector. The look on her face turned into a much more serious one, taking his advice to heart right away. Hector keeps a smile on his face as he lightly bounces in his stance, preparing to be more nimble than his large body looks like it can be. This time he takes the offensive and attacks first.

With and intentionally reckless punch he aim to fake her out and trip her up, he wants to see if he can pin her the same way he did before. But no, instead she sees right through it and when he faints she jumps up, flips in place and kicks him in the back of the head with her heel, then while upside down slashes once at his back, she lands several feet behind me in the same stance she started this training session with.

"Well this is going to be a long hour." Hector says as he gets back in his own stance.

"You were the one who suggested this. I don't know how this is going to help unlock my semblance though." Ashley says, lowering her guard slightly.

"Well I've asked how the others unlocked theirs and I got a bunch of different answers. Weiss's semblance is hereditary so basically all she had to do was train. I think Ruby and Yang just tapped into it while training. So did Pyrrha, and Ren unlocked it due to a lot of stress. Nora Im kind of afraid to ask because the last time I talked to her she kept trying to get me to arm wrestle her. So unless you feel like watching someone you like or love die then we're going to train on unlocking it." He didn't actually ask any of them, that's just what he can remember from the show.

"You don't think I did physical training for this already?"

"Well unless you want to meditate or talk about your feelings shut the hell up and punch me in the face." He basically demanded.

Ashley gives me another glare and her guard goes back up. She is getting a bit fed up with his attitude and aims to make him pay for it. This time she initiates the fight by dashing in with her natural speed that is almost too fast for him to see. She goes for a stab with her right sword while coming up from under and with a vertical slash to go up my leg. Out of pure reflexes he kicks her left blade away and catch the other blade between his hands just in time, he twists it out of her grip and toss it away and then kick her away successfully disarming her without much damage being done to his aura. Ashley looks to me with a surprised look.

"Another one of your weaknesses is that you are easily irritated and when you do you get reckless. Also you're very easily disarmed" He points out as he flip one of her blades in his hand like if he actually knew what he was doing.

Ashley growls at the realization that every word in that sentence was right.

"Man I really gotta thank Mike for teaching me that trick, it's really handy." Hector says to himself. "How's your hand to hand?"

Ashley winces at that question. She actually only trained her hand to hand once in her life and it did not go well.

"Uh… about that."

"Well I just found out what we're going to do here from now on. Train your hand to hand, and work on unlocking your semblance." Hector declares.

Ashley moans sadly and is already on the verge of tears. She is about to feel very helpless right about now.

"First lesson, do you know how to throw a punch?" He asks in a teasing tone. He already knew the answer to that question but after what she said to him around the first time they met he just couldn't help it.

"Of course I do dipshit, I'm not that hopeless!"

"Back to nicknames eh? I knew you were in there somewhere. Alright lets spar for a bit so I can see what you need to improve on." he plan to go easy on her since it seems like everyone besides himself and Yang and maybe Pyrrha are the only ones who seem to actually know how to fight unarmed. He basically had to learn that way of fighting because he found himself with a lack of a weapon quite early on after his arrival on Remnant.

* * *

In Mister Ports class Team RWBY are whispering amongst themselves about how fast Hector seemed to improve and wandered how he was able to keep up with Yang and Blake, despite being far less experienced than any of them. He even managed to pin Blake for a bit and would've eliminated her if it wasn't for Yangs assistance.

"I can't wait to fight him again! I want a one on one next time so I can see who would really win in a fight." Yang says happily while doing her best to be quiet so they won't get caught.

"You can get that opportunity if we make it to the singles round in the upcoming tournament. It'd be quite the sight to see, the two of you going all out. You seem to be very evenly matched." Blake says the longest sentence she has ever said so far.

"You two were lucky that you didn't destroy the whole stage with that final clash." Weiss adds.

"I think Blake is the lucky one for being stuck under Hector like that in such a helpless position. It must've reminded you about one of those books that you read." Yang teases with.

"Eww Yang stop being gross." Ruby says with a shudder of disgust.

Blake goes red out of embarrassment but not at the thought of me, but at the thought that YANG of all people found out about her secret. "Don't you dare tell anyone." Blake says in a very threatening tone that even makes Yang shiver with fear.

"Don't worry Blakey, your secret's safe with me. Now let's change the subject before I get killed in my sleep. Weiss you're smart, what do you think his semblance could be? Al; that red flame has to mean something."

"Well, from what I have seen from this past couple of weeks I can come up with that it may boost his strength and speed exponentially. But it only happens in short bursts so it may be painful for him? That's my best guess of course. We won't know until he fully unlocks it himself." Weiss answers, quite proud of herself for coming up with all that based off of observations.

"You left something out." Ruby points out.

"What would that be?" Weiss asks her young leader calmly.

"When that red flame was all over his body I noticed burn marks in the shape of boots on the ground which each step, even after the fight one of his sleeves was half burnt off. I think it means that when he uses his semblance he also gets very hot." Ruby explains. Everyone is pleasantly surprised at their young leaders smart answer.

Of course Yang had to use this opportunity to tease her younger sister.

"What kind of hot are we talking about here?"

"T-that's not what I meant!" Ruby exclaims, blushing out of embarrassment from her big sisters teasing.

"I know sis it's just too easy with you." Yang says as she pats her head.

* * *

 _One hour later..._

Turns out Ashleys hand to hand combat wasn't just bad. It was Jaune bad. Hector made it his mission to improve Ashleys combat and help her unlock her semblance. Ashleys aura went down because she wanted to go as long as possible. Hector ended up accidentally bruising her in the same spot she bruised him a couple of weeks ago after she failed to block a rib punch, albeit much smaller and more focused in one spot. She fell and folded up in pain and once he realized what happened he helped her up and helped her to the bench.

"Wow you really suck at hand to hand." Hector said in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"I didn't notice." Ashley responds sarcastically, now Hector decided to ask the question that both of them knew had to be.

"Why didn't you tell me you were low on aura?" He asked concerned.

"I wanted to keep going." Ashley answered very predictably. He didn't buy it and senses a deeper reason.

"Yeah no shit now give me the reason that isn't obvious."

"...How are you so good at reading me?"

"Because you've been my partner for a month now. Also it's kind of my job."

"Hmm."

"So you're not going to tell me?"

"You can save that question for the next training session."

"Fair enough. I won't pry, do you need help or are you good?" He asks as he helps her up anyway.

"I'll be fine from here. I don't have a lot of aura to work with but that means I can regenerate it faster then normal." Ashley assures as she pushes off of him. She can stand up and walk easily but can't help but hold her side where her bruise is.

"Well you got me back I guess." Ashley mentions as she rubs her side.

"T'was an accident my dear partner. Now i'm hungry and lunch starts right about…" He takes a peek at his scroll to check the time. "15 minutes ago."

"Wait seriously? Let's go then I'm starving." Ashley says as all of the sudden all of her pain fades away and she begins a light fast jog to the cafeteria.

"What the? Weren't you in pain just two minutes ago?!" Hector shouts at her as he jogs after her. His stomach growls at him which cuts him off from even thinking about Ashleys instant recovery anymore.

"Alright food first, questions later."

* * *

Over the weeks that Robert had been training with Bruin, and during that time a lot had happened, for starters Bruin unlocked Robert's aura, and soon after that started teaching him the basics of how to use it. There were some blunders here and there during the first few days, but after that Robert started using his aura more instinctually and more efficiently as he was being trained to.

In Bruin's mind he seemed like a quick learner, even if he stumbled a bit here and there when learning something new, but he noted Robert never stopped trying. Those two first days he practiced the basics of activating and amplifying himself with his aura until he got it right or passed out from overexertion. After that, the rest became just practice.

Then the actual training started, they both talked, Bruin saw what Robert could do and quickly decided on a training regime. Starting with some physical training on the morning, then some striking and pseudo shadow boxing, and then a little game that lasted until Robert's aura ran out. After that they would either eat something,stretch and practice his own kick and moves, or relax for a bit before going for the little game again, that game was sparring, but with specific rules…

"Agh!" Robert let out a grunt as he was hit in the stomach with butt end of Bruin's shotgun. Bruin moved to knee him on the same spot but Robert stopped the knee with his training weapon, a simple wooden quarterstaff that the old man made for his student. Bruin started aiming at him again with, but Robert used one end of the quarterstaff and redirect the barrel of the shotgun, the shotgun fired, missing him. The master smiled as he watched his own group of pellets miss the younger boys body, he has learned over time how to dodge projectiles as fast as bullets. At least the ones not enhanced by dust.

Robert immediately spin elbowed while still using the quarterstaff with one arm to hold the shotgun's barrel away, Bruin blocked the the elbow and Robert spun the quarterstaff around to try and hit Bruin's thigh, Bruin blocked the fast move with his shotgun, as he did with the follow up three quick strikes, he blocked but got pushed back by a sidekick, but he managed to avoid a spinning high kick that came quickly from his side.

Bruin would Robert that he knew how to move, he already did before he had aura, and with it he became stronger and faster. Bruin countered another quarterstaff blow with his shotgun and made quick strike to Robert's side, he was about to fire when Robert used the quarterstaff again, this time he lightly smacked Bruin's wrist to keep his aim away. He had learned when a shot was coming, Bruin would also give him that, but Bruin pushed on, he striked with the shotgun and Robert blocked, he aimed a kick to Robert's sheen and Robert blocked with his own foot, but the Bruin shoulder tackled Robert and sent him a few feet away, then he took aim.

Shit... Robert thought to himself, he extended his aura across his body and across his weapon, just as Bruin taught him to and as his mentor fired, he swung his quarterstaff in an horizontal arc, the aura extending across it an blocking the shot. Bruin rushed him immediately with a push kick though, and Robert had nothing else to do but brace himself and block the kick only to get pushed to just about next to a line on the ground. Robert tried his hardest to not cross it as he skidded and ended just on the line balancing on his tip toes.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa He corrected himself just as Bruin was about to hit him with his shotgun, grabbing it by the barrel, aiming to hit him with the stock, Robert sidestepped to get out of the way of the swing and then him and Bruin exchanged a few strikes, after the third Robert grabbed the quarter staff by one end and swung low for Bruin's legs, bruin jumped and then ducked a spinning flying kick that went for his head, he hope to catch Robert when he landed after the kick and push him past the line… but Robert landed perfectly on guard and pushed Bruin back, they were both pushing at each other in a little contest of strength for about one or two seconds, then Robert put all his weight behind one his shoulders, and used his other arm to deliver a hook to Bruin's side, then light stomp to Bruin's sheen, Bruin stepped back and saw another spin elbow coming, just like before, he got ready, but soon saw that Robert faked him out, and instead swiftly made a reverse trust with the quarterstaff, right at his gut.

Bruin skidded back with the force of thrust, a good distance, he recovered and looked back at Robert.

"Almost got you there kid." Bruin said with a smirk.

"Heh… well not just yet." Robert said between breaths.

"You are improving… slowly but surely." Bruin said.

"Mm."

The game they had was simple, they were in a circle drawn on the ground, their own little arena. They could have kept fighting without that rule until Robert ran out of aura, but Bruin felt that completely beating Robert into submission wouldn't work on light of the limited time they had, they had a lot to cover during the day, and Bruin need Robert to remain with aura for as long as possible both to train his endurance and to practice more during the day. That led to Robert telling him how he had learned to fight and how he had spar without aura, and together they decided to make a simple system to have stops, a simple game of 'Get the other person out of the ring'. Full contact, no brakes but with enough stops to let Robert's aura patch across the day and have a patch of rounds in the morning and another patch in the afternoon.

Bruin also learned several things important about Robert, first that he could keep going for hours with short respites, second that he knew how to move and also learned to move fast, but more importantly, that he didn't quit.

Robert didn't mind lossing, but Bruin noticed that he hated to fall for the same trick twice or more. He got frustrated, but adapted and learned, after many, many, many losses Robert started to quickly understand Bruin's tells and tricks during their sparring matches, he also started to become faster, and to start being tricky. Robert lost a lot of times against Bruin, it was expected, but that made him learn way more than Bruin thought, most kids Robert's age felt invincible with aura and just fought harder, meanwhile Robert thought and then fought harder, and more to that, as long as he could fight, he would keep going.

"Think you can add to your scoreboard kiddo?" Bruin asked challengingly.

Robert smiled back. "I think I have a good shot.

"Really now?"

"Really."

"Hmph." Bruin reloaded quickly and took shots at Robert, Robert swung his quarterstaff and deflected the first shot, he then jumped to side with a speed he could only achieve thanks to aura to avoid the second shot, Bruin got close and tried to trip kick him, Robert backed away and made some swift strikes in retaliation, Bruin was being more aggressive too, once he fired his two shots he'll six out of ten times rush in and try bash Robert with his shotgun. Robert avoided being hit by dodging, back peddling and sidestepping and obviously blocking, he had gotten good at it, the only problem was that he couldn't remain in the defensive, the moment Bruin had a chance, he'll reload and pressure Robert (or outright blow him out of the ring) with point blank blasts.

Robert maintained the offensive as best as he could with quick swipes, strikes and trusts, followed by kicks, elbows and dodges to reposition himself, he dodged two strikes from Bruin before counter attacking with two quick swipes, Bruin blocked and Robert twirled the quarterstaff with one hand to go for a low swing, Bruin back and avoided, Robert didn't let him get away though.

Before bruin could reload Robert dashed in with his new speed and strength, he made clean and swift swings from both Bruin's side, pushing back enough to the line, Bruin blocked the attacks and countered with kicks, shoulders and swinging his shotgun, Robert blocked with the staff he counters and after the third counter he retaliated with a swing at the back of Bruin's knee, Bruin fell slightly and Robert jumped up made tow quick strikes with the staff finishing with a flying back kick.

Bruin dodged on of the strikes and blocked the rest, he got pushed back to the line, Robert landed, and made a quick thrust to try and poke Bruin in the face and out of the arena, but Bruin used that move and blocked with the shotgun, and then Robert heard a click.

His eyes widened, he knew what was about to happen, he had been caught off guard som many time by it, Bruin was blocking with the shotgun and at the same opening the chamber. Block, reload and fire immediately basically, Robert was determined to not fall for it again.

As the chamber of the shotgun opened Robert twirled the staff around his hand and under Bruin's shotgun, hooking it and pulling, Bruin was surprised, he couldn't quite make his quick reload with Robert pulling the shotgun, he pulled back. And then Robert kicked and kneed in quick succession Bruin in the gut and finally used a flying kick to knock Bruin of the arena.

Bruin landed with a thump on his back with the kick, he honestly didn't expect that.

"Aha ha!" Robert cheered victoriously as he made a little jump, he added to his score after all.

"Not bad kiddo, finally stop falling for that eh?" bruin asked

"Well it was about time." Robert said with a smile on his face.

"And added to the score eh? How is the scoreboard?" Bruin asked.

"It's uh… a hundred and seventy two against thirty seven… now thirty eight." Robert said.

"Well… you are getting more consistent with your victories, I still remember the first one."

"The one where I thrust at the ground and made dirt fly to your face." Robert said remembering it too.

"And that's why I remember it kid, because you are dirty cheater…" Bruin said to him.

"Yeah… heh heh." Robert laughed to himself a bit, not feeling guilty at all about that, after getting himself blasted to the ground a dozen times he didn't really feel the need to apologize. If anything, he should do it more. "I mean it did help."

"Whatever you say kid." Bruin said, immediately Robert went next to Bruin and offered him a hand up, which he took.

"So just out of curiosity… how do you picture my chances?" Robert asked.

"Of getting out of Forever Fall?" Bruin asked back while dusting himself off

"Yeah."

"Well you have certainly have been giving a work out, it's been long since I've been fighting like this… we did a good job on getting you used to fight constantly and you also have gotten a lot faster and better, I would say you react pretty quickly to most I can throw your way…" Bruin said.

"And yet I still haven't fought a Grimm to the death." Robert said.

"Hey, kid you know that's not true." Bruin said, Robert stared for second and then made a 'I guess so' motion with his head. "You haven't yet needed to do so, and besides, you survived Grimm before, you put a little extra strength into your blows and you can possibly kill em if you know where to hit."

"I tried to go for stronger hits with you, at the end you could just tell what I was trying, I left myself exposed. That's why I mostly go for kick pokes." Robert said.

"Well… kid, that was the first few times, now you are working more or less more naturally, you are still fast and still pack enough of a punch." Bruin said.

"You make it sound like it could be better." Robert said.

"It can… you are still pretty new with aura, if just keep going you'll get fully soon enough." Bruin said.

"Hmm…"

"That's why also you are fighting me and not the Grimm, they are stupid, they don't think and they leave themselves to exposed, you can kill them now… but you'll be a lot better fighting a harder opponent kid, and look at you, it did wonders." Bruin siad.

"Well I still need to practice some things."

"What like those flips and acrobatics I caught you practising the other day?" Bruin asked.

"Hey, I wasn't really that good at doing those when I didn't have aura, now… I just… want to get them right." Robert said.

"You could just do what most people do and just pour more aura into you jumps and also use it to correct yourself while on the air kid."

"I could, but you told me I shouldn't use aura too sparingly, and I know people that can do similar things without aura, might as well use aura as a safety net, I get to practise them and I don't break anything. End result I learn to do flips without using much aura at all, if any." Robert said.

"You always wanted be able to those flips didn't you kid."

"... Yeah." Robert said.

"An you also wanted to alway do those flying kicks to right." Bruin asked.

"... That too. What gives away?"

"The way you get all giddy when it works for you, you get the biggest grin you face I ever seen from you."

"Uh… aha… yeah." Robert was bit embarrassed at that one.

"But either way, you making good progress kiddo, just finish those little things and then well… you'll be free to go out Forever Fall whenever you wish."

"Just like that? Is there going to be a final exam or something?"

"Well you are correct boy, there's gonna be a little exam, and that'll be a pack of Beowolves." Bruin said.

"Huh… okay."

"So… after that's done what are you going to do?" Bruin asked.

"Find a way to Vale and then… back home I guess." Robert said, he hoped he was right that he could go home.

"The home I still haven't heard much about?"

"And I told you, I'm a foreigner… I'm not from Vale, I really shouldn't have been here." Robert said.

"I heard that a lot of times, and for the life of me I can still not sense that you are lying." Bruin said with a sigh.

"When I say it's complicated, I mean it… I really don't know how I ended out there." Robert said.

"Next time be more prepared when you get lost kid."

"Well isn't that why we are doing this?"

"Heh got that right… well time to get back at it." Bruin siad.

"Okay then." Robert said as both of them got back into the ring, Robert stood on guard and so did Bruin. After a couple of seconds they started, Robert dashed in trusted his staff to move the barrel of bruin's shotgun and deflect a shot and rolled away from the second shot. While in in a crouching position he struck at Bruin's side and tried to strike at his head, bruin blocked and Robert advanced on him with a jump thrust… and then Bruin slightly moved his head out of the way, and pulled something from behind his back, a small sawed off shotgun. He pulled the trigger and blasted Robert at center mass. His aura protected him, but he went flying of the arena.

Robert landed on his back and rolled to kneeling position while catching his breath. "Heh… a sawed off?!"

"Should really have been expecting it kid, never underestimate this old man." Bruin said.

"After all this weeks?" Robert asked.

"Well, I needed to make sure you'll have your aura up, didn't want to accidentally kill you." Bruin said.

"Ugh…" Robert grunted as he slowly got up.

"How are you feeling after that?"

"I feel my aura thinning, it's almost out… but I think I can still use it."

"So are you right about there then… hmm, means you are maybe good for one more, now get over here for the next round." Bruin told him.

Robert sighed, he wasn't unused to training. But this was insane for a regular human.

"Sure, let's go."

* * *

Nora tells her story about how she and Ren were stuck in a forest doing something. Really hard to tell, everytime she says something Ren corrects her. How does one confuse an Ursa with a Beowolf? And how does one get dozens when there were two? Good question, but Hector was convinced she was embellishing the story on purpose.

Yang seemed very interested in the story and leans in with her hands on her chin as she listens to it carefully. Blake ignores everything around her and continues to read a book with a boring brown cover. Weiss for some reason is filing her nails, also ignoring everything around her. And the rest are like half listening, and half thinking about why Jaune is looking so sad. He isn't really paying attention to anything around him and just plays with his food with his fork. That is until Hector makes his entrance… by sneaking up behind Jaune while gesturing to Ruby to be quiet with a finger up to his lips.

"HEY!" Hector exclaims as he places his hands on Jaunes shoulder, earning a startled yelp out of him and a couple giggles from the girls in the group.

"Hector! Geez don't do that to me." Jaune says as he exhales deeply.

"Well you were looking sad so I decided it would be a good time to cheer you up with a spontaneous appearance." Hector says as he takes a seat down next to him.

"Hey Hector!" Ruby waves to him cheerfully. As does the rest of RWBY. Except Blake and Weiss who take a quick glance at him and smile softly before going back to their business.

"You're match against Yang and Blake was entertaining to watch." Pyrrha compliments.

"Yes, Yang wouldn't shut up about it all class." Weiss mentions.

"Hey I was excited! It's not often someone can match me in strength." Yang defended herself weakly.

"Speaking of Hector, where's the rest of your team?" Ruby asks.

"They should be sitting right next to me in a couple seconds." As if on cue as he said that his team makes themselves known by walking up to our table with their food in hand.. They sit in their usual order like with normally do with Ashley next to Hector and then Mike then Reggie.

"Hey boss, is Ashley alright now?" Reggie asks concerned for the well being of one of his teammates.

"Yeah, turns out it was just that time of the month." Hector stated, and got punished for it when Ashley drove her elbow into his side.

"Wait I thought she ate something bad." Mike mentioned.

"That's what happened, not what this asshole said over here." Ashley said bitterly as she stole one of his biscuits and ate it in two bites right in front of his face.

"Hey I was saving that. I named him Joel." Hector exclaimed with almost genuine despair.

The table besides Ashley, Weiss and Blake laugh at his fake sadness from losing his biscuit friend.

"Haha you really know how to make everyone around you happy even when they're sad." Jaune says, accidentally revealing that he indeed was sad.

"Oh so you were sad earlier!" Ruby exclaims, standing up and pointing a finger at him in triumph.

Realizing his mistake Jaune mentally scolds himself for letting that slip. Nonetheless he tries to cover it up anyway.

"No no I was okay earlier, I was just in deep thought. I'm alright see?" Jaune says, putting on his best forced smile that just makes me feel bad for him.

"Yeah that smile isn't fooling anyone man." Hector points out as he gave him a soft nudge.

Just as he gives him that nudge they all overheard a taunting laughter and looked to see Team CRDL being dickheads as usual and picking on a girl, Hector recognized her as Velvet right away. Those rabbit or bunny ears are a dead giveaway.

"Don't get involved Hector." He told himself in his head. He didn't want to change anything he didn't have to but seeing that happen really made his skin crawl. Bullies so far are at the top of his shit list.

"Jaune, Cardin has been picking on you since the first week of school." Pyrrha points out. Knowing exactly why Jaune has been feeling this way already.

"Who? Cardin Winchester?" Jaune asks in a naive tone.

"Dude did we not have this talk like today?" Hector asks, leaving him no room for running. "I saw him bully you a couple of times which is why I gave you that advice."

"He… He just likes to mess around a lot. No biggie." Jaune said, defending his bully for some reason. Hector knew what it feels like to be on the receiving end of a bully but that doesn't mean he was too scared to fight back from time to time, so seeing Jaune in such state didn't sit well with him.

"Yeah, mess around like shoving you in one of the rocket lockers and sending you flying and crashing into the Emerald forest? If that's messing around then you must be really good friends." He countered.

"Jaune he's a bully." Ruby pointed out in a bitter tone.

"Oh please name one time he's bullied me." Jaune challenged, resting his head on his propped up hand with a cocky grin on his face.

"Dude you know I can list off like four times from the top of my head. And I already listed one." Hector says without even looking at him, too busy watching as Cardin and his team are bullying poor british accent Velvet. As is Ashley, Reggie and Blake. All of whom are faunus with only one of them in disguise.

"I…" Is all Jaune can muster up. Hector countered every point he tried to make with a fact. His knowledge of the show and what people were going to say too much for Jaune to handle.

"Jaune. You know if you ever need help you can just ask." Pyrrha says with genuine concern in her voice. hector could tell she really wants to do something about it but needs Jaune to give her the okay.

"Oh I know! We'll break his legs!" Nora shouts out a suggestion that sounds more like she is going to do that to Cardin right now.

"Guys, really, it's fine. Besides, it's not like he's only a jerk to me. He's a jerk to everyone." Jaune points out as he stands up with his tray of food to do whatever with it.

As if on cue, Cardin began bullying one of the faunus girls across the hall. Hector perked up and peeked over his shoulder to get a good look, seeing the brute of a boy with his hand wrapped around one of the girls long brown bunny ears and pulling on them. It made him sick, and he wished he could do something about it without getting in trouble.

"Asshole." He muttered to himself as he forced his eyes to stare back down at his food, even though now he felt like he had lost his appetite.

The telltale sound of a riding crop whipping into the palm of a hand brought him back into reality, and out of the stupor that was his mind. Hector slowly turned around to look over his shoulder, and sheepishly waved at the woman with green eyes and glasses staring back at him. For some reason, he just knew that Glynda Goodwitch was there for him at that time.

"Hey Double G" He winced as he remembered that the woman absolutely despised that nickname. "I-I mean… How are you doing?" Hector stutterd out.

"Mister Rivers, please come with me. The headmaster has requested your presence."

"I have a feeling I don't really have a choice in the matter." Hector said in a voice barely above that of a whisper.

"Correct. Come."

With another sigh, Hector stood up and followed the professor, muttering his goodbyes to his team and friends as he followed the strict woman out of the cafeteria.

"Well… that was a thing." Yang breaks the silence.

"Huh, guess our all powerful leader is in trouble." Ashley said with a shrug.

"I guess so." Michael muttered with a sigh, not really caring about what just happened.

Not too far away from them, the girl with the bunny ears cried out in pain again. The laughter of Cardin seemed to echo around the cafeteria and her suffering went ignored. However, he finally stopped when a much larger boy in his second year came and forced Cardin's hand off of her ear. Bringing the crying girl back to a table on the other side of the cafeteria.

"It must be hard being a faunus." Yang said with a sad look in her eye.

* * *

"How is your day?" Ozpin asked with a small smile.

Hector was a bit confused at his choice of a first question, he just got there and usually the headmaster doesn't usually greet him like 's an exaggeration but he was sure that's going to be the story that goes around.

"Is… this a trick question or something?"

"No, I simply wish to know how you feel." Ozpin clarifies.

"Well… I guess I am feeling okay, nothing much going on besides school and stuff." Hector answered almost robotically. He did intentionally leave out the part where he was struggling with classes, it was difficult being in a world that had a completely different history than his own.

"Good. I saw your match against Miss, Xiao Long and Miss Belladonna." The headmaster said next. "It was very impressive, you certainly are a prodigy to improve so much in such short time."

"Hehe…" Hector chuckled nervously, in truth, he was just copying the moves of Yang and trying to make it his own. It has worked to a degree, and it only works in the first place because they both fight with their body instead of a weapon.

"No need to get embarrassed by the truth. I'd actually like to know how you managed to improve so fast. You must have underwent serious training with your teammates in this past month." Ozpin estimates.

"It wasn't much really. Like I said when you caught me speaking to Weiss and Ruby, I probably have the power of bullshit and luck on my side." Hector said, telling a half truth.

"Hmm. I don't believe that to be the case but since we have nothing else to go off of then I suppose I will take that as an acceptable answer for now."

"Hm, okay. Anything else you want to ask me?" Hector asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No. You may leave now." Ozpin said as he began to type away at his computer, going back to whatever work he was doing before.

"That's it?" Hector asked after a few moments of shocked silence. That couldn't be all he was called up there for, was it? It didn't make any sense to him.

"Yes, now I am sure your teammates are wondering where you've been. You are dismissed." Ozpin said without even looking into Hector's eyes. Focusing almost entirely on whatever work he was doing at the time

Hector muttered a quiet okay as he stood up and started making his way to the elevator. He stopped just before entering, just in case he was going to be called back at the last second. But when he turned around there Ozpin was, focusing on his work without a care in the world. With a shrug, Hector entered the elevator, figured out what button to press, and headed down to the ground floor.

"That was weird…" After making his way out of the office and into the darkness of the outside. He made his way back to the dorm building in which he resided in, and after getting back to his room, he found out that Reggie was already waiting for him at the door.

"Oh there you are boss I was worried about you!" Reggie exclaims with happiness. Hector struggles to respond due to the pressure on his chest but he manages to awkwardly pat his back from his awkward position. He drops him and Hector pants for air and uses his big friend as support.

"Thank you for your kind words Reggie." He says as he falls back into the chair that has become his home within his home.

"How bout you Ash? I know you must have missed me."

Ashley looks up to him from her scroll. Then nodded at him, and then went back typing away a message on her scroll. Hector coughed meaningfully, trying to egg her on to greet him or something, and with a roll of her eyes and a mental 'Why not?', she looked back to her leader.

"Welcome back."

"Reggie! She is warming up to me!" Hector said with a chuckle, satisfied with himself as his partner rolled her eyes at him again.

"She's been doing that for a while boss, she just decided now was a good time to let you know."

"Mhm." Ashley hummed, too tired to argue his point. They were all friends already after all, of course she warmed up to him.

"Haha I love you guys." He says as he slumps his head on his desk and instantly falls asleep. After the fight against Yang, classes in school, and the training with Ashley, he was exhausted both physically and mentally. This was a well needed rest, and luckily It's not too late at night so he can get a good seven hours of sleep.

He rolled in his bed to look at his team, Mike and Reggie sleeping together, the lovebirds that they were, and then his own partner, Ashley Cain. He just managed to see her put her scroll away, and then wave to him goodnight before turning off her own personal lamp.

They were a good team, Hector hope to be a good leader for them.

* * *

 **And there it is, Chapter 5 of this story remastered. It has been taking a lot more work and time then I expected, which is why Crowskull and I have decided that we are going to continue the story altogether, while working on the rewrite some weeks while others we progress the story forwards. After this point, the pace of the rewritten chapters are going to slow down immensely. There's only so much College Students and one of them who works full time can do a with the limited time they have after all.**

 **So, fair warning to anyone who hasn't already read the story before we started this rewrite. Beyond this point, there are going to be things that just don't match up, I won't spoil it for you now, but some plot points aren't going to make sense until the rewrite catches up to it. Go forth at your own risk, I am still embarrassed at how bad I wrote this over a year ago. I just wish I actually planned some of this before diving into it.**


	6. Rwby: Team HAMR chapter 6

**AN-Fist thank you to the reviewers of last chapter.**

 **Zeldawolffang- Thanks for pointing that out. You're a legend.**

 **M0bz-** **Tout cela vient ne vous inquiétez pas. That's the best french I can come up with I hope you understood it. Thanks for reading my story!**

 **This story is fun to write. I rewatched volume 1 and 2 and imagine what Team HAMR would do in those situations. This one is probably going to be a shorter one but I hope you guys like it anyway.**

* * *

RWBY: Team HAMR

Chapter 6- More Progress

Here we are again, everyone is now in _Doctor_ Ooblecks class of Remnant history. I called him professor once and he nearly spit in my face telling me that he is a doctor and he didn't earn the PHD for nothing. I'm here thinking,

" _Why the fuck are you teaching history if you're a doctor then?"_

But yeah Remnant's history is something I should pay extra attention to since y'know, being from a different planet from a different dimension and all. So I am trying my best to keep up with this speedy green haired doctor/teacher thing as he dashes all around the room in a green blur as he lectures us about something about humankind wanting to keep faunuskind on Menagerie. Meanwhile the teams HAMR, JNPR, and RWBY are all scattered around the room. So we cant even give each other advice. Turns out the schedule I read out or… screamed out to my team was meant for only that month. So I am relying on the helpful help of Mike and Velvet to find out when and where I need to be. You'd think that you would get an alert or something for these changes. Speaking of Velvet I happen to have been seated next to her and being the helpful little chocolate colored hair bunny Faunus she is, she is basically translating everything Oobleck says. Additionally it turns out that my dear new _best_ friend Cardin still hasn't learned his lesson even after being chokeslammed through a table by me, is still picking on Jaune. Throwing balls of paper and other shit I dont even know how to describe at him. I have been told not to interact with Cardin so sadly I can no longer help him. Even though I am considering breaking that rule anyway. While I am in my very healthy train of thought, one question that Oobleck asks snaps me out of it.

"...Now, have any among you been subjugated or discriminated because of your faunus heritage?" Almost all the faunus in the classroom raises their hand. Some don't out of fear of it just getting worse if they are honest about it.

"Oh gosh I think I just daydreamed for the past forty five seconds." I whisper to myself in which Velvet hears me just barely. She takes a quick glance to me and after a bit of hesitation raises her own hand, being honest. I take a look around the class and notice that even Ashley has raised her hand but she doesn't look like she is bothered by it at all. She sits next to Blake and on the other side of Blake is Pyrrha. I wonder when Blake reveals herself. Actually living through RWBY and not going through the time skips can make things last MUCH longer.

"Dreadful, simply dreadful! Remember, students, it is precisely this kind of ignorance that breeds violence! I mean, I mean just look at what happened White Fang! Now, which one of you scholars can tell me what many theorists believe to be the turning point of the third year of the war?" The doctor asks the class after going off on a small tangent.

Weiss raises her hand almost right away and answers the question correctly. "The battle of Fort Castle!"

"Precisely! And who can tell me the advantage the faunus had over General Lagune's forces?"

"Oh I know that one!" I call out just a bit too late. Right before I called out to try and get Ooblecks attention, Cardin throws another sharp piece of paper right at Jaune's neck. Causing him to raise his voice and say,

"Hey!" Doctor Oobleck dashes straight to Jaune and gets all up in his face with his cup of what I swear is coffee that has to be spiked with something.

"Mister Arc! Finally contributing to class, excellent! Mister Rivers, since you shouted, you will be next if Mister Arc answers incorrectly. Now Mister Arc, what is the answer?"

"Uhhhh… the answer… The advantage… of the Faunus… had over that guy's stuff…"

I feel bad for Jaune, I tried to save him this embarrassing moment but I was just a second too slow. I notice Pyrrha trying to help him out by making gestures, trying to point out to him that night vision is the answer. But poor Jaune mistakes it for…

"Binoculars!" To be fair Pyrrha did make a gesture that looks just like binoculars. If I didn't know the answer already because of the multiple times I've binged watched this show I probably would've answered the same way. At least he managed to amuse the class, even if its in a negative way. Cardin seems to be enjoying himself.

"Very funny Mister Arc. Mister Rivers, you are next just as I promised." Oobleck says right after he dashes in front of me. Scaring the shit out of me in the process.

"AH! Why would you do that?!" I ask as I nearly jump out of my seat. The class erupts again with amused laughter. Ashley shakes her head, and facepalms, disappointed in my choice of startled words.

"The answer Mister Rivers!" Doctor Oobleck demands from me. Silencing the class before they can get too excited.

"Oh yeah that. The answer is night vision right?" I answer the question finally.

"Correct! And how did you come to think of your answer?" Oobleck inquires once again before taking a quick sip of his drink.

"Well, I do have an awesome Faunus as a partner who was nice enough to tell me about her Faunus traits." I answer honestly once again. Ashley perks up at the mention of her and picks her head back up from the desk, listening more on the teacher-student conversation.

"Excellent, a great demonstration of Human-Faunus coexistence, Im glad to have open minded students such as yourself in my class." The green haired Doctor compliments. Cardin begins to chuckle loudly to himself.

"Mister Winchester! Do you wish to add something?" Doctor Oobleck asks as he moves back into the center of the lecture hall.

" _Oh geez, somethings can never be changed."_ I think to myself, knowing what's coming.

"Well, of course, animals are just easier to train then soldiers." I don't even know why he bothered to say that even though the answer was already out there.

"I can tell that you're not the most open minded of individuals are you, Cardin?" Pyrrha speaks up, roasting the fuck out of Cardin in the way of Remnant.

"Ha!" I exclaim my amusement at the small change of Pyrrha's insulting question.

"What? You got a problem?" Cardin asks, irritated already.

"No, just pointing out the obvious." Pyrrha counters.

"WOOH." I nearly fall out of my seat at the unexpected quip from Pyrrha of all people.

If that wasn't enough Blake had to join in on the action.

"Hectors answer was correct, General Lagune was inexperienced and made the mistake of trying to ambush the Faunus in their sleep. His massive army was outmatched, and the general was captured." Blake adds more detail to my answer, before adding yet another quip that is directed at Cardin. "Perhaps if he'd paid more attention in class, he wouldn't have been remembered as such a failure." Blake finishes while looking at Cardin.

Cardin growls and stands up to go do something that he knows he cant to Pyrrha and gets shut down right away by the amused Professor-Doctor.

"Mister Winchester, Please take your seat." Oobleck demands, annoyed by the students immaturity.

Cardin begrudgingly sits back down. He hears Jaune snickering below him and gets even more annoyed. Already planning to do something to do to him after class.

"You and Mister Arc can both see me after class for some additional readings." Oobleck adds after quickly dashing in front of the snickering Jaune. Quickly making Jaune moan out of sad frustration with getting in trouble.

"Moving on!"

* * *

The rest of the class went on without issue or interesting things worth staying awake for. With the help of Velvet I found out that me and my team have the rest of the day off. I know at night today Jaune and Pyrrha are going to have that talk about his fake transcripts so I make a mental note to myself to make sure Cardin doesn't take advantage of Jaune like he did in the show for several weeks until Jaune finally grew a decent pair. Although I could've sworn that it was night in the show when that happened… Eh whatever.

"I wonder what double G has in store for me today." I say out loud to my team as we walk down the hallway to the cafeteria.

"Maybe she'll give you a break. The fight you and Ashley had against Yang and Blake was pretty intense." Mike gives me some hope.

"Ha! If she didn't have a hate boner for me then I might agree with you."

"A… hate boner?" Ashley questions. She needs confirmation that what I just said was actually what just came out of my mouth in that second.

"Yes. A very hateful boner." I clarify for her. Reggie snickers a bit at Ashleys just shocked reaction.

"I just have no words for you this time. And that concerns me. I just got nothing to say." Ashley replies, absolutely bewildered.

"You must agree with me than." I offer in a hopeful tone.

"The day I agree to whatever you just say is the day I become human."

"Well technically you are one, you just have dog ears and you growl at me from time to time. Now that I think about it I think I saw some sharp canine teeth in that mouth of yours to. I so pity the guy that pressures you into prom sex."

"How do you function?" Ashley asks. Slightly embarrassed from having all those things pointed out in my short little rant.

Meanwhile in the background Reggie is holding on to his stomach laughing.

"You two are just the best to just sit back and listen to I swear."

"I just like to be honest, but Ashley here just likes to be difficult. Which leads to unnecessary derogatory name calling." I explain, using big words in a smart ass tone of voice.

Ashley rolls her eyes but cracks a smile anyway.

"How did a dipshit like you end up as my partner?"

"Didn't we have a moment like, yesterday?" I ask her, feigning depression as I dramatically wipe and imaginary tear from my face "I thought we were passed this."

"Team HAMR!" A unmistakable voice of unparalleled scary bitch teacher calls out to us from behind, stopping all of team HAMR in their tracks. I think I even heard Ashley whimper a bit, I'll remember that.

I slowly turn around the see Miss Goodwitch standing in a way that says "I want to punish you for something you didn't do but I cant." way, she is still a little sore about the way I talked to her after the whole Cardin incident. Guess she is not used to a student actually talking back to her on more than one occasion.

"Did we miss a class?" I ask hesitantly.

Before Miss Goodwitch can respond Ozpin of course shows himself and places a hand on one of her shoulders, calming her down from her angry glare.

"Glynda, I am sure there is no need to address them in such a way. Mister Rivers, you are to be trained specifically by Miss Goodwitch here to unlock and master your semblance, of course any or all of your teammates may join you if they wish to do so." Ozpin explains, saving me and my team from what I am sure was going to be a

"I'll go." Ashley volunteers right away, eager to unlock her own semblance. The training she's been doing with me has been helpful but with a fully trained huntress we both know she'll unlock it faster. Im convinced that she just wanted to spend more time with me but she continues to deny it.

"I think I'll pass, I already have mine and so does Reggie." Mike points out, hoping to be excluded from this training lesson.

"Oh no, You two will also attend. All of you need to get used to fighting together as a unit, instead of just pairs of two." Miss Goodwitch demands, not leaving them any room to argue or try to wiggle themselves out of the situation.

"I am glad that you two volunteered yourselves, truly I believe I can trust you to get me out of any tight situations." I compliment sarcastically.

"Hehe." Reggie chuckles to himself nervously while Mike just whistles a tune.

Transition

Team HAMR is now all in the now empty combat training arena with Miss Goodwitch as their opponent. She wants to gauge how well we can fight together at this very moment. We have been given five minutes to plan out a way to get the drop on her and land a few good hits. Since I'm the leader I have to come up with said plan. So I am putting all of my video game knowledge to come up with some strategy that may work perfectly or fail miserably.

"Alright, Mike, you have the bubble shields so you will stay out of the fight mostly and put up shields on anyone who is caught in a bad spot. Reggie you can go tank mode and be a front liner and can do what you do best with that big ass axe of yours. Ash, you and I are the damage dealers. While Reggie distracts her we will attack her from both sides and hope for the best." I explain the plan that took me three of those five minutes that we had.

"Did… did you take that from a video game?" Mike asks, hoping that I give him a good answer.

"Whaaaat? Of course not... I spent three minutes thinking that plan up so shut it and let's see if it will work." I respond with a pouty face.

"It actually sounds pretty solid to me." Reggie says with a shrug.

"Meh." Is all Ashley has to add to that.

"Great! Now, team HAMR, our first official battle as a team against a single powerful enemy. I have faith in all of us that we will come out victorious eventually and-"

"Training begins now!" Miss Goodwitch shouts, cutting me off flinging me into the wall out of bounds with her semblance before I can even begin to defend myself. I get embedded in the wall face first, groaning in pain.

"Ooowww." My voice can be heard through the stone wall.

"You weren't ready. Go get your leader and we will try again. This time pay attention to the clock. One minute." Miss Goodwitch says, getting back in her original position.

"Way to go leader." Ashley sarcastically remarks as she pulls one of my arms out of the wall.

"Hey Ashley, he's not really at fault here. He was giving us a leadership speech but got cut off by a sucker punch or whatever that purple energy is called." Reggie defends me. He pulls my torso to get my head out, now able to see what I am doing I pull out the rest of my body on my own.

"Oh gosh, my chest, okay first, screw you Ash, and second thank you Reggie." I say as I catch my breath. I am a bit understandably winded from that surprise attack.

"Hmph." Ashley replies.

"New plan? We kinda have like thirty seconds right now before she attacks us again so lets make sure we're ready this time." Reggie suggests as he helps me up from my keeled over position.

"Alright, original plan, Reggie do your thing."

"Already on it boss!" Reggie exclaims as he whips out his battleaxe and hardens his skin into metal.

"Alright, that's step one, Mike?" I look to Mike who has now rolled up his sleeves.

"Ready." Mike assures.

"Alright cool, so that leaves you and I Ash, you're the one who is more experienced so I'll mirror you." I say with a thumbs up and a smile.

Ashley is a bit taken aback by my modesty but is open to this plan.

"Alright, follow my lead then." Ashley replies with her own smirk.

"That is what I just said, yes."

"Times up." Miss Goodwitch points out. Instead of attacking right away this time, she enters a somewhat lazy stance, holding out her riding crop like a sword with her other arm to her side and one leg behind the other, standing horizontally to Team HAMR.

Ashley and I dash to different sides of the ring while Reggie, as planned he uses his tankiness to his advantage and charges in headon. Glynda fires some projectiles at him, using the rocks from the destroyed walls but it bounces harmless against his metal skin. Though Reggie gets too confident when he gets close, he swings his axe over his head that is easily sidestepped by Miss Goodwitch. She quickly punishes his reckless attack by kicking him in the back, sending him sliding across the arena floor, even through the metal skin the pain still reaches him. Before he can slide across the arena too far a green shield forms around him, stopping him in his tracks. Miss Goodwitch gets distracted by this for just half a moment and that's when Ashley decides it's time to strike, she gives me a small hand signal that I just barely see in time before she attacks. I mirror her movements and we both come at Miss Goodwitch from both sides. Ashley readies her sword to attack in an X formation and I attack with an attempted kick to the back of the teachers knee. Miss Goodwitch expertly dodges both of her attacks with fluid movements, even causing some friendly fire when Ashley slashes at my shoulder on accident. Miss goodwitch uses her riding crop to push down on my head hard enough to make me roll across the ground away from her. Ashley tires to counter attack but fails as Miss Goodwitch redirects her arms away from her, truly showing the difference between a huntress and a huntress in training. If Mike didn't bubble Ashley at the last second she probably would have gotten hit hard. Her riding crop stops right away at the point of contact with the shield.

"That's going to get annoying." Miss Goodwitch mutters to herself. She locks eyes with Mike, whose hands are still covered in the green aura resulting from the use of his semblance. Mike's stomach drops when he meets her eyes.

"Uh, guys I am going to need assistance pretty soon." He calls out to us.

Luckily for him Reggie recovered from his tumble earlier and blocks her path, swinging his axe in a more precise and faster attack. Locking weapons with Miss Goodwitch who holds him off despite his incredible strength. She parries his attack and kicks him away. Before she can refocus on Mike again I come back into the picture.

"Surprise attack!" I can't help but shouting when I attempt to kick her in the side of her head. It might have worked if I didn't shout surprise attack.

Miss Goodwitch ducks under my kick and grabs it, slamming me into the ground face first, I bounce off and moan in pain. Ashley facepalms at my stupid decision making lets me know of her frustrations.

"That might of worked if you didn't shout your intentions beforehand dipshit!" She yells at me.

"I regret my decision." I mumble loudly into the ground. I don't know if they heard me but close enough I guess.

"That is enough, I have all I need to know." Miss Goodwitch says as she hoists me out of the ground with her semblance and stands me up. "You have good coordination but fail at executing them properly. Mister Cedric doesn't have to stay out of the fight in order to use his semblance. I believe he is entirely capable of holding his own while also being able to provide support to his team." Miss Goodwitch explains.

"Well you could have held back for us just a little bit." I complain as I rub the back of my neck.

"If I held back it would not help you as much. The best way to learn is the hard way. Even if it is painful at times."

"Oh gosh is this going to become a regular thing?" I ask, horrified at the idea of having to do this on a regular basis. My team is understandably feeling the same way.

"We haven't finished yet. You and Miss Cain still have semblance training to do. The others may exclude themselves if they wish." Miss Goodwitch reveals.

"Well as much as I enjoyed this team training I am suddenly very hungry. Good luck boss!" Reggie says as he is already out the door.

"I'll stay and watch. I got nothing better to do." Mike says as he sits down at one of the empty desks. A good distance away from all of us.

"Well Ash, looks like we found a teacher." I say as I walk up to her side.

"Miss Cain, it has come to my attention that your hand to hand combat is not up to par."

Ashley gulps nervously and her top ears flatten against her head. Already dreading the next two hours. She turns and glares at me, thinking I was the one that told her.

"Woah, don't give me that look, the only one's I told about that was our team." I say as I raise my hands in surrender.

"I told her." Mike reveals. Not really caring if Ashley is going to be mad at him.

"See? Not me." I say with a smile.

Ashley glares at Mike for a moment but looks away when he just yawns in response. "Whatever." She says. Putting her weapons back in their sheath.

"Great. Now let's get started. First we need to find out what your semblance is, in Mister Rivers case we know it exponentially increases his strength and speed an unspecified amount, and you also gain a red flaming aura as well. I am not sure what to call this so I will leave it up to you."

"Oh really? Awesome! Lets see… red flaming aura, exponentially increases strength and speed." The gears work hard in my head as I remember a certain ability from a certain anime that sounds very similar to what my semblance does. Although not exactly.

"AHA! I know exactly what to call this!" I exclaim my happiness as I pump a fist into the air.

"Really? That fast?" Ashley asks, surprised by my mere moments of thinking before I come to a decision.

"Yeah, there was this show that I really like watching where there were a lot of bloody fighting and this guy had something that is very similar to what I can do and its called the Kaioken!" I explain all in one breath. Trying my best not to start panting right away from the lack of air in my lungs.

"...The Kaio- what?"

My shoulders slump down at Ashley's question. Mike is also having trouble understanding because he can't think of any show that has any ability like that belonging to any of the characters he can think of. And he likes to watch a lot of Remnant's equivalent anime while we're all sleeping.

"I… suppose it is your choice to name your own semblance whatever you wish. Now onto more important matters, Miss Cain, how is it after all of your training and experience you still haven't unlocked your semblance?" Miss Goodwitch asks, changing the subject for better or worse.

"I uh… don't really know." Ashley answers honestly.

"Hmm, well my suspicion is that you won't be able to unlock it through regular training. This may not be to your liking but I believe you will have to be under a great amount of stress to unlock it." Miss Goodwitch proposes.

Ashley shifts around nervously in a way I haven't seen before and holds her arms to her chest.

"Soooo, does that mean I have to die or something?" I ask cheerfully, In hopes of lifting the mood.

"What? Why would you think that?" Ashley asks me, going back to her steely cold yet warm personality.

"Well you want to unlock your semblance so bad so I figured I'd be the sacrificial lamb." I explain with a lazy shrug.

"No you dipshit, that isn't necessary." Ashley says, I think she faked annoyance but you can never be sure with her. Shoving a hand into my chest and pushing me.

"Aww, Mike! She cares!" I shout to Mike who gives me a thumbs up and a small amused smile.

Ashley rolls her eyes at my exclamation of forced happiness.

"You really give yourself too much credit, I only tolerate you since you're my partner." Ashley says.

"Enough of this childish banter!" Miss Goodwitch yells as she whips her riding crop on the ground next to her feet. Scaring the shit out of me and Ashley from continuing our little bonding moment.

"Yes mam!" We both say in unison. Standing up as straight as possible.

"Good, now we can begin."

* * *

Skipping the unnecessary parts of me and Ashley getting our asses handed to us, I made some progress on my semblance. So far I can only use my semblance on certain parts of my body, I couldn't manage to replicate what I did against Yang the other day, but in better news I learned that my semblance is tied to my emotions and how much I get into a fight. So the more I fight the stronger I get during said fight. Oh boy that'll be fun. Ashley on the other hand just trained her hand to hand and some new techniques that Miss Goodwitch shared with her. I don't know why Ozpin is so invested in Team HAMR but hey, whatever helps. Mike was actually pretty interested in our improvement and actually didn't spend the whole time reading that smut book. Can't wait to tell Blake about that.

So yeah right about now me, Ashley, and Mike are all sitting together in the empty desks, Miss Goodwitch already took her leave, but not before giving us some advice which was, " _I suggest that all of you train together on your off time, so that you can learn to coordinate with each other better. I will train you all personally every Friday at this time. Do not keep me waiting. And no there is no extra credit."_ I left some stuff out because I didn't bother to listen to the rest of it but that's the gist of it all from what I managed to catch.

"Well that was fun." I begin.

"If you call being used as a human mop then yeah, i'm inclined to agree." Ashley says.

"It was fun for me watching." Mike mentions.

"Oh I bet it was ya dick." I say as I playfully shove him.

"In all seriousness though, it seems that your semblance can be very powerful if you master it." Mike points out.

"Yeah, well I think in order for me to fully unlock it instead of little bursts here and there during sparring, is through stress like Ash here."

"Oh god, something I have in common with you makes me want to puke." Ashley says with a forced gag.

"Oh c'mon Ash, you can stop pretending to hate my guts." I tease, nudging her in the side.

"What makes you think i'm pretending?"

"Because there has been like twelve moments where we had some good bonding times. Honestly you send a lot of mixed signals." I answer honestly.

"Because the way you act is weird, it's either you say or do something that I hate or you say or do something that makes me want to-" Ashley cuts herself off and covers her mouth. Her cheeks go red at almost revealing what she thinks of me.

"What was that last part?" I ask, clueless to the bashful emotion Ashley is giving off 'cause plot.

"Don't you have other friends to talk to?" Ashley asks as she looks away with a hmph and slides away from me into another chair.

I scratch my head in confusion as I try to think of something that I did wrong. That is until I realize a certain Jaunedice is going on at the moment.

"Oh yeah I do have something to do! See ya later guys!" I wave goodbye as I run up to the door and almost break it down when I exit the room so fast.

"So you were saying?" Mike asks sassily as he leans in, resting is chin in both hands.

"Why would' I trust you with that?" Ashley asks.

"'Cause Im gay, and gay guys are a girl's best friend." Mike answers with a shrug, almost like Ashley should have known that already.

"... I guess that makes sense."

"Soooo."

"I almost said…"

* * *

I speed walk down the hallway to Ooblecks classroom. When I get near I see Pyrrha waiting patiently beside the door, waiting for Jaune I assume so they can have that rooftop moment. If there's anything I _should_ change its that whole mess of an arc. No pun intended.

"Hey Pyrrha!" I greet, catching her attention.

Pyrrha shifts her gaze from her feet to me as I stop to her right and lean on the wall with her. She smiles warmly at my unexpected appearance.

"Oh, hello Hector. How are you?"

"Well Miss Goodwitch literally wiped the floor with me and Ash a couple times but other then that I feel peachy!" I answer with a bright smile.

Pyrrha doesn't know if I am being serious or not but still puts up a smile for me. She's so nice.

"Now how about you tell me what you're doing standing outside this class for the past three hours?"

"Oh, I am waiting for Jaune. He got in trouble because of Cardin and had to stay back and listen to another lecture." Pyrrha explains.

"Uh huh. So you're telling me that you are standing out here for Jaune, for the past three hours, just so you can walk with him?" I ask, gaining a slight teasing tone.

Pyrrha doesn't seem to get it yet so I elaborate further. In my own way of course.

"How do you mean?"

"Dammit Pyrrha I can already tell you have a crush on the guy." I 'elaborate' for her. I really hope this will work and get Jaune to get off Weiss' back.

Pyrrha's face gets as red as her hair as she heats up, struggling to find the words to deny my accusation.

"I- I don't know what you mean." Pyrrha fails miserably at convincing me to believe her.

"Eh, I'll leave that up to you to understand. But seriously, waiting out here for three hours just to offer that guy advice, wife material." I compliment playfully. I was hiding my giddy feelings, and almost fawned over Pyrrha's little adorable moment I caught her in. But seriously, three hours? I could've sworn it was like a couple of minutes at best in the show.

"Mmm." Is all I get as a response from the still embarrassed Pyrrha.

"Well in other news I made progress on fully unlocking my semblance." I mention, saving Pyrrha from any further embarrassment. Right away her face returns to its normal color, and she asks me about it.

"Didn't you unlock it earlier? But congratulations, tell me about it."

"Well, I sorta did but didn't, the part of it that I can control is weaker then if I get it forced out of me. I'm going to make it short and say that it increases my strength and power exponentially according to my emotional state or adrenaline level. Also it's hot as shit." I explain, leaving a lot of stuff out and ending it off with a soft snicker.

"Well, that seems like a very interesting thing to fight against, I am interested in dueling against you in the future some day if you are up for it." Pyrrha challenges me pretty much.

My blood runs cold at the challenge, I would decline it but the hopeful smile on Pyrrha's face and the knowledge that she wants to be treated like any normal person, and that she wants a goal to strive for is just too much for me to work up the will to say no.

"... Sure, just not anytime soon since y'know, studying and all that school stuff- Oh hey there's Jaune!" Jaune could not have popped up at a better time than now. I was about to explode in a thousand ways of nope.

Just as Jaune registers my voice, Cardin pushes him over, laughing at him as he hits the ground and saunters away like nothing happened. Pyrrha rushes over to Jaune's side and helps him up.

"You know I really will break his legs." Pyrrha offers.

"I already used him to break a table but I won't mind going through another talk with double G to do it again." I add, stepping up to just behind Pyrrha.

Jaune just sighs sadly at our offers.

Pyrrha frowns at Jaunes sad mood but in the three hours she had just now, and for the past couple of weeks, she has been thinking of a way to help him out, and tonight she will put it into action.

"I have an Idea! Hector you can help to!" Pyrrha exclaims as she grabs both of our wrists and drags us around the corner. "Here come with me!"

"AHUHA." Jaune yelps as he is unceremoniously yanked along by Pyrrha.

"You should ask us that before dragging us somewhere!" I yelp along with Jaune. Also being yanked along.

After about a minute Pyrrha takes us both to that same rooftop where she had that talk with Jaune. But now with me here things can change. Luckily for them I spent a lot of time thinking on what I would say to Jaune if I was up there with them.

"Pyrrha, I know that I am going through a hard time right now, but I'm not THAT depressed." Jaune points out, taking this trip to the roof the wrong way. "I can always be a farmer, or something."

I've seen this scene a million times but it still makes me crack a smile every time.

"N-no!" Pyrrha shoves Jaune away from the edge.

"Dude, I highly doubt that's why she brought you up here." I point out.

"Yes, he is very correct." Pyrrha assures. "Jaune, I know you're having a difficult time in class, and that you're still not the strongest of fighters, so…"

"I'll finish for her, I can tell where this is going anyway. she wants to help you train and become a better fighter, and I don't know why she brought me up here but I guess its to help convince you, and no offence man but you need the help." I finish for Pyrrha. She gives me a grateful look.

"W-what?" Jaune sadly asks.

Pyrrha takes a sharp breath before she finally declares what her intentions are.

"I want to help you train! We can train up here at night where nobody can bother us!"

"You think I need help?" Jaune asks, still in his downcast tone of voice.

"N-no! That's not what I meant."

"But you just said it." Jaune points out.

"Alright, Im going to be the honest one here and say yes, you need the help. There's no shame in getting a bit of help every now and again. You think I got this crazy strong so fast just by sitting around and hoping the skill would make its way to me? I had help." I explain to Jaune.

"Yes, although he could've been nicer about it, Hector is correct again, everyone needs a push every once in a while. It doesn't make you any different then the rest of us." Pyrrha explains further, hoping Jaune would accept this help.

Although I'm here to make sure this goes in the right direction, I don't want to change too much of what happened, so I change small bits here and there. I think it's working so far because I can just feel the gears moving in Jaunes head as he actually considers this help being offered from his partner.

"You made it to Beacon, that speaks volumes of what you're capable of." Pyrrha finishes.

"But I didn't." And this is where I have to come in again pretty soon. "I-I don't belong here."

"That's a terrible thing to say, of course you do!" Pyrrha, attempts to change his mind but took what he said about himself the wrong way. So this is where I come in now.

"That's not what he meant Pyrrha." I begin, catching her attention. "He means that he _shouldn't_ be here, If you catch my meaning."

"W-what do you mean." Pyrrha asks, really hoping that I didn't just hint at what she hopes isn't true.

"He's right Pyrrha… I wasn't really accepted to Beacon." Jaune reveals to Pyrrha for the first time.

"Wh-what do you mean?" Pyrrha, still being clueless to what Jaune is talking about asks.

"I mean, I didn't go to Combat School! I didn't pass any tests!" Jaune sighs as he calms himself down. "I didn't earn my spot in this academy… I lied. I got my hands on some fake transcripts and I lied."

"What? But, why?" Pyrrha asks.

"'Cause this is what I've always wanted to be! My Father, My Grandfather, and his father before him were all warriors!" Jaune rants. Before he can continue and this whole little plan Pyrrha had goes south, I make sure to change that.

"Well I knew that." I point out. Jaune and Pyrrha both turn their gaze to me.

"What? How?" Jaune asks.

Now this is where I have to bend the truth a bit so I don't reveal that I am not of this world. Luckily I've already planned out in my head what I would say in this situation."Dude, coming from a guy who didn't do shit to earn his place here either, I could tell. Now before I let you continue let me finish. Do you really think that the headmaster of the most prestigious huntsman academy in the world who has no doubt seen fake transcripts before just miss yours somehow?"

"I… guess that makes sense. Wait you didn't do anything before coming here either?"

"Yeah, I didn't do shit. But for some reason Ozpin let me in anyway. I can see what he meant now because of my semblance being OP as shit, so If I were you I'd be honored. Besides who else can say that Pyrrha Nikos herself offered training to them."

"I… just always wanted to be the hero. Not to be the damsel in distress. Or the lovable idiot that is stuck in a tree while his friends fight for their lives." Jaune mutters.

"Then let me help you!" Pyrrha exclaims, getting hopeful that she is getting somewhere.

"I… guess I could use the help." Jaune finally relents. Jesus christ, for you it might have been a couple of minutes but for me It felt like half an hour trying to get this blonde guy to accept her help.

"And now my job here is done. Good night to you both and good luck to you Jaune. I'm tired as shit." I wave goodbye as I walk backward back toward the door. Before I can get out of earshot, Pyrrha calls out to me.

"Thanks for your help!"

That's the last thing I hear before I walk back into the main part of the building. Today a lot of progress was made. I became closer with Jaune and Pyrrha, they got into their training earlier, I _think_ I made Pyrrha recognize her feelings earlier, and I got Jaune to not be a dick for little reason. Me and my team got some well needed training in, Ashley and I are now being professionally teached because me being a teacher is a horrible Idea, aaand I think that's about it. Wait a second…

"I forgot about Cardin!" I realize my mistake after a couple of minutes of walking away, being proud of myself. I run back to the rooftop within thirty seconds but no one is up there anymore. It's either, Cardin did his dick move thing a little differently or they left together this time.

"How the hell could I forget that?" I scold myself as I slap a hand against the top of my head. "Oh whatever, he'll get his moment in that red forest place against that random Ursa." I wave off as I finally head back to my room.

So yeah besides that last part, this day made a lot of progress. But instead of waiting around for the next big thing to happen. I have a trip to Vale planned. A plan that involves a certain bowler hat wearing crime lord. Can't wait for that arc of a story.

* * *

 **AN- I'm back! It's been so long since I have updated this story and I am so sorry about that. I needed a break from writing in general because my brain was mush and was honestly running out of ideas, on top of Oh Gosh being tended to. But no worries. I'm back and I am full of ideas. And yes being away from this for a week is long for me. Usually I write almost 2 chapters a week for each story. Don't ask how I do it.**

 **Next chapter will be for Oh Gosh, but for this story you can guess what the next 3-4 chapters are about. I don't want to just keep sticking to the main cannon without going off and my own little adventures. This one was a little shorter because I am on a time clock. I've been working a lot more recently at my job so I'm sorry to say this but 1-3 chapters a week might not be possible anymore. But thank you all for reading this story if you have made it this far.**

 **Please leave a review and tell me what you think!**

 **Wanna keep up with me and the progress of each chapter? I have a twitter just for you guys!**

 **/genatools** **There's the link you sexy people.**

 **See you next time!**

 **Disclaimer- I do not own RWBY in any way shape or form.**


	7. Rwby: Team HAMR chapter 7

**AN- First thank you to the reviewers of last chapter**

 **Zeldawolffang- Lol don't worry, i'm sure you're not the only one. It's just a nickname that I thought would be funny for Hector to call Glynda. And let me tell ya, she does not like it one bit.**

 **M0bz- Thanks, I didn't take that french class in high school for nothing.**

 **Now it's time to stop sticking to the cannon so much and have Team HAMR do a little "Recon" mission outside of the proper authority. I don't like rewriting stuff you can just watch from the show, so time for this new made up arc to start!**

* * *

RWBY: Team HAMR

Chapter 7- Secret mission (part 1)

After the whole me fixing the Jaune and Pyrrha situation earlier, the rest of that night went on without anything worth telling about. It is now early morning and I am about to put my plan into action! Or at least start it. It is currently six in the morning and I have the task of waking up my team, oh boy…

"Psst, Reggie? Wakey wakey." I quietly say in a soothing voice as I nudge Reggie. Whom of which is snuggling with Mike because that's still a thing. But they're in a funny position where Reggie is like halfway off the bed while Mike is holding on to his arm as if he is saving him from falling onto the floor.

"Mmm, aahah bah gh." Reggie incoherently responds as he stirs from his slumber. Luckily this guy is a light sleeper, which is ironic to me since his personality kinda gives off that heavy sleeper vibe.

"There ya go bud wake up." I move away from him just in case he thrashes about suddenly, while Reggie sleeps he unconsciously uses his semblance from time to time, so certain parts of his body can be metal while other parts are not.

"Boss?" Reggie calls out before yawning heavily. "What is it?"

"Fully wake up and I'll let you know what I wanna do, here I've prepared this cup of water to assist." I say as I hand him a cup of water.

Reggie takes the cup of water, inspects it a bit, shrugs, then pours it on his head, being careful that all the water lands on the floor and not on the bed.

"Well that's not what I had in mind but okay." I said with a shrug. Half expecting him to do that.

With a roll of his shoulders and the near ice cold water trailing down his face, Reggie shakes like a dog to dry himself and fully wakes up. "Whew, so what's up boss?" He asks with the usual grin on his face.

"How does a secret mission to capture the most renown crime boss in Remnant sound?" I ask, my voice barely above a whisper.

"Oooo count me in! Mike is in to, but I can't help but think that we don't exactly have authorization do we?"

"Well… I'm the leader of this team so I give authorization for this mission. Don't tell anyone please." I plead.

"Ha! Like I'd turn down an adventure like this! The only one you gotta worry about is the angry girl behind you." Reggie warns with a flick of his chin to indicate that someone is behind me. And based off of his short description and the fact that only one girl lives in this room with us I know exactly who it is.

"Oh the bitch has awakened. Good, saves me the trouble of waking her up myself." I waved off his warning in a confident tone that masks the feeling of fear I instantly felt once I realized that my partner was standing angrily behind me.

 **SLAP**

"OOOWWW, WHY!?" I whisper scream as I hold the throbbing pain in the back of my head. Yeah Ashley was not amused to say the least.

"That's what you get for calling me a bitch Dipshit!" Ashley whisper screams back.

The reason we are both whisper screaming is so we won't wake up anyone in the nearby dorms. But unluckily for Mike, he hears every word.

"You should not be offended! It's the literal definition of a female dog!"

"Oh so I'm a dog now huh?!"

"NO You are a female dog faunus, so I thought it would be clever! Where did you get that from?!"

"As much as I would love to listen to you two lovebirds argue, I would appreciate if you keep it down." Mike speaks up in a tired unamused voice.

"Cute, yeah I have a mission for us, and if Ash here behaves her I _might_ bring her along!"

"Hmph." Ash turns away from me and sits back down on her bed. Surprisingly neither of us seemed to notice the little quip from Mike. Either that or we are now unaffected but the gay couples teasing now.

"Alright, now that everyone's awake, and _calm_ , I want us to go on a secret mission -authorized by yours truly- to go after a certain crime lord. Because I'm bored as shit and it seems no one else is willing to do anything about it until he actually does something a little more… lethal." I explain my plan, getting more and more serious with every word.

In truth I just really want to at least change part of the future, I know if we actually capture Roman all that might change is him being able to hack into the security systems earlier then before. "But the real plan is not to go actually capture the bowl hat wearing crime boss per say," This confuses my team to a certain degree but let me continue. "See if we capture him, he's just going to escape one way or another. So I plan to tag him somehow, so we can track his movements while at the same time keep up with what he is doing." I have been thinking of this plan far before I was even on Remnant in the first place. "Sound good?"

My team is actually impressed with my strategic thinking, except there is one problem, "That is actually a solid sounding plan, but how exactly are we going to tag him?" Mike inquires, actually invested in something I am talking about for the first time.

"Well that's where my _very_ smart teammates come in of course!" And this is where my plan needs a couple adjustments since, 'Run in there and destroy everything' isn't really smart in a situation where I could actually die.

"That's as far as you plan goes doesn't it." Ashley accuses.

"Well I did come up with it about last night-ish." I half lie, I decided to actually go through with it last night since my team, JNPR and RWBY absolutely refuse to believe me when I say I'm not from this world. I bet Ozpin smirks to himself every time they shut me down.

"Oh great, you want us to go on a mission on a barely halfway thought out-"

"That's sounds like so much fun though!" Reggie cuts Ashley off. Mike facepalms and I just laugh wholeheartedly at my wonderful teammates support.

"Instead of wasting time arguing with Ash here how about we plan out more of it on the field?" I suggest as I put on my fighting shirt as I have dubbed it.

"If we die I blame you." Ashley warns as she puts on her own fighting clothes, after entering the bathroom of course to avoid teasing from our lovely and adorable gay couple.

"If we die then we die, nothing really special would happen." I respond through the door.

Within minutes we are all geared up and ready to go. Honestly we look a little badass, all formed up like this, if only I had a weapon to go along with the rest of my team to complete the set.

"May Team HAMR's first mission… COMMENCE!" I whisper shout as I open the door to our room, only to be met by a stoic faced black cat faunus in hiding staring back at me with her amber eye's. "AH!" I yelp comedically as I jump back and into the arms of my partner. "Uh… Hi Blake, what has you awake this early in the morning?" I ask nonchalantly as I am being held by my reluctant teammate.

"Well I heard-"

"Would you get off of me already?!" Ashley cuts off Blakem and asks me as she pushes me off of her, I land on my feet and dust myself off of some of her hair that got stuck to my clothes.

"Well, I heard you guys talking about going of Torchwick, and I want to help." Blake continues and states her intentions right away. She is already in her huntress uniform and has her weapon sheathed on her hip. Now that I think about it I think we were supposed to keep our weapons in our lockers.

"Oh… You heard all of that." I state nervously as I scratch the side of my head.

"Well you weren't exactly quiet about it. And we do live next door to each other." Blake points out calmly. But despite her rather sounds statement I feel like her hidden faunus ears might have had something to do with it.

"So why are you the only one here if you all could have heard us as easily as you imply?" Mike questions, actually catching her off guard with his question.

" _Well at least I'm not the only one here who noticed something off. Even though I already knew about her little secret."_

"I just happened to be awake at the time." Blake comes up with a lame excuse. But I know how important it is for her for people to not know her faunus origins, so I come in for the rescue.

"Back to more important things, I assume nothing I can say or do would dissuade you into not coming with us?"

Blake looks to me and for a split second I could see a small smile on her face, before it returns to her usual straight face. "Not much no."

"Even the fact that your team is going to freak once they realize that you're not there in about two or three hours?"

"I'm sure they'll call one of you.

"Well then, since I realize that convince you NOT to come. Without any further adieu, I hereby name you the temporary fifth member of Team HAMR! Welcome to the team." I extend my hand out to shake hers to solidify our alliance.

Everyone can't help but at least crack a smile at my antics. Although accepting help from someone they've only known for a few weeks might not have been the smartest choice in their opinion, but if they knew what I knew I bet they would have done the same thing.

"I am honored to be an honorary member of your team." Blake says with a playful roll of her eyes.

"Alright, now that everything is settled and assuming there's no more surprises, let us begin." I announce, pumping my fist out to my newly formed team.

Reggie joins in on the team break that I am initiating, pulling Mike along with him and holding his fist in the team break as well, Ashley on the other hand absolutely refuses to do this.

"Please?" I plead, giving her the best puppy eyes I can muster up.

"No."

"Pretty please?" Puppy eyes intensifies.

"Stop it." It's super effective!

"What if I-"

"Don't finish that sentence and I'll... participate." Ashley finally relents.

I bring my fingers up to my lips and drag them across, as if I am zipping my mouth closed. Ashley rolls her eyes and places one finger on the huddle up. Now its Blake's turn. I look to the secret beside me and raise my eyebrows up and down, silently asking her to join in. Luckily she is not as difficult as Ashley and places one of her own fingers in the pile, right on top of Ashley's.

"One, two, three, HAMR! Alright I promise that is not the last time we'll be doing that." I say quickly as I am the first to pull away from the huddle up.

Now let's finally start this mission, with no more distractions or setbacks, we all make it to where the Bullheads pick us up and hop on, I don't know why the pilot didn't ask any questions, but I guess we're not the only huntsman in training to do something like this early in the morning on a Friday. He's probably just done with asking since it has probably happened so many times. Now that we are in the city, I realize another flaw in my plan… I've never been in Vale before.

"Alright this is where I need you guys and girls." I point out to the other superpowered teenagers behind me.

"Already?" Ashley asks, half surprised and half not surprised.

"Yeeeeaaaahhhh. I realize that I've never actually been down here before." I confess.

"You were planning to go after the most notorious crime lord in Remnant without even knowing the layout of the city you are searching for him for?" Blake questions, tilting her head at me in confusion.

"Ehhh, I mean, possibly." I answer vaguely. "But what are teams for?"

"You know what I just realized!?" All of a sudden Reggie gasps in surprise, and grabs his head with both like he just discovered aliens.

"What would that be bud?" I ask, still a little startled but more or less content with his sudden outburst.

"HAMR isn't a color." Reggie reveals with a goofy, toothy grin on his face. I bet he is so proud of himself for thinking of that.

"Pfft Hahaha." I couldn't keep it in any longer as I start giggling uncontrollably. "H-how?! How the absolute hell did you JUST realize that?!" I ask between laughs.

My laughing is contagious as Blake and Ashley actually join in on it, Mike is still doing his best at holding it in… that is until I wrap my arm around his shoulders and pull him into our little group.

"Mike… MIKE. This guy, this guy right here is your boyfriend. I just want you to know that." I say as I begin to run out of breath.

"I am well aware." Mike says, finally breaking into a small chuckling fit.

"And you Reggie." I say as I wrap my other arm around the shorter but bigger man. "You, are now my best friend." I declare.

"Thanks Boss!" Reggie exclaims happily, mistaking the fact that the whole time we were actually laughing at his stupidity.

"As hilarious as that was, I think we should get back on track." Blake the party pooper points out. Returning to her usual stoic personality.

"Alright _Blakey_ just go ahead and ruin the fun." I sarcastically and playfully respond, wiping a tear of laughter from one of my eyes.

"Hmph." is all I get as a response. I think I got away with calling her Blakey since I am on her good side, I'm a nice guy after all. Who knows? Maybe she even likes me… HA!

"So how are we going to find this Torchwick guy again?" Mike asks, blowing a strand of hair out of his left eye as we walk.

"Hmm." I grab my own chin and enter a thinking pose. How exactly am I going to find him? I take a couple of moments to think on it, going through past conversations with Yang, and other shady looking students, but then I go back to Yang, back to a certain conversation we had a couple months ago while we were training.

* * *

 **Flashback**

" _Hey Hector!" I hear my name called out as I work out with Ashley, Double G has given us the task of doing everything together during Combat training so we can better our coordination, I don't know how working out together makes our coordination better, but whatever. I turn around and meet Yang's Lilac eyes and smile back at her._

" _Yo Yang, whats up?" I greet as I wipe some sweat out of my brow._

 _My wonderful Faunus partner waves to show Yang that she has been acknowledged. She is not sweating nearly as much as I am but she is panting somewhat. We are doing strength training, and conditioning. To her it's not much but to me… Oh lord, if only I could use the parts of my semblance I managed to have some control over to help myself out. But that's not allowed sadly, Ashley's constant little jabs at me don't help either._

" _Not much just noticed you getting your ass kicked by that pull up bar so I thought I'd come make fun of you." Yang says with a little giggle that follows shortly after._

" _I know right! It's not that hard." Ashley adds._

" _Oh come on, I got long arms and I'm heavier then I look, also this is kind of the first time I am working out like this." I explain, trying yet again to claim that I've never done this before._

" _You can't expect either of us to believe you after you and Yang nearly destroyed the ring before." Ashley points out._

" _Yeah! You're punches definitely had some power behind them!" Yang adds._

" _Well thank you both for the wonderful compliments, but I swear I am telling the truth when I say that I am actually from a different dimension." I persist._

" _Yeah yeah, whatever you say big guy." Yang waves off my claim once again, as does Ashley. "But as fun as making fun of you would be, I actually came here to thank you."_

 _This surprises me somewhat but I remember quickly what I did for Ruby, saving her from the onslaught known as The Ice Queen. But I play stupid in order to humor her._

" _What did I do to deserve this?" I ask, trying to sound as clueless as possible._

" _Ruby told me that you saved her from a heated argument against Weiss, now I was going to confront Weiss about this but Ruby, being the very forgiving type, convinced me otherwise. So thank you for doing that for her, and becoming one of her new friends to, she was so excited when she told me that." Yang explains, patting me on the shoulder._

" _Well, I was told that I am hard to hate." I remark, making sure to take a glance at Ashley since she was the one who gave me a reason to say that._

" _Haha, you definitely are. Since I'm here I actually have a proposition for you." Yang mentions with her signature smirk._

" _Oh boy, what could this be?"_

" _I'm heading out with some friends to a club, the owner owes me a drink, and I cordially invite you and your partner here to come with us." Yang says with a mock bow._

That's where it hit me.

 **Flashback ends**

* * *

' _Wait a second…'_

"AHA!" I shout suddenly, making Reggie jump a bit and everyone else look at me in confusion.

"What was that for?" Blake asks what everyone is thinking.

"I know EXACTLY where we should start!" I say with a ecstatic smile on my face.

"Really? Where?" Everyone asks in unison, completely stopping in their tracks after hearing those words.

"Are any of you familiar with Junior's Nightclub?" I ask, slightly confusing Reggie, and Ashley but luckily Mike and Blake know exactly what I am talking about. Mike because he has been there before and Blake because her golden haired partner can be very boastful about her past little adventures in Vale.

"I know what you're talking about." Blake mentions.

"Same here." Mike adds.

"Can someone explain to me what I'm missing here?" Ashley asks, Reggie grunts to add that he needs the same thing.

"Juniors nightclub is a shady place on the other side of town, the owner is just as shady, if anyone is a good person to ask to find anyone it'd be him." Mike explains for her.

"Oh, isn't that the place that Yang invited us to?" Ashley asks me as she remembers that one time in the gym area.

"That's the place!" I answer with thumbs up.

"I hate clubs." Ashley says under her breath.

"Oh don't be such a downer Ash." I say as I wrap an arm around her shoulders and bring her in close, much to her own discomfort and pleasure at the same time. "The team and I are always gonna be here for ya."

"I feel _so_ protected." Ashley sarcastically says as she grabs my wrist and lifts it off of her shoulder.

"I'm glad you do, now how about we-"

"I'd love to go to a club at night!" A high pitched voice all of the sudden shrieks.

"AH!" I yelp comedically once again, not jumping into somebody's arms scared, but enough to make me hop back a few feet.

"Salutations! I apologize for startling you" Oh dear I know exactly who that is, the word that literally no one uses, that happy monotonic voice, and that orange schoolgirl hair…

"Good morning." Is all I can come up with while in a mixture cheerfulness and sadness. Cheerful because i'm meeting one of the cutest characters from RWBY, and sad because she ended up getting ripped into pieces by another one of my favorite characters. But another thing is that I managed to bump into her before the entire main cast, so that's fun.

"Hello!" Penny greets cheerfully, wearing an innocent smile on her face as usual.

"Uh… Hi." Ashley was the only one who greeted her back. Everyone else was either too startled or outright confused at what was happening right in front of them.

"Pleasure to meet you all, my name is Penny, what are yours?" Penny asks, her face adopting a look of genuine curiosity and excitement. Extending her hand out in a very stiff motion.

Everyone hesitates except for me.

"I'm Hector, pleasure to meet you as well." I say with equal the excitement, happily shaking her hand. My hand cracks beneath the pressure but I keep a straight face… barely.

"Oh wow! You're the first to not run away when I make an appearance, or question the way I speak. Thank you!" Penny replied with a toothy smile.

"I am honored." I say as I give a small bow. Out of the corner of my eye I see everyone waving their hands side to side, and shaking their heads, trying to change my mind about this new friend that I have just made.

"Sensational! * _ **GASP***_ Does this mean we're friends?" Penny asks, a lot of hope in her voice. How can I say no to that?

"I don't see why not." I say with a small roll of my eyes, but the way my voice sounds shows that I am genuine.

Once my team and Blake hear this they all facepalm. Ashley is the one to speak up first to complain.

"You are way too nice for your own good." Ashley mutters under her breath.

"Well that's what makes me so endearing." I respond with a wink. "Besides, I think we could actually use your- AGH." I get cut off as Penny bulls me into a bone shattering hug, lifting me off my feet and pressing the side of her fast into my chest. Even if I wanted to hug her back I can't because my arms are pinned against my sides.

"P-Penny, P-pleeassseeee, put me down." I barely manage to get out before I run out of breath to speak.

"Oh I'm so happy! My first friend!" After noticing that her grip on me hasn't let up at all and that she has no intention of letting me go just yet, I turn to my teammates for help.

"H-help." I plead as my face begins to lose color.

"Oh no, this is your mess." They unanimously vote to leave me be.

Finally after a couple more moments and one final squeeze Penny lets me go. I land on my feet and almost fall backward from the feeling of lightheaded fades away. But I manage to stand my ground.

"Hoh god, thank you." I say under my breath, I give a glare to everyone else who just let me be nearly crushed to death. They all just shrug and stare back or look away whistling, and by that I mean only Reggie looked away and whistled.

"I'm sorry for almost crushing you to death." Penny apologizes before giggling innocently. "What were you saying before?"

"Well… I was gonna say that… we could use… your help." I say between deep breaths.

"I'd love to be of assistance! What is it that you need?" A hand covers my mouth before I can respond and I get pulled by both arms backward.

"Wait just a minute here." Mike says with an awkward smile.

"Mmmph!" My voice is muffled by the hand on my mouth.

"Hector what the hell are you thinking? I know where Juniors club is we don't need this weird girls help." Mike whispers screams at me, it's actually the most concerned voice I've ever heard him use.

"Having friends can be a great help I've learned." I try to explain my actions.

"No, I'm done wasting time, follow me I know where Junior's is, It just so happens he owes me a favor to." Mike declares, obviously not happy about what we have been doing so far.

"Woah Mike, calm down, we still have plenty of time before anyone starts to wonder where we are. And besides when they do eventually start calling us on our scrolls we can just tell them where we are and be honest about it, we can't be the only team that skips ONE day of school, like c'mon. All we gotta do is not tell them we're going after a crime lord. Besides, you never know who you could be making friends with."

If it wasn't for that one small rant about how we are going to be okay for a good amount of time, I'm sure Mike would've just left without us. Although I don't know where his sudden outburst came from. But now he seems to be considering that part of my plan and combine with the forgiving nature of the Headmaster we actually should be fine for at least today.

"It's been exactly one minute!" Penny exclaims as she almost teleports to our side once again.

We're not as startled by it this time but it's still a little surprising to see her again all of a sudden.

"So are we all good now?" I ask everyone else, just in case there are any other objections I'd like to get it out of the way right now. "Good." I say after a couple moments of silence. "Now Penny, we could use your help giving us the fastest route to Juniors nightclub, I know its day right now but he owes one of us a favor and we could really use the help." I clap my hands together in the nicest, most pleading way possible.

"Oh something like that is simple! That club is exactly 12.457 miles away, simply take this route I am about to send you." Without moving her arms my scroll vibrates, I take it out and my teammates all huddle around me to see what has just popped up on my scroll. Lo and behold, a route the cuts through alleys and other trails alike shows a path directly to the back door of the very nightclub we are looking for. Before any of us could even think to thank her, Penny just disappears, with a note on the ground that says " _You will see me again :D -Penny"_

"Well that was certainly an interesting development." I say as I put the note in my pocket.

"'Interesting' isn't the word I would use, but we'll go with that." Reggie adds.

"Let's not waste any more time, we could be getting messages any time now, asking us where we are and such." Blake states.

"Yeah, she's right. Lets see if this route is legit." I add to that.

* * *

We ended up making it to the club in roughly a little under forty five minutes. The route was actually much faster then what Mike had in mind. The whole time I was wondering when they were going to ask about how Penny sent me this route without taking out her own scroll but I guess that's for a future plot point.

"Well, I'll make sure not to question your judgment in the future." Mike mutters in defeat as we approach the back door.

"Never doubt my people skills." I playfully scold in the best teacher voice I can muster up.

"Don't push it."

"Couldn't help it sorry."

"So are we going to knock on the door or "Knock" on the door?" Reggie asks, air quoting the second knock, implying that we should break down the door for fun. He even makes his arms into metal and steps toward to door with a mischievous grin on his face

"Reggie no!" I almost scream, jumping in his way and barely stopping him from breaking down the door. "What'd I say earlier? Having friends can be a great help right? Well I don't think you make friends by breaking down the back door… okay that sounded wrong but my point still stands."

"Oh fine, I guess that makes sense." Reggie pouts and returns to normal.

"If you two are done I'm going to go open the door." Blake says as she walked past us.

We both shrug and stand behind her, surprisingly for some reason this guy didn't lock his back door. So Blake opens it and we all just walk in with basically no opposition, well one random guy tried to stop us but it didn't go so well for him.

"Hey you kids! Stop!" Random grunt calls out to us, then makes the mistake of grabbing Ashley's shoulder since she was in the back of our line. She then proceeds to grab his wrist, twists his arm, and flips him onto his back. I heard a crack coming from his arm so I assume that he isn't going to stand back up anytime soon.

"Don't touch me." Ashley says firmly to the half unconscious grunt on the ground.

"You could've said that before you nearly broke his arm Ash." I say without even turning around, I'm afraid that I would see a dead body instead of an unconscious person so I go with the out of sight out of mind technique.

"Meh, actions speak louder than words." Ashley says nonchalantly.

"Cute, okay so now where is Junior?" I ask no one in particular as I look around. "I'm guessing we're in the employees only area, oh wait…" I stop myself and do a 180, and walk toward the guy Ashley almost killed and kneel down to his level. "Psst, you still awake bud?" I ask the grunt.

"Euugh." Is all I get as a response.

"I've always wanted to do this…" I say to myself as I ready my hand to prepare that slap to end all slaps.

"I don't think that is necessary, he's waking up on his own." Mike points out.

"Then this will wake him up faster." Before anyone else can protest I slap the shit out of the guys face. His glasses even go flying across the hallway and shatter against the wall. But the slap does it's job and wakes him up fast.

"Ow shit!" The grunt curses, he shoots up to a sitting position and rubs his the burning sensation on his face. "What was that for?"

"You were half asleep and I needed to ask you something." I explain with a shrug. Feeling so satisfied with the sound of the way my hand slapped against his face.

"Wait, who are you?! And you? All of you!?" The grunt asks, beginning to panic between the almost broken arm and hurting face. That is until I slap my hand against his mouth to shut him up.

"Shhhhhh. Now when I take my hand off your mouth, you're not going to scream right?" I whisper to him. He nods slowly and I can feel him calm down, so I feel like I can trust him enough to not-

"INTRUDERS OVER HERE-" Reggie out of panic just kicks his head with the tip of his boot, knocking him out cold instantly.

"Yeah, I see that you became great friends with that guy!" Reggie sarcastically points out as he pulls me up from my kneeling position. Before I can think about responding we all hear dozens of footsteps sounding off from almost every direction.

"I can see that my strategy has some flaws." I admit as we all begin to run toward the lobby before we get surrounded in a tight corridor. As we run the lights go from the usual white to a purple flashy light, like we're in some sort of rave or something now. Quickly we all form a circle, facing the grunts who all surround us. We press our backs against one another just before things begin to get heated.

"I swear, if we die I am so going to find you in the afterlife and kill you again." Ashley threatens, she happens to be right next to me and she uses that distance to elbow me in the side.

"First, ow. Second, if any of us besides myself gets hurt by one of these grunts I will actually be disappointed." I say as we all enter a fighting stance.

"STOP! PLEASE! I just got this place repaired enough for people to start coming back," A tall man who matches the description of a shady guy who runs a nightclub shouts, running down the stairs between us and his henchmen. He turns to look at us and groans in frustration. "How the hell did you morons manage to let KIDS sneak in here?"

"Well, actually we just walked through the back door with little to no resistance." I point out, being the first one to relax my stance.

"Geezus." Junior says in a disappointed tone, pinching the bridge of his nose. "What do you kids want? This is a nightclub, we don't open until night."

"We were hoping you could give us some certain information about a certain individual." Blake states.

Junior raises one of his eyebrows at her statement. "And why would I do that?"

"Because I believe we are mutual friends of a certain blonde huntress in training that may or may not have been responsible for wrecking this place in the first place." I reveal, getting straight to the point. "Soooo…"

"Are you serious? No you can't be. Oh gosh you are serious." Junior says as his face adopts a look of fear. "Okay okay fine, depends on who this person is, I can help you out." Junior relents, gesturing us to follow him into a different room.

"We'll talk in there, but on one condition." Junior begins.

"I don't know if you're really in a position to bargain, but I'll bite."

"Only one of you can come with me, the others can stay out here and do whatever they want, as long as it doesn't include wrecking the place or causing trouble." Junior states.

"Alright I'll go." I say nonchalantly with a shrug. The others jaw's all drop after hearing my answer that had barely any hesitation in it at all.

"Hold on just a second, you really trust this random shady guy enough to be in a room alone with him? It has to be some sort of trap." Reggie protests.

"Of course it is, which is why I am going and none of you." I say as I walk up to Junior before any of them can stop me. "And for the record I never said I trusted him."

"Dipshit get your ass back over here!" Ashley shouts at me. Placing her hands on her hips angrily. I can actually feel the concern she has for my health, adorable.

"I'll be alright, no worries, I'm sure you would be able to tell if anything goes wrong anyway." I point to my head as I say that, referring to the mental link that we have from that time she unlocked my aura. It has only gotten stronger to the point where we can sense when the other is in danger or not. We know this when we watch each other spar someone else, even when my head is down from me trying to fall asleep.

Ashley wonders what I was referring to but quickly realizes what I mean. She gives me a small nod as she accepts my "Self sacrifice." You already know I'll be fine, i'm basically a main character at this point. Mike and Reggie knows about our little link after I told them about her unlocking my aura, so they don't argue with me either. Blake however, is the only one who doesn't know what's going on in our heads.

"What does he mean?" Blake asks Ashley, since that last little comment was directed toward her just before I left.

"I unlocked his aura when we first met in the Emerald Forest." Ashley answers simply.

"She means that they have some sort of mental connection now, due to her doing that. Which is strange because I've never seen an mental connection get this strong just from aura unlocking, maybe that's something to look forward to." Mike explains for Blake.

"Hmm thanks for the explanation, let's ask around here, just in case we missed anything important." Blake says as she wanders off in a random direction to speak to some of the guards.

* * *

"Well this isn't ominous at all." I sarcastically say as we enter a room with steel walls, with a steel table with steel chairs in the middle of the room, a what is no doubt a one way mirror for others to look into a room. Lastly the room is lit up by a single bulb in the middle of the ceiling.

"This is where we interrogate people." Junior states as he shuts the door and locks it so no one can get in… or out.

"Cute, so now onto the part where you tell me where Torchwick is." I say as I sit down in one of the chairs.

"Roman? Of all people, THAT'S who you want? Kid listen, that guy is bad news. Not specifically him, but the one's he works with. My advice is forget going after him, and head back to wherever you came from." Junior suggests, leaning over the table to emphasize his point. But I remain unfazed because I know exactly who he is working with already.

"Meh, we'll wing it." I wave off. "Now tell me where he is and this will be simple, no clubs will be destroyed and I get to go to sleep happy."

"What is it with all of you huntsman in training? You're all so ready to throw your life away for something you have no control over. To be honest kid, I have no idea where he is. But stick around long enough and you might run into someone who might have an idea."

"Well at least we're getting somewhere, or at least that would be the case if you weren't lying through your teeth."

"How would you know that anyway?"

"I am from the future!" I shout out, too loud for my sarcasm to be noticeable.

Junior is taken aback at my sudden outbursts and blinks a couple of times in disbelief. "Are you real?"

"Very, now you gonna give me what I want or am I wasting my time?"

Junior signs with disappointment once more, this is really getting him nowhere. As much as it pains him to do this, he is going to let the third occupant in the room do the dirty work for him. Besides even if he did tell me where Roman is, it's only going to get him in a LOT of trouble. "Okay I'm done with this, do your thing."

"Wait what thing? Was that directed to me or was it for someone else? Oh shit it was for someone else." I jump out of my seat and turn around once I feel a hand grasp my shoulder. I look around the room and already I begin to sweat out of nervousness. I see nothing of course but after a moment or two, a certain umbrella wielding ice cream girl appears to make an entrance through the broken mirror despite the mirror being fully intact.

"Oh…hey." I mutter, pushing the table away with my leg to give myself some space.

Ice cream girl just looks at me with a scolding look on her face, she wags a her finger in my face, she is about a foot and a half shorter than me, which is adorable and all but I know she can dismember me without much trouble at this point in time. So I would prefer it if we did not get into a fight right now.

"Is it too late to come up with a deal? Where I don't end up getting stabbed multiple times in the chest and/or other areas of my body." I say with a forced smile on my face.

Neo puts on a thinking face and makes it look like she is considering it, but of course my luck has to run out some time and she shakes her head and points her umbrella at me. Her eyes switching from white to Pink and Brown respectively, pink on the left and brown on the right to compliment her hair style. Junior walks around her and leaves the room, making sure to close it behind him and not be noticed by the others outside.

"Okay… So this is how this morning is going to start."

* * *

 **AN- First, I'm sorry its been a while since I updated this story, I'm going to go with the work excuse since I've been working every single day and havent had a chance to sit back and relax while writing this story, also my main story needed to be tended to. I'm sorry for this short and mostly uneventful chapter but I promise the next one will be action packed and perhaps a thriller if you're easily impressed. Also sorry for the cliffhanger, I couldn't help myself.**

 **Please review and tell me what you think!**

 **Disclaimer- I don't know own RWBY in any way shape or form.**


	8. Rwby: Team HAMR chapter 8

**AN- I already sent pms to the reviewers from last chapter so that is already handled. It feels weird not having to write my responses.**

 **Just so you guys know, Hector's Kaioken semblance is not how it works in Dbz or my other fanfiction. I don't just want to copy and paste it (Even though I already am basically) so I am going to make some changes, you'll see what I mean and I will explain it at the end of this chapter, it's probably going to be 7k words since i'm on a tight schedule.**

 **As I am sure what you guys have been waiting for because of the cliffhanger is going to be here this chapter. An early encounter with Neo? How will Team HAMR and Blake deal with this? Find out now, just scroll down and enjoy the story.**

* * *

RWBY: Team HAMR

Chapter 8- Secret Mission (part 2) & Red Forest Shenanigans

" _AAHH!"_ My girly scream can be heard all the way to the disco room as my fight begins with Neo.

"I think the bossman is in trouble!" Reggie shouts to the rest of his team as he uses the blunt end of his battle axe to hit a henchmen over the bar.

"I don't think so, that sounded like a girl." Mike points out, blocking an attack from behind him before wrapping the chain around the henchmen's wrist and using him as a human wrecking ball to take out another group of enemies.

"It was probably him, dipshit would have a scream like that." Ashley adds as she skillfully kicks another one in the face, instantly knocking him out and nearly breaking his neck.

"What happened to the other girl? Black or something." Reggie asks as he notices her absence.

Early in the brawl Blake used her semblance to disappear from the fight to go look for Junior, since she knows that something had to have gone wrong if Juniors grunts are fighting against his orders.

 _Meanwhile…_

"STOP IT!" I yell as I barely manage to block another one of Neo's kicks.

Neo has been toying with me since the beginning of this fight, if it can even be called one. It started off a little like this…

* * *

 **Several minutes ago**

" _Okay, this is happening now." I say as I get into the best defensive stance I can muster up._

 _Neo smirks at me as she twirls her umbrella out in front of me. I know that my size is a major disadvantage in this encounter since Neo can easily maneuver her way around my long arms and legs. And the small size of the room into the equation and I'm pretty fucked if I don't find a way out of here, and it just so happens that the taunting Neo is just in front of the only exit. Besides the one way mirror I see my reflection in. That's where I get an idea._

" _Okay, just hold on a sec, let me at least die with good looking hair." I plead as I walk backward while pointing at my messy hair that Ashley just hates so much._

 _Neo thinks about this for a moment, raising her hands to grab her chin to adopt a thinking look. Eventually, Neo shrugs and nods her head, not seeing a problem with this. Oh how wrong she was._

" _Why thank you." I say with a mock bow, I turn toward the mirror and make it look like that I am moving my hands up to fix my hair, then I lean back and slam on the glass as hard as I can with my head and jump through it, I used my aura to protect myself so no shards of glass would cut my throat or stab me in the eye._

 _Neo pouts after seeing me jump through the window and breaks away into glass shards, making her invisible to the human eye._

 _Back to me I kicked open the door to the room I just broke into and start running down a random hallway, I can hear sounds of fighting in the distance but not enough to determine which way I have to go in order to make it back to my team. As I am stomping through the halls, one poor grunt holding two coffee cups walks into my way, somehow oblivious to me sprinting full speed down the hallway._

" _Coming through!" I warn as I shoulder charge to poor man through the door at the end of the hallway, and it just so happens that was one of this places many "Pleasure" rooms. I peek in, letting my curiosity get the better of me and I see a woman with a sheet over her body and an ugly fat man with less clothes on then I would be comfortable with, hiding on opposite sides of the rooms. I gag at the sight before looking away and slowly start getting back into a sprint. "I could have definitely gone my whole life without seeing that. Eugh."_

 _As I am gagging while involuntarily thinking about the burning image of that man's genitals in my head, a leg clotheslines me, making me flip once before landing on my face._

" _Ow." I say as I favor the top of my head. I jump back up and face my attacker. Neo stands there with a look of scolding disappointment. She wags her finger and shakes her head as if saying. 'Oh you bad boy' I may have misinterpreted that but it's what I think she'd say, ironic since I'm pretty much twice her size. I may have used that word wrong to..._

" _Would you forgive me if I got you ice cream?" I ask with a hopeful look on my face._

 _Neo actually considers this for a moment, she_ _ **does**_ _love her ice cream, its the second thing she loves doing besides murdering people slowly after making them realize they never had a chance in the first place, but she has a job to do and that is to make sure no one gets to Roman before their plan can be put in motion. She politely shakes her head no as she bows down to make it look like she is going to bow. This confuses me for a moment and she uses the distraction to bring her leg up from behind her and kick me square in the face. I recoil back in surprise and pain and groan loudly._

" _OW FUCK, what's with you and kicking me?" I whine as I barely block another kick with my forearm. I try to grab her ankle but I only grab air as she quickly pulls it away and jabs the end of her umbrella into my chest and opening it, disorienting me for a moment and using that to her advantage, but instead of kicking me around for a bit (Literally) she decides it's time for some taunting. She gets up in my face and boops my nose with her finger. I don't know how she got up in the hair two feet off the ground to do that but she managed it. And THEN she kicks me in the stomach, this time catching me off guard and causing me some pain, making me fall to one knee._

" _Okay, I think I should take this seriously before I end up getting stabbed." I mutter to myself as I stand back up._

 _Neo fake yawns to taunt me some more a twirls her umbrella behind her, if I didn't know any better I'd be fawning over the cuteness of this little display but I know that she isn't here to play around._

" _Do you really not talk or is that just how you are?" I ask as I arch an eyebrow at her._

 _From out of nowhere Neo pulls a sign out of her magical backpocket, its white and attached to a stick, and on it says,_

 _ **BOTH**_

" _Where did you even get that from?" I ask out of perplexion, there is just no logic to that._

 _Neo puts throws away the sign and it fades away before it hits the ground. Before I know it she is in my face again, kicking out one of my legs and kneeing me in the chest, then jumping off my chest and uses her other leg to kick me in the chin. I rumble backwards but use the momentum to get back on my feet._

" _Alright you little shit c'mere." I growl, letting my frustration get a hold on me. For the first time I go on the offensive since being on the defensive seems to make me a bigger target. I throw a punch at her which is easily deflected by the staff part of her umbrella and she uses the palm of her hand to strike me in the left titt. It does barely any damage but it does the job of pushing me back. She dashes into me while sticking low to the ground, I try to kick her away and think I hit her only for her to break away into glass shards._

" _What the- AAHH!" I shriek as she reappears to my side and kicks me through a door, which leads outside into an alley._

 **Present**

I skid across the concrete until I hit the brick wall against my back. I take a glance to my scroll to check my aura,

"30 percent left, huh, that's fun." I say as I push myself back onto my feet.

Neo walks through the door with fake sadness in her demeanor, almost feeling bad for how badly I am getting wrecked by this girl.

"Alright, well I hope this works now." I say as a red flame takes ahold of my arms and legs, but not reaching my core. Neo is intrigued by this sudden burst of power, even more so when I dash toward her, ready to continue this little scuffle of ours. Neo fluidly dodges my attacks, that are now faster and stronger and is slowly beginning to struggle. Soon she is forced to redirect one of my punches and using her umbrella to try to choke me, but she underestimates my strength as I easily pry away the umbrella and pull it from her grip.

"AHA! First victory!" I cheer as I point her weapon into the sky. Holy. Shit. I really need to thank Mike for showing me those disarming techniques.

Neo pouts as I victoriously hold the umbrella up into the air, but my celebration is short lived as she easily jumps into the air and grabs it out of my hand. Leading me back into sadness, if I could cry anime tears I would.

"Sadness." I say my current emotion out loud. I get yanked back into reality as the sound of Neo slowly taking out the blade out of the staff of her umbrella rings out in the alley. I gulp nervously and the red flame fades away from my hands and legs. "I beg you to reconsider your decision."

* * *

Back with the others, they are faring very well against the seemingly endless supply of henchmen that keep flooding into the room. They aren't getting tired but they are getting annoyed.

"Ugh, it actually bothers me that these guys just don't even get stronger as they come, they are just all equally shit." Mike mutters as he kicks away another poor soul while wearing a bored look on his face.

"Well they are fun to kick around still." Reggie attempts to defend them as he swings his axe in a wide arc, taking out four men with one shot.

Ashley was about to add another insult to the poor skilless grunts, but stops herself midway as she focuses on a uncomfortable feeling in her mind, she can sense something coming from me that she has never sensed from me before, actual genuine fear. "I am going to go look for Hector, you guys can hold down the fort." Ashley declares as she slashes away one last grunt before running through the same doorway I followed Junior through several minutes ago.

"Oh yeah, sure, we got this, go ahead and wait for us to respond." Reggie says sarcastically.

"Okay are we done yet?!" Mike yells, frustrated with the weak skill of his surrounding enemies.

Ashley runs through the hallways that are riddled with the signs of battle, she runs past the the pleasure room but luckily doesn't get curious enough to peek through it, so she is saved from the burden of having to remember something that traumatizing, assuming they were still in there of course. Back to more serious things she starts to get worried as she travels deeper into the facility, until finally she comes across the door that is bent open, barely hanging off of its hinges, when she gets into the alleyway her heart drops and her eyes widen, she see visibly bruised smirking Neo standing over my unconscious body, preparing to finish me off by stabbing me in the heart.

* * *

 **Two minutes ago**

"So is that a no to reconsidering your decision?" I say as I hold my arm that has been cut by her blade, my inexperience with using my aura to protect myself showing itself once again at a really bad time.

Neo shows her freaky side by licking my blood off of her blade, while looking me in the eyes no less. I can tell that she actually enjoyed it by the flush on her face.

"Sounds about right." I say as my heart drops. I prepare to make one last ditch effort to at least go out fighting, maybe this was my fate, maybe I wasn't meant to survive to even be able to do anything to stop what happens to Beacon. My hands shake as I put them back into a fighting stance, my heartbeat is up in my throat, I'm doing my best to hide it but I am definitely feeling some fear right about now, even more so than when I was forced to fight an alpha fucking Beowolf in class. Well… might as well go out with a bang.

"Man, I've been wanting this to work ever since I was a kid." I say out loud as I move myself into a powerup position and smiling at the little ice cream killer.

Neo arches her eyebrow at this as the red flame returns with a vengeance, but this time covering my entire body. The bottom of my feet are burning the ground, I begin to groan and moan as a burning sensation goes around my whole body. Neo's eyes widen as she realizes that she has made a mistake.

"Ha, finally… KAIOKEN!" I scream at the top of my lungs as the red flames grow even larger, growing even farther above my head. I can feel myself become exponentially stronger at the cost of a little more pain then I am comfortable with. I may not be anywhere near as strong as Goku with this, but feeling like this is totally worth it. My hair whips around as the blood red aura flares, Neo has to cover her eyes from the kinetic force of the power I am exerting. But also gets excited, a little _too_ excited if you know what I mean. That last up until I dash toward her at speeds that could rival Ruby's semblance, and finally land a hit on Neo by punching her straight in the face, I follow through with the punch until her head hits the ground, her pink aura flashing as it takes a major blow. Even through her aura a bruise on her cheek appears. I take away my hand and kick her into the wall like she did to me, she managed to block the kick with her forearms but the way she hit against the brick wall knocks the wind out of her. Luckily for her she managed to keep a tight grip on her umbrella and uses it to redirect my next punch into the brick wall, my arm goes right through it and I pull it out with ease, a few bricks falling out of place.

" _Just one more hit an her aura should go down, but if I take one more hit I'll be the one going down, this power just ate away at what was left of my aura so now it just comes up to pure stamina and endurance."_ I quickly think to myself as I continue my assault.

The way Neo feels right now is a way that she hasn't felt in a very long time, doubt that she can win a fight, and the exhilaration of a battle that could go either way. She hasn't been hit in a long time and now she decides it's finally time to get serious. She begins to nearly match my speed and at times surpass me, overtime she begins to be able to dodge and deflect my attacks more effectively now. I am slowly beginning to slow down, my strength and speed following short after. My nose begins to bleed, and my breathing pattern turns into wheezing, but before I fall I give myself a last stand second wind and deliver one last punch right into the gut of Neo right when she least expected it, her eyes bulge out and turn into a white color as her pink aura flares as it breaks, I feel like my fist could've been seen from her back at the right angle. Right after that she gets launched a short distance into the air before falling back down on her side a couple of feet away, holding her stomach in pain and coughing, this coughing is the most I am ever going to hear from her most likely. Finally I run out of energy and fall to my knees and then onto my back, unconscious. My red flaming aura sizzling away. Neo stands up while holding a hand to her stomach while the other uses her umbrella to assist her. She walks over to my unconscious body and unsheathes her blade once more, she holds it over my chest but hesitates to kill someone for the first time in a long time, does she really want to get rid of so much fun this early? She smiles down at my body, but before she can sheathe her sword, her earlier hesitation costs her as she hears battle cry come from her side, Ashley came in just in time for the save and nearly cuts Neo's head off. Neo sees that her odds of winning this fight while injured are next to none, so she quickly jumps up and fades away, leaving nothing but shards of thin glass behind that shatter against the concrete floor. Ashley hisses as my almost murderer gets away, but then runs up to my side and kneels down next to me, picking my head up and letting it rest on her lap.

"Hey, dipshit, wake up already." Ashley calls out to me as she slaps my face lightly a couple of times.

I remain unresponsive, which makes Ashley panic slightly, she puts her ear next to my mouth and looks to see if my chest rises when I breathe. She lets out a sigh of relief as she feels me exhale against her face and sees my chest sink ever so slightly. She moves her face away and looks down at me, overall I don't look to be that damaged beside a small gash on my arm that is leaking blood. She scolds herself for not seeing this earlier and rips off a piece of that sleeve and uses it as a makeshift bandage, other then that all that is wrong with me is my abnormal body temperature that makes her sweat just to be around me, but she knows that it is a side effect of my semblance so she doesn't get bothered by it. As she is taking care of me she hears something or someone behind her, she snaps to her feet and unsheathes her weapons and looks directly of the intruder. Imagine her surprise when she instead sees the very one who ran out on them earlier.

"Blake?" Ashley asks as she recognizes who she is. "Where the HELL have you been?" The follow up question was asked in a less than friendly tone.

Blake ignores her question and looks down at me in my unconscious state, she gets worried and asks, "What happened to him?"

"I didn't think we mattered to you… he got hurt in a fight against some weird looking girl, must've been pretty skilled if she was able to do this to him." Ashley answers bitterly, staring daggers into Blake as she kneels back down to help me up.

"I'm tired leave me alone." I mutter in my sleep as I am getting hoisted back up to my feet.

"Listen dipshit I just saved your life, so listen to me." Ashley responds as she tries to lift my body to a standing position. "Fuck how are you this heavy?"

"I'll help." Blake says as she moves her head under my free arm.

Ashley was about to tell her off but once she felt a lot of weight get relieved off of her she's gonna let it go… for now. "So _where_ were you this whole time?" Ashley asks again as they help me walk.

"I was looking for Junior, I thought you guys could handle them but evidently I was wrong." Blake answers as she flicks her chin to my wound.

"Well obviously he was up against someone different than the skilless grunts we were up against, he put up a good fight but as you can see it wasn't enough. It feels like he activated his semblance to."

"Whoever she is she's dangerous if she is able to make short work of him. Even if he was able to put up a decent fight." Blake adds before looking Ashley in the eye to set something straight, "Listen, I understand that you're angry with me, but I was confident that whatever was thrown at you all that you could handle it, what I didn't know was that Hector was going to run into someone deadly. So I went after Junior to get some answers."

"Did you at least manage to get anything from him?"

"He got away before I could catch him. I don't know where he went."

"Well now that just brings us back to square one."

"How was I supposed to know this was going to happen?" Blake asks, irritated with Ashleys persistent anger.

"Jesus, even when i'm asleep I can hear you two." I complain as I begin to wake up. I take my arms off of the girls and try to sit down.

Ashley and Blake hurry to let me sit down against the wall, and each kneel on either sides of me and get ready to ask me what happened.

"What happened to you?" Blake asks first.

"Uhh… I remember an ice cream girl with an umbrella sword… and holy shit I see stars." I explain as my eyes roll to the inside of my head. Before I can lose consciousness again Ashley bops me on the back of my head.

"Hey! Don't be falling asleep on me again." Ashley raises her voice at me, to her credit it did work in keeping me conscious.

"Ow."

"How are the others?" Blake asks after a couple of moments and realizing that I am going to be fine.

"I think they're either bored or enjoying themselves." Ashley answers honestly.

 _Meanwhile..._

"So when do you think they're going to come back?" Reggie asks, sitting down on a pile of unconscious beat up men.

"No Idea." Mike responds, sitting at the bar and forcing the terrified bartender to serve him drinks.

"Well at least we didn't destroy everything." Reggie notes as he takes a takes a sip of his own drink.

"Yeah, i'm kinda proud of you Reggie, last time we were in a bar fight like this you destroyed the supports of the building."

"Hey! That's was an accident!"

"I know~ it was also our first date."

"That wasn't an accident."

"You're so silly."

"It's part of my charm."

Back with Ashley and I. Blake went to go look for Mike and Reggie to let them know that we are getting out of there right away, since they are right by the exit they should either be out or leaving right now, Ashley is with me supporting me as I walk, now fully conscious and in an uncomfortable amount of pain, and a little sore but the important thing is that I am alright.

"So you saved my life? I am so touched! That settles it Ash, we've officially transcended past the title of acquaintances." I declare with a goofy happy smile on my face.

"Yeah yeah whatever, just shut up and keep walking." Ashley replies with a small smile of her own.

"But where's the fun in that? If we just walked out of here in silence how would that be fun to talk about, i mean just listen to this: "How did you guys get out of there?" That's Yang by the way, and then I'd answer by saying "Oh we just walked out of there." And that's it, that'd be way too boring."

"How do you think of these things?" Ashley asks, a bit worried of her leaders mental state.

"What do you think I do when I'm by myself?" I answer her question with one of my own.

"Literally anything else besides thinking of shit like that"

"Well you learn something new everyday right?"

"Mhmm, we're almost there." Ashley points out as she spots the exit sign at the end of this hallway.

"And why didn't we just go with Blake to the others again?" I ask for the second time now. I woke up shortly after Blake left and that was one of my first questions and she dodged it by saying that we needed to get out of there before more come.

"Because I didn't want to." Ashley answers somewhat honestly.

"Well that just answers every one of my questions doesn't it." I say sarcastically, arching my eyebrows at my Faunus partner. She doesn't respond and when we reach the door she releases me, I stand on my own and limp the next couple of steps before stopping and letting Ashley open the door. Right after she comes back to help me and we leave the building we entered about one or two hours ago.

"Oh there you guys are!" The rest of my team just happened to be at the perfect angle to see us walk out. Go figure.

"Hey guys." I wave to them as they run up to us.

"Well you look like shit." Mike states bluntly.

"Good to see you're alright to Mike." I respond, patting his shoulder twice.

"What happened?" Reggie asks, apparently Blake didn't fill them in about who I ran into.

"Hold on to that thought, my scroll is ringing." I say as I reach into my pocket with my good arm and put it up to my ear, forgetting to check the caller id. That was a grave mistake.

" _Mister Rivers WHERE ARE YOU?!"_ Miss Goodwitches unmistakable teacher scolding voice rings out to all of our ears, and makes us all shiver in fear.

"H-hey Double G, h-how are you doing?" I weakly ask out of fear.

" _I told you not to call me that and you are THIRTY minutes late to your class, bring yourself and your team over to the Forest of Forever Fall this instant! There you will tell me where you have been this morning."_ And with that we all wince as we somehow hear Glynda slam the scroll when she hangs up.

"Well… that is going to be an interesting story to tell." I mutter as I rub my face.

"Yeah, one that _you're_ going to tell." Mike says.

"I expected that one, I was the one that led this secret mission." I accept my defeat easily, not wanting to cause my team even more stress, i'm still unaware of the fun Reggie and Mike had while I was fighting for my life.

"It wasn't that bad, I actually had a lot of fun!" Regie exclaims, lifting my spirits a bit.

"That's because you made a pile of unconscious grunts and sat on them while drinking a Margarita." Mike remarks.

"Like I said, fun." Reggie adds with a shrug.

"Well I almost died so that's what I did for fun." I reveal nonchalantly.

"You WHAT?!" Mike and Reggie shout in unison at me, making me cover my ears and wince from the sudden burst of sound.

"I can explain…"

"Oh please do so I won't have to beat it out of you." Mike states as he cracks his knuckles, in the background Ashley is trying to hold back laughter at my shitty situation, and Blake remains stoic leaning against a wall behind me, but with a small smile of course cause I just have that vibe around me.

"Okay, long story short is a girl in an ice cream uniform wielding an umbrella attacked me, I activated my semblance on my own will for the first time, and then I passed out before I can finish her." I explain.

"You forgot the part where she was holding a knife above your heart and was about to kill you, if it wasn't for me we'd be taking your corpse back to Beacon." Ashley adds fuel to the fire.

Mike's face contorts into anger, but then to my surprise a mixture of sadness and relief. Same with Reggie.

"I'm glad you're alright." Mike eventually says while looking away so he can hide the concern on his face, Reggie has other ideas though…

"You used your semblance on your own?!" Reggie exclaims, patting my back hard and almost making me fall over from his unintentional amount of strength he out into it.

"Ow, and I think? I mean when I used it this time I kinda knocked myself out and lost the fight. So yeah that was definitely it.

"Figures my partner's semblance is just knocking himself out, really screams out useful." Ashley adds sarcastically.

"At least I was able to fight back, I wasn't even able to touch her before I used it, then I might have won if I was able to keep myself up." I try to defend.

"So even with it you lost?" Mike asks, amused and returning to his usual personality as we slowly walk back to Beacon to take a Bullhead to The Forest of Red Leaves and Shit.

"Alright let's stop picking on me and worry about what's going to happen to us when Double G finds us."

"I already have a plan, and it's to let you take responsibility for your actions." Mike remarks.

I sigh loudly and hang my head. "I guess I am going to be screwed later."

"Yup." the rest of my team say in unison, except for one certain Black cat that I just noticed is not with us anymore.

"Wait where did Blake go?"

"Oh she left as soon as Miss Goodwitch called you." Reggie points out, walking with his hands behind his head.

"Well that makes sense I guess, I think her team didn't say anything about her being missing or came up with an excuse for her." Mike says.

"Yeah most likely… lets pick up the pace before Double G gets scary." I say, accidentally rhyming that sentence.

* * *

After about another thirty minutes me and my team are officially one hour late to class, I tried to avoid this part of RWBY cannon so I could bud out of some of the events that I am not needed for, but alas that was just not meant to be. My team walks out of the Bullhead and toward Miss Goodwitch with no fear being shown. But I am too afraid to even get out of my seat. The straps still holding me in as I have a deathgrip on the grips. Ashley notices this and grunts, before stomping toward me and standing in front of me with her arms crossed and looking at me like I am supposed know what she is saying from her body language.

"Am I supposed to know what that means or…"

"Are you going to follow us?" Ashley asks, her patience already wearing thin.

"Well I am still a little sore from our mission today, so I might stay here a while."

I was about to say more until the sound of heels clicking against the Bullheads floor reaches my ears, I close my eyes and accept my death for the second time that day. You might have done the same thing if you experienced what I have, this woman really has it out for me for some reason.

"Mister Rivers…" Glynda deadpans, awaiting me to explain myself, tapping her finger against her elbow and has her whip in her hand. I know it's not a whip but it might as well be one.

"Good morning." I greet with my eyes still clothes. I don't know how it is still morning but I won't hurt my head thinking about it.

"Where have you been?" Miss Goodwitch demands to know.

"Would you believe me if I said I was in the bathroom the entire time?"

"I might if you were female or if there wasn't the sound of vehicles driving by."

"You heard that? I didn't even hear that."

" **Where."** Okay It's time to stop messing around.

"I may or may not have lead my team to a club in town…" my voice fades away as Glyndas death glare on me gets even scarier, I cleverly think up of something to get us into a little less trouble since I don't think she'll take 'I lead a unauthorized mission to find out the location of Roman Torchwick, failed, and to top it all off I I almost died' very well, so I go for the next best thing. "And we had fun." Well it wasn't a complete lie.

Glynda's expression softens as she did not expect that coming from me, she looks over to my teammates for conversation with an arched eyebrow.

"I definitely had fun, I had a Marga-"

"We ALL had a good amount of fun Miss Goodwitch, I just hope that next time our leader wont choose such a poor time to go to said club. Which was bright and early in the morning before classes started." Jesus Mike is smart as shit, also he probably just saved all of our asses.

"Hm, I thought you were all doing something much more mischievous then something as trivial as going to a club during class hours, very well since this is the first time you have all done this and this something to be expected from kids I supposed I can leave you off with a warning." Glynda says, putting us all at ease, put a crack of her rod of death snaps us all back into reality. "However, I expect you all to make up the work that was required of everyone else in this class, go into the Forest and collect sixteen jars of tree sap each, that means each of you so fill four jars each if you wish to make it fair, and if you decide to have a bit of early morning fun, next time I won't be so lenient." and with that Glynda walks out of the Bullhead, and awaits outside for us to all get started. By how she phrased that sentence implies that the class is already completed or at least some teams are still here collecting this sap.

"Well that went well. Could've opened up with that Mike." I say as I finally release myself from the straps of the chair.

"I wasn't going to, but you chose possibly the worst way to begin the explanation about where we were, so I had to save it."

"I can always rely on you." I say as I stand up and rip off the bandage that was applied to me earlier, apparently my aura can regenerate fast as shit, which makes sense because it drains just as fast when I use my semblance, so it leads to a fast recovery time. My gash is already fully healed without a trace, which surprises Ashley somewhat because she saw how deep that cut was.

"Well this is neat." I say as I flex that arm back and forth, testing out how the freshly healed arm feels.

"Wow you heal fast." Ashley points out, taking a closer look at the spot that had the gash in it.

"Stop checking him out and lets get this done, if we get done quickly we can go back to sleep." Mike says as he walks out of the Bullhead and into the forest with a jar in hand.

"What? I wasn't- oh whatever." Ashley mutters as she grabs two jars and heads into the forest in a different direction.

I look to Reggie and he looks at me and we can tell what the other is thinking already.

"I have no idea how to collect that stuff." Reggie says before I do.

We laugh together at our unfortunate situation, the only two of our team who don't know how to harvest the stuff we need for this assignment, and we are stuck together.

"We might as well learn something new together right?" I suggest as I claim a few jars for myself.

"I agree all the way." Reggie says, we clank our jars together and head in a new direction together, I have an idea on how we can do this and it requires Reggie to use his axe.

Skipping all the boring stuff Reggie and I find a good looking tree to start off with, we agreed to the hypothesis I came up with which states: If the tree is thick then the sap is in the stick. We can only hope it is correct.

"Alright Reggie this is where your axe comes in, don't chop it down but chop it just enough so that if it does have sap it will come out like a hose." I explain as I carve a line around the tree to mark where Reggie should stop at.

Reggie examines the tree to see if he can stop himself in time for a couple of seconds, before realizing that he has nothing to lose and goes for it. I jump back to get out of the way of his fire axe right as it cuts through the bark, he managed to stop perfectly and beckons me to get the jar ready.

"Oh Reggie you are a natural and almost cutting trees down." I compliment as the sap begins to pour out of the tree's gash and into my jar at such a rate that it fills up the jar in about 15 seconds.

After filling up the rest of the jars that we have on us, using the same strategy that I expertly thought up, I realize that I am bored as shit, this is a big shift from the rush of fighting for your life to harvesting sap for some unknown reason. I make my boredom know as I slump down against a tree and sigh loudly.

"Well at least we got our jars filled, I wonder how the others are doing." Reggie wonders as he sits across from me.

* * *

"You think we should wait for them?" Ashley asks as she enters the Bullhead with Mike.

"They'll be fine, i'm too tired to wait for them, the biggest threat in there are Ursas anyway. Unless they somehow attract a Beringel." Mike waves off as he takes a sit.

"Yeah but… it just seems a little too harsh on them." Ashley replies despite taking a seat next to her teammate anyway.

"They'll be fine." And with that no further argument was made, and they left without us.

* * *

"Reggie why are we still here?"

"I don't know, I mean why ARE we here? Are we part of some divine beings plan? Or are we just a mere coincidence-"

"No you're getting way too deep for the question I just asked. I mean why are we HERE, sitting still when we already got all these damn jars full of god knows what."

"... God?"

"Nevermind that. Let's just get off our asses and get back to Beacon, I'm already tired as hell."

"Well I guess that makes sense since you almost died."

"Shshshshs, you don't know who could be listening." I point out, putting a finger up to my mouth to emphasize my point.

"Whatever, lets get out of here they probably left us here on our own because of that whole mess."

 **STOMP**

"Hey did you hear that?" I ask as I rub my ear to make sure I am not going crazy.

"That's probably the sound of you being an idiot." Reggie jokingly replies, hardly containing his laughter.

 **STOMP**

"Alright I felt that one." Reggie says as he takes out his battle axe once more, which is still sticky with the red sap from the multiple trees he chopped.

"Why do I feel like this day is just going to get worse/"

"Because there's a probably a big Grimm Gorilla behind us." Reggie hypothesizes without turning around.

"I don't want to turn around, if there is one then I'll just make sure the jars don't get broken, I don't think my bare fists are going to do anything against something like that." I say while suppressing my fear and trying my best to ignore the disgusting smell of Grimm that I hate that I have become accustomed to.

Finally Reggie turns around to find that his assumption was correct, in front of him stands a 12 foot tall Grimm Bergingel, who is very angry at that. He overheard the other students talking about Grimm activity around Jaune and Cardin near the beginning of class so. But what he didn't expect was a larger one that must be in its early twenties in Grimm years in its prime, so basically at its most dangerous.

"Uh, Boss, I think we're going to have to work together." Reggie says as he transforms his body into metal.

"Oh god please don't tell me that I have to fight for some reason- holy shit I'm coming." I cut myself off when I spot the creature that instills fear just by being around it. Reggie and I slowly back away in hopes that we can get the attention of the full blown huntress who doesn't do anything until the breach besides whip me and teach this class.

"Maybe if we stay still, it won't see us." I suggest as I stay solid as a stone.

"This isn't Jurassic Park dude." Reggie points out.

"Oh so you know what that is but you don't know what God is?"

"Can we not argue about that right now?"

Before we can argue further the Bergingel roars threateningly and beats its chest, preparing to charge toward us.

"Fuck this day is never going to end."

* * *

 **AN- And that's where I'm going end off this chapter, I wanted to write out that fight but I didn't want to use all my ideas in one chapter. This story is already fast paced as it is.**

 **As I said at the beginning of this chapter I am going to explain how Hector's semblance is going to work in this story:**

 **He isn't going to be anywhere near as strong as he is in OG, I need to calm him down a good bit, at best he might be able to beat Yang one on one for volume one and two, although that may change in the future if I am feeling generous. Also this version of the KaioKen isn't going to have multipliers, so no times twenty boosts because let's be honest, he'd be able to fuck up Cinder at the end of Volume three. How it's going to work in this story is as follows: Progressively makes him stronger and faster as the fight drags on, a side effect is having his aura regenerate faster and heal him faster since his semblance drains it fast. He can last about two minutes as he is now but of course that timer will be extended as he trains and improves on himself. Finally he can temporarily use his involuntarily at random moments throughout a fight if he isn't going "Full power." That's what happens when his fist or foot gains a red fiery aura just like when he faced Yang and his partner in the earlier spars. Hopefully that explained it, if you need more info on it feel free to ask me for it.**

 **Please review and tell me how I can make this particular story better, really I need it, I am going through a Writer's Block at the moment with this story which is why I haven't been updating it as much as my other more popular story, and I am considering putting it on hold for a bit so I can come back to it another time.**

 **I will see you in the next update, whether it be in OG or this one.**

 **Disclaimer- I do not own RWBY in any way shape or form.**


	9. Rwby: Team HAMR chapter 9

**AN- First, thank you to the reviewers of last chapter**

 **Zeldawolffang- I'm an adult to I swear, definitely didn't laugh at that at all (Sweating)**

 **Guest- I'll consider it, thanks for the review.**

 **Thank you for both for reviewing!**

 **Now for an announcement of sort, someone by the name of Crowskull PM'd me to help me out on getting by my writers block for this story, and his idea was to add another character to this story, and also other ideas on how the story can progress, honestly this story wasn't going to be continued anytime soon until this guy messaged me so say thank you to him. Anywho, welcome to the next chapter and I hope you guys enjoy what he/we came up with!**

* * *

Rwby: Team HAMR

Chapter 9- Forest Anomalies

Right back where we left off, Reggie and I have been put up against a random Beringel that has appeared seemingly out of nowhere. We stand side by side in our fighting stances as we get ready to go up against this powerful creature. I haven't let it show yet but I am still pretty tired and sore after the ass kicking I received earlier that morning, and if I use my semblance here I might end up straining myself. Reggie on the other hand doesn't have any doubts in himself.

"Alright Boss I'm going in!" Reggie yells as he charges toward the Beringel with a smile on his face, his body is already hardened to steel and he plans to push the Beringel and pin it against the tree.

"Reggie NO!" I yell after him but it is way too late to change is mind.

The Beringel angrily accepts this challenge and meets him midway, the clash between the two behemoths causes an invisible shockwave that makes her of the trees around them shake, and some leaves to fall. Reggie beings to be pushed back, and he grits his teeth as he pushes with all of his might back at the Gorilla type Grimm, but it is futile as the Beringel pushes him back roughly, almost making him fall onto his Butt, then grabs him by his sides and throws him into one of the nearby trees.

"See?! That's what you get." I scold as Reggie rubs his head. "Now what are we gonna do with- OH SHIT."

I get cut off as the Beringel throws the fallen tree at me, I barely dodge it in time by leaning back, my hair whips by the force of the throw, and I have no time to get out of the way as the Bergingel charges into me and pins me against a tree, I can feel the splinters bounce off my aura as it strains to defend me from the blow, but doesn't stop me from losing the air in my lungs. I look up at the creature as it roars in my face and brings down one of its fist on my head, I shut my eyes and brace for the impact but I hear a metallic clang instead of seeing black, I expected myself to be knocked out. I open my eyes and see Reggie holding back its fist with both of his arms,

"Hands off the Boss! He's reserved for Ashley." Reggie says through gritted teeth as he pushes back against the Beringel. I help him out by joining in the pushing contest, using my legs to push against the tree I am pinned to as I pry its arm away from my gut. As I push, Red flames appear along my arms as my passive semblance kicks in and enhances my strength. Together we are able to push back the beast enough so that I can jump out of my shitty spot. When I jump out Reggie doesn't make the same mistake and rolls out of the way. We stand side by side, my arms still flaming, and Reggie still in his metal casing. The Beringel bopped its head on the tree but it shakes of the minor headache, it only served to make it angrier.

"I think it's time for some reinforcements." I say as the flames on my arms dissipate.

"Yeah good idea, except I don't think this thing is just going to let us make a phone call on our scrolls right now." Reggie says before he gets an idea, one that I am not going to like. " _Heeyyy_ remember the initiation?"

"I don't like where this is going already."

"Well leaders are known for their sacrifices." Reggie doesn't give me a chance to respond to that pretty ominous statement he just said, by strongly shoving me toward the creature with his arm.

"Oh you little SHIT!" I exclaim as I am forced to be a distraction once again.

"Just hold on about... I don't know a minute? It depends on if Ms. Goodwitch picks up." Reggie says as he takes out his scroll.

"What do you mean a minute?! This thing tossed us around in ten seconds!" I yell at him as I barely duck under and roll away from another swipe attack.

"Hold on I'm on the Scroll." Reggie says, holding his finger up at me as if he is taking an important call and nothing bad is happening.

"Oh yeah, I'll get right on that as my bones are being broken."

I turn to face the Bergingel fully and get ready to fight as well as I can, my arms flame again as I get into my 'Battle mode' as I like to call it now. I can't draw out the full body power like I was able to before against Neo and Yang, but this will have to do for now. I duck under a straight from the Beringel and counter with a punch to the gut, which stuns it for a bit but doesn't do any real damage.

' _Man I really need to get a weapon sometime'_ I think to myself as I dash to the other side of the Bergingel and kick it in the back of it's knee, not hurting it but forcing it to get down just a bit.

"Oh Hi Ms. Goodwitch! How is your day?" Reggie asks as Miss Goodwitch finally picks up.

"Reggie I swear to GOD!"

"Still don't know what that is Boss! But yeah we need help."

" _What do you mean you need help?"_

"Well…"

I get caught my the Beringels massive hands as it slams me into the ground.

"We sorta got into some trouble…"

My legs also gain a red flame as I kick the Beringel off of me and a few feet away, just enough for me to get back up.

" _What kind of trouble?"_ Miss Goodwitch asks in a deadpan tone.

With a battle cry I dash toward the monster, and punch it in the face, barely cracking it's bone mask this time but it retaliates by punching me in the gut again, making me cough up spit.

"The kind of trouble that requires your attention, like now."

I slide against the ground until I am in front of Reggie, my aura is low and my stamina is all but gone now.

"Double G we need help!" I shout as loudly as I can from my position.

"Yeah that! We got a big Beringel here and it's kicking his ass."

"Fuck you!" I exclaim as I stand back up.

" _What?! I am on my way stay there!"_ Miss Goodwitch hangs up the phone with that and begins her rush to get there as soon as she can.

"I just want to say that you did a great job." Reggie says as he stands in front of me.

"Screw you it's your turn."

"I wouldn't have it any other way!" Reggie shouts as he gets ready to take on the Grimm by himself once again, he punds his fist's together as he encases himself with metal again, he charges into battle once again with another smile on his face, excited for this challenging opponent. But Before the two clash, a purple aura wraps around the Beringel and it is lifted effortlessly into the air. The horrifying sounds of heels clicking on the ground makes its way to our ears as the Bergingel is thrown so far and high into the air that it disappears from our sight almost immediately.

"I left you two alone for _five_ minutes. How exactly did you get yourselves tangled up with a _Bergingel_ of all things?" Miss Goodwitch asks as a tick forms on her forehead.

"Thanks for the save Double G." I say as I slump myself into a sitting position on the ground. But I never actually hit the ground, I look at my body and see that I to am now covered with the purple aura, Miss Goodwitch then hangs me upside down and scolds me,

"I told you to not call me that." Miss Goodwitch barks into my face.

"But it has such a nice ring to it…" I whine childishly.

Double G was about to whip me again with that wand thing, but stops just before it hits my chest at the sound of something crashing down, along with a minor shockwave that vibrates around the area. Not long after Miss Goodwitches Scroll begins to ring. She lets me fall to the ground as she takes out her phone to see that it is Ozpin calling her.

"You're lucky," Miss Goodwitch points out as I lay on the ground. "Yes Professor Ozpin?"

" _As I am sure you felt, I have detected something within the Emerald Forest, an anomaly of sort. I want you and whoever students happen to be with you to go investigate the cause of the shockwave."_ Ozpin orders in a serious tone.

"Oh gosh does that mean us?" I complain into the Scroll as I pop up next to Miss Goodwitch. I am rightly punished for my outburst my a backhand slap that knocks me back down.

"Oww." I whine in pain.

"You were pushing it, you deserved that one Boss."

"Sir I don't think bringing students along for a Hunters mission is a very smart idea."

" _Oh is Mister Rivers and Mister Nole with you?"_ Ozpin asks, ignoring her concerns.

"Yes but-"

" _Then you will be fine. We need to find out what this was as soon as possible and we can't afford to waste time by sending a Bullhead to pick them up since you would be obligated to stay until the Bullhead lands. Also something else you should know, the anomaly seems to be very similar to that of what Mister Rivers gave off when he first appeared here."_

" ***Sigh*** Very well sir, we'll get on it as soon as we can." Glynda says as she hangs up and returns the Scroll to her pocket.

"So we're going on another mission already? Awesome!" Reggie exclaims, pumping his fist into the air with excitement.

"What do you mean by _another_ mission?" Glynda asks, catching on to his mistake right away.

"He doesn't mean anything!" I say in a loud nervous voice as I get between him and Reggie, holding my hands out to halt Miss Goodwitches advancement toward him. "Let's just get on with it, im tired as shit still." I realize my error and slap my hands against my mouth after realizing that I have cursed in front of Miss Goodwitch again, which earns me a whip in my left thigh.

"Language! Do not fall behind, and if you come across any Grimm that you cannot handle on your own let me know immediately and I will handle it. Understood?"

"Yes!" Reggie says right away with a toothy grin on his face.

"Y… es." I add, still holding my thigh in pain as I force a smile and give her a thumbs up.

Transition

"We're in lunch now and those two idiots are still not back?" Ashley asks as she sits down at the table we all usually sit at, which is right next to RWBY's of course.

"They'll be back, Reggie probably got himself in trouble and our _fearless leader_ is probably trying to get him out of it." Mike says as he plays with his mashed potatoes with his fork.

"Sounds like something that Dipshit would do."

"Hey, where's Hector and Reggie? They're usually here before you guys." Yang asks them, sliding down the seat to get closer to them.

"They arrived late to the Forest of Forever Fall, most likely Miss Goodwitch is having them do extra work because of their tardiness." Mike lies right away.

"Oh that's too bad, I was hoping to talk to them about an idea I had. Oh well, see you guys next class!" Yang waves goodbye as she scoots back to her table and next to her little sister.

"I just can't read that girl." Ashley says right after she leaves.

"I wonder what those two _actually_ got themselves into." Mike wonders, placing a hand on his chin as he thinks about all of the possibilities that could have went down. But then he realizes that they left the two dumbest people on the team together alone in the woods, without telling them where they needed to go after they finished collecting the sap…

"I think we've made a big mistake leaving those two together."

* * *

 **Emerald Forest**

"So where are we going again?" Reggie asks for the THIRD time.

Miss Goodwitch takes in a sharp breath through her nose as her patience wears thin with this young man. "Mister Nole, as I said many times before, we are going to the Emerald Forest to investigate any anomaly. If you ask me one more time I am sending you back on your own." Miss Goodwitch threatens.

Reggie gulps nervously and doesn't say anything in response, just looking away and whistling a nonchalant tune.

"How far are we?" I ask a few moments later.

"That is a question that I can only answer vaguely." Miss Goodwitch answers without actually giving me the answer.

"Soooo… like yes far or no far?"

"Possibly."

"Oh okay." I learn that she is not in the mood to talk so I just slow down a bit until I am walking next to Reggie, who is still whistling a rather annoying tune.

"Stop that. What do you think we are going to run in to?" I ask him, I actually don't know what this is going to be, since this didn't actually happen in the show I have no idea what this could possibly be.

"I don't know, maybe a big rock or something that we can make a weapon out of?"

"What? That'd be way too boring."

"Well I remember during the initiation I felt something like that go throughout the woods, but it was barely noticeable and no one else said anything about it so I just left it alone."

' _Oh shit that was me.'_

"Aaaaaghhh!" A scream is heard alongside the whimpers of a Beowolf, alongside with some heavy meat crunches and sounds of fighting. We all stop in place and Miss Goodwitch gestures for us to get closer to her just in case anything dangerous jumps out.

 _ **ROOAAR**_

We all hear the roar of another Beowolf as it is no doubt charging toward its prey, but just like earlier it ended with more crunching and a thump, I assume that it's head has just been chopped off,

"I know I'm not the only one who hears that right?" I ask our little group.

No one can answer in time as a Beowolf missing an eye come out of the bushes, crawling it's way out, it sees us and and growls at as but just then someone jumps out of the bushes holding a very rusty metal shield and nearly broken shield over his head, he jumps on the Beowolf and slams the pointy end of the shield into its neck, over and over until it's chopped off. Another Beowolf jumps out of the bushes, the new guy just sidekicks it in the face and pushes it away but doesn't kill it, another one jumps out from behind him but is caught in a purple aura, same with the other one, and Miss Goodwitches forces their necks to be snapped, then lets them fall to the ground in an evaporating mess. I lock eyes with the newcomer, knowing that I am not the only one to be dragged into this world right away. The more I look at him the more I can tell that he is not from Remnant just from the look in his eyes, dark skin, dark brown hair, and he is wearing black pants and what gives it away even more are the kinds of shoes he is wearing long black boots with multiple straps on them to keep them as tight as possible to his feet, a leather bracer on his left wrist, and lastly he is wearing a long sleeved blue and black striped shirt with the sleeves rolled up with a black undershirt. As my gaze goes back to his brown eyes he speaks to me,

"... I'm fucking screwed aren't I?" Then he passes out, but before he can hit the ground I dash up to catch him. His head leans against my shoulder and his body goes limp but I manage to slowly and gently let his body lay on the ground. I notice that he also has a ponytail, one with three knots kept together by black hair ties.

I look at Miss Goodwitch who still has her eyes wide, as if she is trying to understand what happened actually happened, and Reggie who is still trying to process everything that just happened. But I snap them both out of it with a question,

"So are we gonna do something about this guy bleeding out or not?" I ask as I lift him up with my arms.

"O-of course, I'll call a Bullhead to pick us up right away." Miss Goodwitch says as she takes her Scroll back out.

I look back at the guy, and my mind races with possibilities, if this person really is from Earth like me, then me being here isn;t just by coincidence, but we can figure that part out later. Right now, we have to get this guy to the Beacon Hospital and get him back to full health.

* * *

 **Beacon**

After getting this new guy back to Beacon safely, Miss Goodwitch took control of the situation and floated him into the Hospital where he is being taken care of. Not long after I am called to Ozpin's office, now doubt to talk about what just happened since he already knew just by looking at me that I wasn't from here, and now that there has been a second occurence then he is going to need me to understand this better, at least until the other guy wakes up anyway.

"Damn, you might as well get a room up there for the amount of times he has called you up there." Reggie says as we walk to halls.

"..." I uncharacteristically stay silent as my mind continues to race about what just happened.

"Uh, hello? You alright Boss?" Reggie asks in more concerned tone of voice, snapping me out of my state

"Huh? Oh yeah, I am, I guess I am just tired from everything that happened today. I mean, I got my ass kicked, then I got my ass kicked again, and then this all happens, and it's not even five yet!" I say as I hang my head and rub my tired eyes.

"Well you better wake yourself up because you know who and Mike are on their way." Reggie points out, gesturing his head to the other two members of our team lightly jogging our way.

"Oh hey guys whats up? Weather sure is nice isn't it-"

 **SLAP, SLAP**

"Where the FUCK have you two been?" Ashley asks as she slaps both me and Reggie at the same time.

"Ooowww, I just got back." I whine as I rub my face that now has a red handprint on my left cheek.

"I am just going to go over there now." Reggie says as he tries to sneak away. But is caught by his not so visibly worried lover. "

"You're coming with me." Mike deadpans as he begins to drag Reggie away with strength only Reggie can experience.

"Oh god someone save me!" His voice echoes throughout the halls as he is dragged around the corner.

My face turns blue as I worry about what is about to happen to my friends, and the distant sounds of yelling and cries for help can only make me wish all the luck in the world for him. I then realize that my turn is just on the way, as I look down to the fuming ashen haired girl who just prepares another slap for me as a tick forms on the corner of her forehead.

"Why don't you ask me where I have been instead of slapping me." I say as I back up and raise my hands to my face to defends myself.

"Okay~, where have you been?" Ashley asks in a very uncharacteristic sweet voice that I have never heard from her before, it both scares me and impresses me at the same time.

"We uh… might have run into a big ass Gorilla monster…" I begin but hesitate too much to continue. The mixture of anger and happiness struggles to share space on her face as she forces herself to pretend that she is okay with it, but the veins on her face say otherwise.

"Annnd. I'm sure you didn't spent the last three hours just fucking around with it."

"And then me and Reggie went on a mission with Double G and we ran into more Grimm and then there was a new guy and then more Grimm and then-" My rambling stops as Ashley slaps a hand on my mouth.

"Say it in english please." She says as she removes her hand from my mouth.

"Something landed in the Emerald Forest and since we were the closest we had to go check it out. Geez Ash you're beginning to sound like you actually like me if you care this much about where I have been." I unintentionally tease my Faunus partner, who in turn just looks away with a hmph.

"It's not that Dipshit, if you die then we have to be held back a year so we can get a new leader." Ashley makes a bullshit excuse that I of course fall for.

"Oh makes sense I guess."

" _Would Mister Rivers PLEASE make your way up to my office, this is the second time I am calling you, please, do not let it make it to three."_

"Annnnd that's where I must leave. It was good catching up with you Ash! Glad to have been able to see you before I get interrogated!" I say as I head in the opposite direction to the tower in which Ozpin resides in.

"Yeah whatever Dipshit, see ya later." Ashley says as she begins on a path back to Team HAMR's room. She runs into Mike scolding Reggie at a pace so fast that she can't understand and Reggie trying to explain himself just as fast, but she just leaves the two lovebirds alone and continues on her merry way.

Now back with me, I have just made it to the tower in what I think is record time, I have never sped walked so fast in my life after hearing that warning announcement. I push the button on the elevator that moves up so fast I am surprised that it doesn't kill the person in the elevator, and within seconds the elevator rings and opens its door to let me through, I step into the now very familiar office and wave hello to the headmaster.

"Mister Rivers, I was just about to call for you a third time, but I would have sent Professor Goodwitch to go fetch you this time, and trust me when I say that she is not in a good mood." Ozpin says in an amused tone as I sit down in the chair he kindly gestured to.

"Yeah Im glad I got here in time, I don't think Double G likes me very much."

"Double G? Well there is your reason right there." Ozpin says before taking a sip out of his mug.

"Hey I think its cool! I mean it's better than saying 'Professor' or 'Miss' Goodwitch all the time."

"She takes her job very seriously, but I know you know that is not what I called you here to speak about." Ozpin says in a much more serious tone then before.

"Yeah, that's why I was trying to keep that topic going but you just sank that ship right away. Okay what are you going to start off with?" I ask in a less then happy tone. I know this is just going to either last forever, or end in a couple of questions.

"First, I wanted you to see this video I managed to capture of our newcomer, and tell me if you recognize this person."

In the video I see the guy I saw before, at first just looking around, seemingly confused and scared, then the first Beowolf pops from behind the trees, then he runs away with a brief face of terror, very much like I did when I arrived, he runs in circles trying shake the Beowolf off, it just kept up on coming for him, eventually the face seemed more like frustration, until he finally picks up a big log he sees on the ground and uses it to clobber the Beowolf on the legs and then the head. More Beowolves start to appear, one after the other… the guy seems to just shout loud curses while he recovers himself, he keeps using the branch until it snaps on a Beowolf's head, then he just starts to punch, kick and knee the other one, he throws some simple yet fancy maneuvers hitting it over and over, more elbows, knees to the face, roundhouse kicks, until he finishes it off with a spinning kick and stomps its neck, breaking it on a final twist.

He starts to run from more incoming Beowolves, at some point he goes to the other side of a pond and their finds some left over weapons, maybe from failed students… if that's the case I don't want to know how those ones failed, he gets a sword and a kukri, and he uses them to kill a couple more Beowolves that get close to him with some wild slashes, cutting them in various places but mainly aiming for their throats, he also kicks their knees, snapping them in the opposite direction to make it easier, another comes in and pounces on him, he kicks off him with both feet like how I did to the Beringel earlier and gets back up, but he lets his guard down too soon and gets punished for it, a Beowolf comes from his side and mauls him for a short time until he kicks it off of him, now bruised, cut and bleeding, he becomes more defensive and start to dodge and sidestep taking the time kick it away, finally he cuts it's arm off stabs it through the gut with the sword in a reverse grip and the kukri in its throat, he finally shoulder bashes the dissipating body and it lands on the ground with a thud. Here's when I notice that's he's being taking hits and some small slashes, in other places as well, like the back of his thigh, and his back, along with a cut on his face, possibly from the other encounters he wasn't perfect, but he kept going.

Two more beowolves appear, this time one charges him and he loses the sword, he recovers quickly and stabs it in the eye with the kukri, and then continues on punching it and kicking it away and it lands on it's back. Here by his luck he finds a nearly broken shield, he uses it to a completely pummel the other ones with the flat side of the shield while the one that pounced on him earlier crawls away, trying to remove the kukri from it's eye, he kicks its legs and jumps up just to land on it and begins to beat its head in while screaming, that must have been the one we heard when we walked by, he keeps pummeling it for a bit until another comes out, he turns around and knees it in its balls before beating him and sending him with a flying kick…

"Really?..."

Then after that he jumps after the other one that was missing it's eye with the shield, after that we can be seen in the video, and it plays off the same as I saw it with my own eyes.

"If you had that many cameras in the forest in the first place why did you call it an anomaly?" I ask, confused with his decision making.

"I had to be certain that it was the same anomaly that brought you here, do you recognize him by any chance?"

I take another look at the video, studying and observing the way he looks and acts. It's similar to how I did when I first arrived here, but I wasn't up against a whole pack of Beowolves, just a Deathstalker with a very dysfunctional team.

"Nah, I mean he looks like he isn't from Remnant that's for sure. But we won't know until he wakes up. That being said how is he doing?"

"His vitals are stable and his wound are healing at a normal rate for a person without an aura, I believe it will be wise to send you to talk to him first since you are also from this 'Earth' as I believe you have mentioned before."

"Alright, when do you think he will wake up?" I ask with some concern in my voice.

"He was in shock and lost much blood before you got him here, I am no medical expert but-"

"Oh cut the shit, you know I know you're like thousands of years old."

"Hmph, I'd say around a day at most, maybe in a couple hours at least." Ozpin answers with a smug grin.

"Well is that all you need me for? I don't know if you've noticed but I am tired as shit and I miss the feeling of my chair against my back."

"I believe that is all, luckily for you I was able to pull some strings with the classes that you missed, but please, don't try to go on any more 'Secret Missions' anymore." Ozpin tells me as I stand up from the chair with an unsurprised look on my face.

"Let me guess "I know about everything that goes on in my school." Right?" ' _But you didn't know about the bad guys literally sitting under your nose for months.'_

"Precisely, now please be on your way, you have class in the morning and I would hate it if you missed any more class hours. Good day." Ozpin shifts his gaze from me and back to his computer, acting like I am not even in the room anymore.

I resist the urge to just slap the shit out of him and call him a dumbass but I calm myself down and head back into the elevator. I stick my tongue out at him as the door closes though, had to get something in there at least.

"Hm, he is an amusing one." Ozpin says with his eyes still glued to the screen of his computer.

* * *

 **Team HAMR's Dormroom**

I travel the dark halls of the building I have been staying in for the past couple of weeks, until I come across the unmistakable dorm that belongs to my team, how do I know this? Well Reggie carved the name of our team into the door, AGAIN. We just got a new door but of course he had to go fuck it up again. I swipe my scroll on the electronic lock and let my body fall over on my face as I enter the room.

"Sorry, I'm just _dropping_ in." I couldn't help it.

"Why are you like this?" Ashley asks, sitting up on her bed with her headphones in, listening to some electronica music that I have never heard of in my life. Must be exclusive to Remnant.

"Maybe I am just _falling_ for you." I say with laugh as I push myself up, I earned the pillow that was thrown into my face. But I just pick it up and plan to use it as my pillow for the night.

"Nice one Boss!" Reggie exclaims from the shower.

"Oh you're still alive?" I ask as I slump back into my comfy chair that smells like me now, ignoring how sweaty and dirty my clothes are after everything that happened today, hopefully I have multiple copies of my clothes since Ozpin pretty much conjured up the clothes I have already, or maybe they'll get magically cleaned while I am sleeping.

"Yeah, Mike loves me too much to stay mad at me."

"But I did make him buy me the next book in my favorite series." Mike points out from his bed, and on the cover of his book surprises me, 'Ninja's Of Love' Oh boy.

"I think Blake likes those books to, you should go talk to her about it, it'd be some good conversation." I suggest as I hold back laughter.

"Blake reads this series? How do you know?" Mike asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Yang." I answer simply, but it's a lie of course, I don't know if any other member of RWBY knows about the kinds of books she reads just yet at this point in the show. Excluding RWBY Chibi of course.

Luckily my lie is believed right away, since I have developed a friendship and a friendly rivalry with the Blonde brawler early on in the semester. "Makes sense, okay I'll talk about it with her the next time we talk about books." Mike says, looking forward to talking about one of his favorite series of books. I make a mental note to make sure I record it when it happens.

"That thing was a THOUSAND Lien Michael!"

"And I'm glad you spent all those pennies on it. What else are partners good for?" After Mike says this Ashley gets a similar idea and looks toward me with a mischievous grin.

"I wonder when my partner is going to make up for it with a gift like that? After leaving me so worried about his well being for so long, Ugh my heart can't take it." Ashley sarcastically rants.

"I'll buy you a chew toy if you want." Uh oh, shouldn't have said that.

"YOU DICKHEAD!" Now she's mad.

"Hey Stop! This is where I sleep!" I say as I struggle to push to girl off of me as the chair spins around.

"Mike are they fighting again?!"

"Just leave them be, it's how they show affection to each other."

"SHUT UP!" Me and Ash shout at him at the same time.

* * *

 **Hospital room, Four Hours later**

 **The new guys POV**

I start to wake up first slowly, then at full force I snap up into a sitting position on the hospital bed.

"Eeeewh Hwoo Haaaa… Hwooo Haaa… Oh no."

' _This isn't happening… I didn't want this, not this way I… I…'_

I look around and then down at myself, I still have my pants on and my boots are in the corner on a small table, at least I have some modesty, now is this some random hospital or actually… Beacon…

' _Jesus this feels weird just thinking about it, why? What did I do? Was I on drugs or something? Did I do drugs? Did someone drug me?'_ I think to myself as I look at my hands.

I look around the room again, then back down at myself and my hands, I'm bandaged all over my chest and around the arms, great.

 _´Now can I…'_ I think as I start to move, and pain moves all over my body, not unbearable just… painful for lack of a better word.

"I feel it, yes I can feel all of it, come on Robert… first… the leg" I say to myself as I move my leg to the side of the bed. "Okay now the other one." I'm in sitting position now, I remove all the things connected to me, and then I make a move to stand up, I walk around the room for about four feet before feeling exhausted. I find a chair beside my bed and sit on it and then I stare at the floor, my feet keeps tapping the floor, one of my many nervous ticks…

' _Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck… What is going on?'_ Is all I think as I keep tapping my foot on the floor, and the fingers on my hands against each other.

"Fuck…"

A nurse runs through the door, afraid that she was going to find a dead body, when the computer on her side stopped beeping she feared the worse and ran to come check on me, she sees me in the chair and rushes to my side.

"Oh honey you should not be walking around right now. Here let me help you back into your bed." The nurse says as she helps me back up and leads me to the bed.

"I'm nervous okay, I… I just don't know where I am why I woke up here… I… wasn't kidnapped right?"

"No honey, you were rescued by Huntsman, just lay back down and go back to sleep, you need to let your body heal and when you wake up we can have all the conversation you want."

I listen and get back into the bed more easily this time, getting used to feeling my body again… that and the fact there's someone helping me. But before the nurse can leave I have to have an answer to the number one question right now.

"Just a… where am I?"

"You're at the Beacon hospital, we're one of the best in all the kingdoms, you'll be okay very soon." The nurse leaves after revealing to me a shocking revelation.

' _Kingdoms... Beacon…'_

"Shit…" I tap my finger against the mattress of the bed, just trying to think of my situation.

* * *

 **AN- Finally after more then two weeks, this story is updated once again, I am sorry that it took so long to update this story, Between work and My other story and the writers block I wasn't able to think much about this one, but with the help of CrowSkull, we were able to get this chapter out to you guys, he will be collaborating with me for the rest of this story.**

 **CrowSkull: Hi.**

 **Genatools: That is him, a bit shy I know ;).**

 **I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, please review and let me know what you think about where we are going to be taking this story.**

 **See you guys next time!**

 **Disclaimer- We do not own RWBY in any way, shape, or form.**


	10. Rwby: Team HAMR chapter 10

**A/N: Thank you to the reviewer of last chapter!**

 **Zeldawolffang- Well I'm glad you like the idea, didn't thought we'll get a review honestly, but it's nice to see you liked it :) -CrowSkull**

 **I hope you enjoy the rest of the story! And I am glad that you like the idea he had. -Genatools**

* * *

Rwby: Team HAMR

Chapter 10- The getting to know you game...

 **Hospital Room.**

 **Robert's POV**

To be honest I haven't really felt much more comfortable after what happened, even though the hospital room and the bed were nice and helped me recover, they were still from a hospital and felt the same… somewhat restraining and like a prison, no offense to the nurse, she was very kind all the time and did feed me dinner since I was still exhausted and starved at the time. We did talk about a couple things, she asked me who I was and I gave her my name, anything beyond that, family, where I was from and anything else just… failed me, it wouldn't come out of my mouth, I didn't want it to come out of my mouth with at least a decent excuse or lie, I didn't want to lie either. But how could I explain any of this? Amnesia maybe? Still that's just a little too… far fetched.

Thankfully she didn't prod too much…

 **Flashback.**

" _You don't want to talk about it honey?"_

 _I nod my head from side to side, it was complicated after all._

" _Well if it is hard, then you don't have too… just recover and make sure you are okay, I bet the huntsman and huntress that saved you will have questions, like how you ended in the forest in the first place."_

" _I honestly have no idea… for a good while I didn't even know where I was, then the Grimm came and everything went to shit."_

" _And then they came to rescue you?"_

" _I had to fight for a bit before that happened, I uh… did kill more than couple of beowolves before they arrived and finished the last of them off."_

" _Really!? You fought them?!"_

" _I do know how to fight."_

" _Did you go to signal, or any other of the training schools Robert?"_

" _No I just… learned, I went places, and people teached me, good people, I always wanted to know how to fight, in a way I was always a fighter, I… really like how it feels, the adrenaline, and the thrill… it's something that I enjoy and makes me feel alive." I ramble on how I feel._

" _Well you are most certainly not the only one honey, a lot of people here feel the same, even if sometimes it lands them here, you should be more careful… you don't have an aura like the others… you could never get someone to unlock it for you?"_

" _Uh…"_

" _I mean if you like to fight then one would to think that…"_

 _She stopped to look at me, I just couldn't really talk about that, how do I explain that I never had the option because I was from another world…_

" _I uh… uh…" I looked away. She put a hand in my cheek and another in my shoulder, and made me look at her again._

" _I'm sorry honey, I didn't mean to prod, relax, if you don't want to talk about it then you don't have too." she said to me with a warm smile._

" _I uh… yeah, thank you." She smiled even brighter and I caught myself cracking a smile little._

" _That's good honey, now for what we are actually here for, you seem to be doing good, really good, you already recovered pretty nicely."_

" _I've always healed quick… well not always but… recently I have."She responded with a giggle._

" _Well it seems so, we should be able to remove some of the bandages, some scars might be left but you should be fine, after that we can disconnect the monitors since you don't need them anymore, and then you have to take dinner."_

" _Dinner?"_

" _Yeah, do you want help with that honey"?_

" _I uh…" I was still weak, and she was asking really kindly. "I guess."_

 **Flashback End**

She fed me dinner while we talked about unimportant stuff, removed some of the bandages on my side and my arms and legs, the gashes weren't too terrible, I still have the ones on my chest and back, probably being a larger area they needed a bit more time. As of when I woke up from sleep I already felt much better, I did feel like I could maybe move… and certainly didn't help how I felt, because right now I felt stuck, moving around always helped to calm me so not moving was just made more anxious and bored, and also slightly uncomfortable. It didn't help that I didn't have any sort of entertainment at the moment, I just sat there on the bed thinking about what I should do… I was stuck in Remnant for who knows how long, didn't even know why, being more than anxious was an understatement, and the walls and ceiling didn't calm me in any way.

Then I saw the door, and an idea popped up in my head, it was really early in the morning, hadn't even had breakfast yet, but I felt full of energy. I sat on the bed and stood up, far more mobile than yesterday, I put on my boots and my black under shirt, my body still hurt a lot, but I could manage it, better I get used to it anyway, I walked at the door and opened it up only to find a well lit white hallway, there was no one hanging about. Truth be told the fact of being in somewhere completely different and not having a map of it was… exciting, the fact it was both in Beacon and Remnant made it triple, so I really couldn't help myself. I wonder if RWBY is around here..?

"What's the worst that could happen if I explore a little, I have a good sense of direction too, I think I could find my way back." I said as I started walking taking in my surroundings, seeing the architecture, looking out the windows, and in hopes of also finding a bathroom too… at least a toilet. In retrospect I always had a knack for disappearing, hard to find, and being quiet, I doubt someone will notice or care if I go around a little… shouldn't be too hard to disappear in this halls.

* * *

 **Combat Training Class**

 **Hector's POV**

Here my team and I are back in the training class that Double G and Ozpin here just loves to torture me in. Except for once I am not called up for the singles bout. Instead the honor goes to…

"Would Michael Cedric please make it down to the combat arena." Miss Goodwitch calls him down for the first time.

Mike raises his head and points to himself in surprise, not really expecting the sudden call on him. Reggie and I pat him on the back at the same time and that snaps him out of it.

"Well look at you! Time to represent Team HAMR Mike!" I excalim with a happy smile on my face.

"I'll be cheering for you! If you win I'll give you a reward~." Reggie adds with a wiggle of his eyebrows, making Mike blush a little bit at the thought.

"Okay, ignoring that but remember the rule: Stay away from the chair. Now Ash c'mon and join us! Cheer him on!" I grab Ashley by the wrist and pull her up, all the while Mike is already halfway down the stairs. "AH hurry!"

Instead of cheering him on she just punches me in the gut, making the class giggle at my exclamation of pain. "Go Mike." She slyly says in a low voice before she sits down.

"Yeah… Go Mike." I say as I sit down, slightly folded over but still conscious and aware of my surroundings luckily.

"Recover from that fast Mister Rivers because you will be participating in the doubles bout along with your partner again later." Miss Goodwitch says with a amused glare at me. She enjoys seeing me in pain a little too much for a teacher.

"Oh great." I sarcastically respond.

"Now, Mr. Arc, you will be Mr. Cedric's opponent for today." She says as she faces Jaune. Jaune slumps his head against his desk but gets a pat on the back from Pyrrha, he turns to her and she says,

"Just remember our training and you'll be fine." She says with a bright smile.

Jaune smiles back and nods, now more encouraged to at least not get his butt kicked so one sidedly like in all of his other sparring matches her participated in. "I'll try my best." He says with a thumbs up as he moves down into the arena, bearing his sword and shield.

Down in the arena Mike and Jaune stand across from each other, Mike twirls his Kusarigama like nunchucks just to show off. Meanwhile Jaune just looks at his sword and shield, shakes his head, then readies his shield in defense.

"You two know the rules, render your opponent immobile or drain their aura to critical levels. You may begin." Miss Goodwitch jumps out of the arena, and begins to observe the fight.

Right away Mike swings the blade of his weapon toward Jaune, wrapping around his shield and pulling on it. Jaune struggles to keep his grip on the shield but Mikes superior strength overwhelms him and it slips out of his grip and out of the arena.

"Aww c'mon already!" Jaune frustratedly exclaims.

"You really need to hit the gym more, Im pretty sure I am the weakest of my team in terms of strength." Mike comments, unintentionally taunting him.

Jaune slumps his shoulders but holds both his hands on his sword like Pyrrha taught him, he personally doesn't think he is as good two handing as he is one handing but Pyrrha keeps persisting in telling him that two handing would fit his style better if he happens to lose his shield. They circle each other for a couple of moments, Mike still twirling his Kusarigama while Jaune holds his sword out to get ready to deflect the next blade throw. Mike throws his blade his way again, knowing that Jaune isn't the best of fighters and expects to disarm him of his sword as well, and forcing him to surrender before he actually needs to start hitting him, but right as the blade of his weapon hits Jaunes sword it gets deflected when Jaune strikes up into the air. Mike pulls back his chain and catches the grip of the blade in his free hand.

"Well I didn't expect that to happen."

Jaune ignores his words and analyzes the situation he is in. His opponent has a weapon that can be used in almost all ranges, has a blunt weight on one end while the other is a long sharp blade that are both attached to a much longer chain then it looks. But since he is keeping his distance and going off what Mike said earlier, he may have the best chance in close range, one problem with that though. He would have to get passed his long and mid ranged attacks first, and even if he does get close there is a chance that Mike is just as good or even better at fighting close range then he is at long to mid range. Before he can discourage himself with all the statistics though he just shrugs and charges straight through with the flat side of his sword in front of his face with one of his eyes peeking over.

Mike is confused by his actions but doesn't let him get any closer by knocking him off his feet, he threw the blunt weight at one of his legs from his blind side and hit him right in the side of his knee, taking about 5-10 percent of his aura while knocking him down and sending him tumbling away to the edge of the arena. Jaune pushes himself back up and continues his advance, but this time he lowers his blade enough so that he could see with both eyes. This time he dodges the weight by jumping to his right, then ducks under the chain that was intended to hit him in the side of the head, now he is in close to mid range, Mike lets go of his blade and grabs on the chain and swings the blade up at Jaune, which he deflects with his sword, and now Mike is open. With a yell Jaune swings down at Mike, hoping that this attack would enough to knock him out of the arena since he is so close to the edge. But fails to notice Mikes expression turn from concern to a sly smirk.

* * *

 **Roberts POV**

 **Beacon Grounds**

"Tu tu, tu ru tu ru tu turu tu…" I'm walking around the halls of Beacon and honestly this place is much larger than I expected. I've seen a couple people around, they haven't really paid much attention to me, which in a way is good for me, but I also might have gotten a bit… lost.

 ***Clash and other fighting noises***

"What's that?" I say I as I change my course to find the source of that noise, the closer I get to the sound, by listening through some doors and walls, I realize it sounds like… combat? Sounds like it. I finally find the door from which the sound is coming from, I am interested…

" _I could take a peek… a tiny one."_

I think as I go to try and open the door ever so slightly.

"Why Hello there." A voice call out to me.

"UUAH what the wha..." I fumble as I jump in place and away from the door at the appearance of… the Headmaster of Beacon himself, where did he even come from?

"I was just ah, interested slightly so I thought I could take a peek, and I know that I shouldn't be here for many reasons, one of them being my health and I… uh… hehe… uh." I say with hand gestures and ended up shrugging with a weird smile, fake smile at that.

"No need to be worried Robert, I was just about to pick someone up and go see you." Ozpin says with an amused smile.

"How do you know my name?" I say with perplexed expression.

"I know everyone that is in this building at all times Young man, if you want to watch the sparring session with me then feel free to join me." Ozpin says with a small smile, gesturing me to his side. "But afterwards you will have to come with me for some questions."

"Uh… great." I say in a tone that clearly signifies is not great. But he is the Headmaster and I don't think i could get very far from him if I tried to run. Whatever I guess.

When we enter the room I can see a various amount of students in here, but what catches my eyes are a few unexpected faces… of the members of RWBY, JNPR, and CRDL. I lose my ability to talk as the faces of a certain show that I watched appear all around me, almost forgetting that a fight is going on. But then I see two out of the three people that saved me from the Grimm. Along with a few more unfamiliar faces… that and every other student that I didn't know... what's with the guy with the afro...

* * *

 **Back to the Fight**

 **Hectors POV**

The blade hits against a green bubble. Jaune widens his eyes when his blade bounces off the bubble and he is left with his guard wide open. Mike throws the weight around his waist and yanks it as hard as he can, pulling Jaune over him and right into the ground out of bounds.

"UGH." Jaune groans in pain as his back bounces off of the ground.

"Mister Arc is out of bounds. Good Job Mister Cedric." Miss Goodwitch says as Jaune props himself up on his elbows, he rubs his head in an attempt to get rid of the headache he now has but a hand is extended down at him. He looks up to see his opponent _actually_ offering to help him back up after beating him.

"You've improved a lot." Is all the Mike says as Jaune happily accepts his gesture of Good sportsmanship.

"Mister Arc, you have certainly improved greatly over the past couple of days, and Mister Cedric, you did a great job as well but you clearly need to work on the power of you longer range attacks. Since Mister Arc is out of bounds Mister Cedric is the winner. Now would you two please exit the combat arena, and May Mister Rivers and his partner make their way down so that they can participate in the doubles round." Miss Goodwitch instructs as she types away at her scroll.

"Actually, I require the immediate presence of Mister Rivers for a more pressing matter." Ozpin makes himself known to the class.

I look behind and up at the unexpected arrival of the headmaster, I thought he was going to come by much later to pick me up. I understand why he needs me right away though once I realize who is standing next to him looking around the room and whistling.

"Oookay then, that is now happening. Uh, Reggie you will replace me for Ash, represent Team HAMR guys!" I shout as I run up the stairs with a thumbs up out to my side.

Miss Goodwitch was about to argue with me but thought the same thing I did once she notices Robert. All she can do is exhale sharply and cross my name and picture off and replace it with Reggie.

"Okay then, Reggie Nole are you willing to replace your leader and partner up with Miss Cain?"

"Yes Mam!" Reggie exclaims right away, jumping over everyone and into the arena.

"I've never fought with him before…" Ashley notes as she slowly walks down the steps, passing Mike on the way down.

"Just let him do his thing." Mike advises as he passes her.

"Mr. Winchester and Mr. Trush will be their opponents."

* * *

 **Third Person POV**

"Well you woke up earlier than expected." Hector says as he reaches the top of the steps, unheard by the class since they are just waiting for Cardin to get stomped on.

"Yes he did, now would you two please follow me to my office." Ozpin asks although it was more like a demand than a request, he starts walking before either of us can respond.

"I take my early rising as a compliment." Robert says.

"I hate it when he does that. But yeah what's your name?" Hector asks as the two start walking together.

"Robert…" Robert answers hesitantly.

"That doesn't sound like a color. Guess you are from where I think you are from. My name is Hector by the way, good to meet ya." Hector says with a small smile while extending his hand.

"Uh, yeah nice to meet you… what do you mean by where you think I am from?" Robert asks.

"I think that question is best answered in a room with thick walls and about a mile into the sky." Hector answers as he scratches the side of his head, referring to Ozpin's tall ass tower.

"... Hector what?" Asks Robert as he keeps walking besides Hector.

"Rivers, at least that can make you think of a color." Hector answers with a shrug. "Yours?"

"Urra." Robert hesitantly answers again, squinting his eyes at Hector, he was slightly suspicious of him.

"Urra? Like Oorah? Sorry couldn't help it but hey we're almost there already. I swear this walk gets shorter and shorter every time." Hector says as they near the tower.

"Well, yeah like Oorah… the pun is more common than you think." Robert said shrugging

"Haha, well I know a person who is going to love making puns with that." Hector says with a chuckle, referring to a certain busty blonde brawler.

"Let's hope she can make a good one at least." Robert said.

"How do you know it's a she?" Hector asks with a cocky smirk, already knowing exactly why but not revealing that he does yet.

Robert just stared back at him with a cold stare, to be fair it wasn't different from his neutral face, it just, harder looking… if possible

"Please, enter the elevator." Ozpin cuts Hector off before he can respond to the look Robert is giving him.

The two get in the elevator and the ride up is much more quiet then the walk there, Hector now senses a bit of hostility and doesn't want to start off on the wrong foot already. He's always hated being a part of Drama anyway.

Once the elevator doors open up, Ozpin walks around his desk and sits in his chair. Gesturing for the two boys to join him in the two adjacent open chairs in front of his desk. Hector sits in the same one as he did last night, and Robert stays up for a bit longer looking around.

"Please, I didn't bring you here just to execute you, you have nothing to fear from us. In fact, I believe you and Mister Rivers have something in common that only you two share in this world." Ozpin says as he notices Robert's hesitation.

"Don't you go crazy with all these gears always making noise?" Robert asks.

"I know some people do. It is to discourage students from making more than one trip to this office, although Hector here seems to enjoy the sound."

"Hey! Those other times were for good reasons!" Hector points out.

"I'm gonna have to steal that idea someday if I ever need it." Robert says as he sits down crossing his arms.

"What is the last thing you remember before we found you in the Emerald Forest?" Ozpin asks after a couple moments after he sat down. Getting straight to the point.

"Other than killing things… well I… I uh… I was, walking to get to college, I was out of the metro, and then I… I uh, stopped, for a second at a bench… felt sleepy and I uh… uh..." Robert looked back at Ozpin shrugging with his hands in the air.

"Miraculously woke up in the Emerald Forest?" Ozpin finishes for him. Hector listens intently on Roberts short story, picking out things from Earth that he knows exists there.

"I was doing classwork before something just randomly pulled me in the forest." Hector brings up, catching Robert's attention and making him realize something.

"You are from Earth… you are from fucking Earth too?! Now I suspected it, had fifty fifty, but still suspected alright!" Robert said pointing his finger at Hector.

"Ayy why the hostility toward me?! I'm in the same shitty situation you are in!" Hector points back at him from his seat.

"I am not hostile! I'm reacting to my predicament, our predicament!"

"Fair enough." Hector says, right away getting cool with him once again.

"Please boys, there is no need to argue." Ozpin speaks up. Making them both look back at him. "Now this is the second occurence that someone has miraculously and without explanation arrived on this planet, assuming from a different dimension since you are both humans. You two got lucky that you either knew how to fight, or was saved by someone when you arrived here but what if someone is brought to this world and can't fend for themselves?"

"Answer seems pretty obvious doesn't it?" Robert answers with chuckle.

"People die." Hector adds.

"Exactly, since neither of you know how you got here and both of your backstories tells me that you did not intend for this to happen. So clearly someone or something is bringing you here, and I intend to find out exactly what." Ozpin continues.

"So what do you want us to do?" Hector asks

"Esto va a ser excelente, un milagro… que mierda mas viene?" Robert says.

"Estoy de acuerdo contigo amigo." Hector replies to Robert in spanish, catching him off guard with that one. Meanwhile Ozpin just remains confused.

"Huh… nice." Robert says.

"Are you two speaking in a foreign language? I know quite a lot but I have never heard that one." Ozpin asks, trying to understand but failing miserably.

"Ha… aha ha, well yeah." Robert said with a big smile in his face. "Our own little coded language, ahaha."

"Vamos a joder a mucha gente hablando Español enfrente de ellos, hahaha!" Hector adds with his own laughter. "Actually since we are literally the only ones from Remnant that know spanish we can use that to our advantage if we ever fight together." Hector says in english, this one Ozpin can understand.

"I suppose that can be a decent strategy." Ozpin adds.

"The best insults are said in secret too." Robert said with a giggle.

"Interesting… Well now that introductions are out of the way, do you wish to stay here Mister Urra?" Ozpin asks Robert who stares back at him with quizzical look on his face.

"Did you also overhear my last name? You know what nevermind."

"I was walking just ahead of you." Ozpin points out.

"Yeah yeah… I uh, don't have a place to go really, but what would I do here anyway?"

"He made me the leader of my own team, so maybe Beacon can have a late enrollment?" Hector suggests with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Aren't I a little bit too old for that?"

"How old are you anyway?" Hector asks before Ozpin can.

"Umm, Nineteen." Robert answers.

"Oof now that's a toughie. What do you think Ozzy?"

"Don't call me that please."

"That rhymed." Robert points out.

"I noticed. What would you be willing to do Mr. Urra? I could enroll you as a student or perhaps hire you as an assistant of some kind. If the latter then what kind of assistant do you wish to be?" Ozpin asks, leaning over his desk with his hands intertwined in front of him.

"Say what… assistant? I what I uh a what… I how, what, what are my qualifications even, I know how to fight that's it, killed beowolves without aura that's it I… I… why assistant?" Robert asks standing up doing hand gestures and a lot of motions.

"Because that is the only position we have available, and you do not have the required skills to be a teacher." Ozpin explains simply.

"I don't think I have the necessary skill to be an assistant either and those still teach in way."

"Assistant it is then. I think you will be best suited for Miss Goodwitches combat class."

"What the fuck!" Robert say with surprise.

"It was either that or be a first year student that gets teased because you're old enough to be a third year." Hector points out.

"But this means I have responsibility over people now! Are you out of your mind!" Robert says to Ozpin.

"You already showing concern for the people you'll be teaching is admirable."

"No it isn't!"

"If it makes you feel better I have three people to look after everyday, and two of them are gay- Oh I swear to God if they are fucking in my chair!" Hector stands up abruptly and runs to the elevator, remembering what Reggie flirted with Mike earlier.

"That… That, why does that matter?! I'll still have to look after more people wait where are you…?" It all happened so fast… why, what.

"I think you'll be an exceptional assistant Mr. Urra." Ozpin says

"You are completely mad… you are fucking insane." Robert answers exasperated.

"Where do you wish to stay? I can have a room ready for you within the hour whether it be in the student dorms or the teachers, I believe there is an opening near Team HAMR's room that can be arranged." Ozpin says.

Robert perks up at that moment.

"Are there any benefits to the teacher's rooms?" He asks.

"Well there is a unique looking sink, and perhaps a different color carpet and drapes."

"Couch?" Robert asks.

"I can have that arranged for you if you'd like." Ozpin says as he begins typing into his scroll to set that up.

"Sold!"

"Excellent. I shall have Glynda come over to lead you to your new room, since you are now her assistant you will be right next door to her. You will have to ask her yourself to unlock your aura however."

"What?!"

"And also since she'll be unlocking your aura and you'll be her assistant, you'll effectively from now on be her apprentice of sorts, so you will be training alongside Hector and members of his team as well."

"What?! Apprentice?! Team?!"

"That comes with special personal training too if you'd prefer that."

"I uh…"

"Good, I'll tell her the news."

"Oh mierda." (Oh shit)

A couple of minutes later Glynda walks out of the elevator, looking angry as always with her resting bitch face. "Professor Ozpin what is the meaning of this? I was in the middle of teaching my second year class and had to end it early due to your call."

"I'm glad you were able to make it on such short notice. This young man is in the same predicament as our mutual friend Mister Rivers. His name is Robert Urra and he will now be your assistant and apprentice, you are also going to have to unlock his aura, preferably as soon as possible." Ozpin explains right away.

"For the record, I told him this was a horrible idea, I told him I'm not qualified, this man's insane!" Robert said

"I have to do WHAT?! Professor Ozpin I do not have the time required to train him personally, and that is not even including all of the extra paperwork I have to do ALL THE TIME." Glynda raises her voice as she says this.

"You won't have too." Ozpin answers

"What do you mean?" Glynda and Robert ask at the same time.

"Watch this video footage and you will understand exactly why." Ozpin says as he slides over the same video that Hector watched last night.

Glynda watches the video intently, to its full extent, meanwhile Robert is as still as a rock in his seat. Glynda mentally takes note of every movement, strike, and damaged received. Once the video is over she sets down the Scroll and looks at Robert.

"You have much to learn but to do that without an aura is impressive. Whenever I am available we are training, whether it is just us or with the _other_ student I am being ordered to train, you will not talk back, and you will be at my side at all times. Let me know if you wish to part from me and…" Glynda lists off many… many rules that Robert can barely pay any attention to, so he ends up just nodding his head yes and agreeing to everything she says. In all honesty he feels like he's with more combat oriented version of his mother.

"Understood?" Glynda finishes, snapping Robert out of his trance.

"Yes, mam." Robert says coldly while looking down, but in a sure enough tone to satisfy Glynda's question.

"Very well… how long have you been training? And what kind of training have you done?"

"I… I have studied unarmed combat, for about eight years, after that, I kept up the training but also diversified in weapons, disarming, the rest, self taught or through observation, but all my bases I always had someone teach me, besides unarmed, I'm also a swordsman of sorts. That would put in total about twelve years more or less."

"Hm, not bad, might be easier to teach then the other one. What kind of sword do you wield? I will order one or have one built for you. Besides I need to get Mister Rivers accustomed to fighting against people who have weapons." Glynda says as she already takes out her scroll to look at a variety of swords.

"I… well I… i trained with a lot of weapons, I was thought how to use longswords, and Katanas, but I also know how to use a Bo staff, Nunchucks, Knives, Sais, I even trained once with a chained dagger, a dagger with long chain that I could use for range… I'm confident I could use whatever gets in my hands to a certain degree of effectiveness, even guns and shields, I've used some... but my specialties would be longsword, katana and bo staff."

"Hmm…" Glynda pondered for a few seconds until she came up with a plan. "Very well, since you'll be my assistant, I'll order some weapons, of each type and put my students against different scenarios, later you'll have to make your own weapon."

"Sounds like a good plan." Robert answered, he already thought he could picture how he would work with Glynda, just like with his own mother only towards something he actually liked, fighting… this could be fun after all he thought.

"Now that everything is settled, I wish you both good luck. And remember to unlock his aura please." With that, Glynda and Robert bowed their heads and walked into the elevator.

Some time later Glynda stops the elevator at the teachers dorm floor, the hallway already looks better than the student dorms he stumbled into on his way to the training area. Not even walking far the third door on his left is where Glynda stops, she uses her own Scroll to unlock his door and it opens up automatically.

"This is your room, I will unlock your aura and then leave to my own to finish my work. You will recieve your own scroll when I get it in the morning so that you could unlock your own door." Glynda explains as she walks into the comfy looking room.

"Huh… almost seems like teachers do get benefits."

The room had the same color scheme of Beacon except it was bigger, had a better kitchen area with a fridge and a private bedroom and bathroom, there wasn't any decoration on the place yet, but he could see something that looked like a TV and other furnishings, there was a small plant in one of the drawers… more responsibility.

"Stand still."

"What, already?" Glynda slaps her hand on his mouth and one on the side of his head. As time slowly passes Glynda begins to chant something.

" _For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become guardians of the people of Remnant, to rise, while others fall. We fear no dark nor light, we'll brace our hearts and face chaos, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, you'll find your true calling."_

As Glynda chants this, her purple aura begins to flow into Robert, and soon Roberts electrical blue aura begins to appear, flowing around him just as Glynda's is flowing around her, and then a bright light coming from Roberts body lights up the room. Signifying that the process is complete. Glynda removes her hands from Roberts head and crosses them on her chest. "There, it's done."

Robert looks down at his hands as his aura flows around him, amazed at the feeling it gives him.

"You have an above average amount of aura, In time you will learn to harness it as a weapon or for defense, and then we can work on your semblance. Whatever that may be." Glynda says as she begins to walk out.

"Wait!" Robert calls out to her before she can leave.

"What is it? I have work to do."

"I just want to say thank you, I know this is weird, I don't know what goes through Ozpin's head either but still… thank you for bearing with me… if you need help with paperwork, I am willing to help." Robert says to her.

"Hm, your gratitude is appreciated. If you do wish to help me with paperwork then I will take you up on that offer, tomorrow after classes are over I will give you a quarter of the work I have to do. You will have to finish it all before you go to sleep. Goodnight Mister Urra, I will wake you at approximately seven in the morning or earlier." Glynda says as she closes the door behind her and leaves to her own room.

"Wait it's night already?" Robert aks himself… he checks outside and confirms that it is indeed night already, so far this has been crazy, he might have to train hard and do paperwork from now on during his stay… but speaking truthfully, it's not something he hasn't done before, maybe just, not like this.

* * *

 **Two days later**

 **Hectors POV**

"I had ONE rule- actually wait, TWO rules! What was the first one again?" I ask Mike and Reggie who I sat down on their bed. My suspicions were correct when I walked in on a less than pleasant scene happening on MY chair. Right after I pushed them off with my foot and threw the chair out the window I have been scolding them for two days, not letting it down. I had to sleep on the table ever since then.

"Not to fuck on your chair…" Reggie mutters in shame.

"Ditto." Mike joins in, equally as ashamed.

"How did you guys even make the decision it the first place? You guys have TWO beds pushed up against each other."

"It just kind of… happened."

"Uh huh, you're lucky I am forgiving and Ozpin is FINALLY letting me off my own bed, or at least a new chair, he wasn't very specific about it when he said 'I will order you new furniture that will come sometime this week.'"

"We're sorry?" Mike says.

"Yeah yeah whatever, but I am going to remember that and tell it as a funny story to people."

"I was going to do that to!" Reggie exclaims, giving me a high five while I have my hand down at my side.

"Are you finally done bitching about that?" Ashley asks from her bed.

"You're still here? I thought you'd be at breakfast or doing girl things."

"Why girl things?"

"Because you're a girl! Oh my god." I say as I facepalm.

"...God?"

"Oh god not you to, alright before I have to explain that we're going to class." I say as I walk out the door and no one follows me. "I feel like I am forgetting something… Oh shit."

I suddenly remember everything that happened the other day, and suddenly get very worried about the only other person that can understand my spanish words. "Well we have Combat class today so I guess I'll see him there… I hope she didn't consume his soul yet."

* * *

 **Robert's POV**

The last two days had been… exhausting to say the least but they were good, I did learn a lot of fighting with aura, I honestly feel light footed, like I could make all my movements faster, even at inhuman speeds, it feels awesome. I feel like I could also go on for days. I also learned quickly much to Glynda's reassurance, it almost seems like she's already warming up to me, helps me get used to the no bullshit attitude in people. The paperwork also wasn't the best but could have been worse, today, the batch of weapons Glynda ordered arrived earlier today, the first of the list, I already tested the one I'm gonna use first of the selection and it's sweet… let's see how this goes, hopefully this will go well.

 **Hector's POV**

After finally getting my team to follow me by telling them that we were already late, even though we are actually early, we are amongst the first few teams to get into the Combat classroom, surprisingly we were actually beaten by RWBY this time.

"You girls are here earlier." I wave to them as I sit down and begin to scan the area for Robert. But as I look down in front of me I get a pair of Lilac eyes staring right back at me.

"Yo." Yang says with a small wave that almost makes me jump. "I didn't get to ask you before since you were too far and we were in class but now that we're here I wanted to see if you're okay with a little rematch, outside of school time later today." Yang says with a wiggle of her eyebrows, and with her usual signature flirty smirk.

"I uh… sure." I say without really thinking about it, I don't think I had much of a choice in the matter anyway.

"Great! See you then~" She basically sings to me as she jogs back to her own team.

"Did I just get asked out? And I said yes?" I ask my team.

"Dude… I think you just did, and you said yes." Reggie answers, and is the only one to answer. Mike just sits still playing with his pencil and Ashley just leans back in her chair with a somewhat angry look on her face. I don't bother her out of fear of being punched in the stomach and/or dick again.

I go back to looking around the room for Robert but only spot Miss Goodwitch, I look around but I still don't see him. "Oh no… don't tell me that she actually ate his soul." I say to myself fearfully as I sit back down and divert my gaze from Glynda's death stare.

Soon, all the other students get into the classroom, all taking their respective seats and waiting for the class to start, and it starts off with an announcement!

"I have a new assistant for the class," Glynda begins, already chatter starts to spill all over the room, but I can old sigh in relief as I realize that Robert is actually alive "He will here for an indefinite amount of time, you will see him as you do me as a figure of authority, his name is Robert Urra but you will only call him Mister, either Robert or Urra, whichever he prefers. He will be here to test you in different areas, as of today he'll fight all of you with a different weapon each time." After she says this I can just feel Ruby already mumbling to herself about how good Robert may be if he can use multiple weapons, that and what weapons he could be using, and even more chatter fills the room but is sternly halted by Glynda whipping the ground with her Riding Crop.

"First match for him will be… against Mister Rivers, since you were taken before you could fight the other day." I cough up a storm after that is said,

"Already?!"

As if on cue, A door open near the Combat arena opens up and in walks Robert, he had his leather boots and black pants, but was now wearing a blue sweater with sleeves rolled up, he had something in his left arm, it looked attached to his forearm, it might be a weapon, but I didn't know what exactly, he also had something else… he had a wicked grin as he entered instead of his usual frown or hard stare.

He walked next to Glynda, did a bow and later addressed Glynda.

"So who's gonna be first?" He asked.

"It's gonna be me bud." I say as I step up into the arena, already in my combat gear. I have a small smile on my face as I already get excited for the sparring match to begin.

"Huh… Very well then." He answered with his hard stare, only it had a smile to accompany it this time.

* * *

 **A/N-**

 **Our First Cliffhanger!**

 **CrowSkull: You know what's hilarious, even though all that stuff of twelve years of training seems like your typical bullshit, Mary sue origin, it's actually true IRL, you weren't expecting that were you.**

 **Genatools: Yeah he's a ninja, I can vouch for that. But can it stand up against the Kaioken?**

 **CrowSkull: Can you even manage to hit me, and if you do can you even knock me down?**

 **Genatools: We'll have to wait and see ;). And that is the chapter for you guys! Can't wait to see how it goes myself.**

 **Please review and tell us what you think! I like where this is going already and Volume one is getting close to its completion.**

 **Disclaimer- We do not own RWBY in any way, shape, or form.**


	11. Rwby: Team HAMR chapter 11

**AN- Thank you to the reviewers from last chapter!**

 **Astra- Good to see ya in more than one of my stories! Crowskull and I have been communicating a lot so you don't have to worry about us, but thank you for your concern anyway, and I can't say anything else because spoilers. See ya next time! -Genatools**

 **Also for the record, we are both equally In touch which means we are both winging it as best we can, we know what we are doing somewhat! -CrowSkull**

 **Zeldawolffang- You get to see exactly the results in this chapter, it is going to be a doozy that's for sure. - Genatools.**

* * *

Rwby: Team HAMR

Chapter 11- Red vs Blue

 **Combat Arena**

"Sooo… wanna have that talk after this?" Hector asks as he rolls his shoulders, getting himself stretched out for the coming sparring match.

"... What talk? We were supposed to have a talk?" Robert asks out of confusion.

" _Go with it!_ Yeah man of course, you and Double G are going to be tutoring me sometime this weekend." Hector whispers that first part out, hoping that Robert was able to hear him or read his lips.

' _What is he up to?'_

"Sure..." Robert said squinting his eyes.

"Great! Now what are the rules Double G?" Hector asks with his usual smile.

"Double G?" Robert said surprised.

"First you will stop calling me by that immature nickname. Second this is a spar, so please don't destroy the ring again. There is no need to go all out since your semblance is a 'double edged sword' so to speak." Glynda says as she exits the arena.

"What? Destroy the arena again..? What did you do!? How did that happened?" Robert asks Hector a series of questions, luckily the audience can't really hear him very well.

"Oh you're going to love this, what you see now is my normal state." Hector says quite a familiar line that only Robert would understand. But after realizing that he can't really turn on his semblance on his own he just leaves that sentence hanging, an anime style sweatdrop on the back of his head.

"Really impressive I must say." Robert says with a blank face.

"I know right, and about that last question, Yang and I had a bit of a scuffle to say the least." Hector says as he enters his own battle stance, one that he made up off the top of his head as time went on.

"... That really isn't the best… you know what, I'll just show you."

"It fits my fighting style, I know it's not very appealing to the eye."

"Whatever!, Master?"

"You may begin in fifteen seconds." As Glynda says this, a timer pops up on the screen between Hector's, and Robert's aura gauges, counting down from fifteen.

"When did that get installed?" Hector asks himself as he gets ready. Robert himself remains standing still, looking at him, if moving his fingers a lot.

As the timer ticks down, everyone from the audience wonders what is going to be the result of this sparring match, on one hand, Hector is known for his comebacks and his combination of overwhelming speed and power. But on the other, Robert looks to be more experienced and trained, also he is supposed to be the assistant teacher to Miss Goodwitch so they can assume that he should be skilled.

"Where is his weapon? Where are _both_ of their weapons?" Ruby asks her team.

"You know Hector fights with his fists, as for our new teacher I do not know. Perhaps that thing on his left arm, seems like… something?" Blake ponders.

"Go Hector!" Yang cheers as she pumps her fist into the air.

The timer ticks down the the last five seconds, and both of the young men from Earth get ready for business. Hector gets lower to the ground, while Robert remains still.

 _4..._

 _3..._

 _2..._

 _1…_

Just as the milliseconds countdown to Zero, Hector is already soaring through the air toward his opponent, with his fist out intending to strike Robert in the face right out of the gate. Robert unfolds his weapon, the thing around his arm collapses itself into a round shield, he also pulls out something from it, a handgun, as Hector is flying through the air, he widens his eyes when he sees the handgun taken out, Robert takes pots shot at him. Hector just barely dodges the second bullet after the first one bounces off of his aura. As he jumps and ducks under the following shots he shouts ,

"Really?! A gun already?!"

Robert didn't answer, instead he charges at him, shield first while still shooting at him. Hector does his best to dodge the bullets, and instead of dodging the charge like any normal person would, he raises his arm back and strikes the shield with a red flaming fist, the shockwave of when the fist connects with the shield cracks the stone tiles around the two. The shield holds very well, after the shockwave subsides, the handgun in Robert's hand shifts into a chained hook, he wraps around Hector's neck, brings him, down to the ground hard, he uses the shield to punch him in the head for good measure. He goes for a second bash with the shield but Hector catches it and uses his feet to kick Robert back a good distance away, Robert parries the attack with his own kick but gets thrown backwards anyway. He lands some meters away with a little backflip. Hector, who is still on the ground, slips out of the chains around his neck, and rolls backward back onto his feet, at this point Hector has lost more aura then Robert, but not too far apart.

"Wow, not a lot of people can keep up with Hector." Yang voices her thoughts, observing the battle intently.

"Hector has barely used his semblance this time though, I wonder why he is holding it back?" Ruby wonders.

"There must be a reason for it." Weiss adds.

On the other side of the room Team HAMR remains quiet as they watch their leader fight, Mike and Reggie are also wondering why Hector isn't using his semblance, but Ashley knows why.

"You guys don't know, but his semblance hurts him when he uses it, I could've sworn that you guys knew that already though."

"Really? Well that explains why he didn't use it against the Beringel back in that Red forest." Reggie adds.

Back to the fight, Robert was on his feet looking at Hector with squinting eyes, he started to slowly walk forward, whipping the chain hook against the ground, multiple times, sending small shockwaves and leaving cracks in the stone tiles.

"Show off." Hector quips with a small smirk.

"Hehe. Look who's talking mister shockwave punches." Is Robert's response as the chain switches back to handgun mode and he starts shooting again.

"What can I say? I work out.".

"Oh you'll know working out." Robert says as he dashes forward at an incredible speeds, getting up close and personal with his opponent. Hector sees this movement and throws a left at him, which is blocked just in time by Robert's shield, he counters with a kick to his side, but Hector toughs through it and kicks him back and away. But Robert quickly recovers and dashes right back toward him, Hector throws more punches, but as Robert blocks them he shoots back at him close range with his handgun, mainly at his legs and shoulders. Hector tries to go for kick but Robert blocks it with the handgun and smacks his head with the shield with the flat end. As he's knocked away, Robert dashes in, Hector throws a punch that Robert ducks, he goes in with an uppercut of the shield, a shot from the handgun to the leg, some roundhouse kicks at center mass, another hit from shield and finally he knock him down with a hard headbutt that makes and audicle smack. He then jumps back and reloads his gun while Hector groans in the ground.

"Well now this is just one sided." Weiss says.

"Yeah… what was Miss Goodwitch thinking putting a student against a Huntsman?" Blake adds.

"He isn't a full blown Huntsman I don't think, by the looks of it he still has room to improve. Maybe a third year who doesn't have a team?" Yang asks her team.

"But Hector always comes back! Just watch!" Ruby cheers Hector on, despite him currently in the ground after a combo.

"By the way I hear you up there! You are all gonna have to this too eventually!" Robert shouts as he finishes his reload. "And you, get up, we are not done yet." he says to Hector.

"I'm not sure you want that to happen Rob." Hector says as he shakily gets back up to one knee.

"Yeah, yeah, sure… I know you need to push it for your semblance to kick in, Glynda told me."

"Well that just ruins the surprise! Fine then, don't say I didn't warn ya." Hector says as he stands back up.

"Uh huh… you better start soon." Robert says as he dashes in.

"A the wha…" Hector says as he is bashed in the head with the shield, he's side kicked away and tries to comeback with kick, but Robert grabs his leg and lifts up, giving him room to punch him in the balls with the shield, Robert goes behind him in a quick motion, wraps the chain around his neck, he pulls making Hector look at ceiling while he's still in pain and axe kicks him in the face.

"Aha ha ha." A quiet but short laugh escapes Robert.

"Wow, dickhead. We get it, you're winning." Yang says as she furrowed her eyebrows at the sight.

"That does seem to be a bit much… I am inclined to agree with you." Blake says to her partner.

On the other side of the room, Team HAMR is just steaming with anger and surprise at the sight of their leader losing badly, Mike hides it the most, but he is very tense. Reggie is the most open about it, standing up and behind his chair, gripping it so hard that it dents the chair. Ashley is secretly the most worried, she looks up at the aura gauge and sees that Roberts is at about 79% while Hectors is at 30 or so, twenty above critical. But something that no one expects from the usual mean girl, is when she stands up and shouts at Hector as he is on the ground.

"Dipshit! Get back up! You haven't even gone all out yet! I know you can win!" She cheers him on, inciting the rest of her team to join up with her after they recover from their small amount of shock.

"Yeah Boss! You got this! C'mon Mike your turn."

"Uh… WIN!"

"Good enough."

On the ground, Hector opens his eyes back up and begins to stand back up, getting back to one knee faster than the audience expected, not without some difficulty though. But still it is impressive

"Well, now it's time to go all out I guess." He says with a smile, despite being in pain.

Robert watches silently as Hector enters a traditional power up stance, and then slowly his entire body begins to combust with red flames.

"Insert rock music here." Robert says looking at the display.

The designs on Hectors clothes also begin to glow along with his aura, and he begins to groan as if he is lifting something very heavy. Then he looks straight into the eyes of Robert, and smiles. He extends his arms out and lets his semblance explode,

"KAIOKEN!" the whole arena glows red from the red flames Hector is giving off. He feels his body straining already from the exertion of power.

"Really?! That!...the what the...huh... I guess that's the guitar solo then… ha ha." Robert says scratching his cheek.

"There he is! Go for it Hector!" Yang and Ashley cheer him on at the same time.

"HAAH!" Hector screams as he disappears from everyone's view.

"Uh… Ruby where is he?"

"Behind him."

" ***Sigh** * Fun times ahead." Robert resigned, he was still ready, he just needed to figure out how to survive long …enough or… anything really.

Hector slams the toe of his boot into the back of Robert, sending him flying across the arena and skidding along the ground. Before he gets too far, with speed only Ruby can keep track of, Hector once again appears behind Robert as he skids across the ground. Kicking him back up into the air with inhuman strength.

" _I can only keep this up for so long, gotta end it quickly."_ Hector thinks to himself as he slams Robert back into the ground after jumping after him.

Robert managed to block the fist with his shield, but can't stop himself from being slammed back into the ground. He bounces off the ground when he lands, but keeps his shield up the axe kick Hector went for. His arms are pushed against his chest from the sheer force of the kick. The shockwave cracks every tile on the stage, and very slightly dents the shield. Robert rolls out of the way of the next punch and attempts to counter attack, landing his kick on Hector's head, but his head doesn't even budge. Instead he pushes through the kick, knocking him off balance and punching him in the gut with a vicious left hook, Robert barely keeps himself on his feet as he is pushed to the edge of the arena. Hector dashes at him at breakneck speeds, intending to end the fight in one last attack. Robert quickly thinks up a dozen ways he could counter this. But something he didn't expect happens.

Hector feels his heart pump too hard, and his red flaming aura disappears, and his muscles begin to convulse and spasm mid punch. He trips over himself and out of the arena, meanwhile groaning and screaming in pain as he loses control of his muscles.

"AAAAAGHH!"

"Hector! What is wrong!" Miss Goodwitch shouts as she runs to my side, kneeling down next to me and moving my body to lay on its side.

"Oh no…" Robert says as he collapses the handgun and shield and runs to Hector's aid, "Come buddy relax, relax… keep him down stop him from moving too much, he'll be fine… this might've been a bad idea."

Team HAMR runs down to the arena and by his side, meanwhile some of the students run into the halls to look for help. RWBY just watched in horror as their friend writhes in pain.

"Shit, this is even worse than before. He just passed out last time." Ashley says as she places a hand on one of Hector's shoulders to try to keep him still.

"How many times has this happened?" Robert asked a more stern and hard look on his face

"Only once this bad, _you_ pushed him too far! Why didn't you just finish your combo with him out of the arena?!" Ashley asks as she gets up into Roberts face.

"It didn't seem necessary, didn't know about this, well… at least this happened while he's being watched otherwise… but yeah might've gone a bit far, poor bastard needs to learn not take so many hits. Glynda please tell me a medic is coming."

"They are on their way… I think we found something new to focus on during your training." She says that second part to my unconscious and spasming body.

"Is he going to be okay?!" Ruby shouts from the bleachers, voicing everyone's worries for them.

"Only time will tell, this isn't the first time he has felt pain after using that semblance of his, but this is something even I didn't expected. I am partly responsible for this." Glynda says, feeling guilty about this whole situation.

"Hold him, I'm gonna try something." Robert says as he goes towards the place closest to Hector's neck.

"What are you gonna try?" Glynda asks

"Okay if I remember correctly, one can hold this particular part of the neck and it becomes harder for the person to move certain limbs, in this case…" Robert searches around applying pressure, eventually he found a point that applying enough pressure, the spasms seem to slow down.

"Well at least he is relaxing now…"

"If I remember correctly one of the side effects of his semblance that passively affects him at all times is that his aura regenerates much faster, so give it a couple of hours and he should be fine." Glynda says, relieving the class of their worries. "In the meantime class will continue, and Robert, please help the medics to bring him to the infirmary." Glynda says as the one medic runs into the room.

"Understood, mam."

"I can't feel my toes." Hector mumbles despite his tremendous pain as he is lifted off of the ground.

"You could be worse, now stay awake or sleep… don't really which one you prefer."

"Is that God?"

"I wish, but I am not sure he exists, I'm agnostic you see so anything is really possible."

As Hector is lifted out of the room, the rest of the class returns to their seats, already gossiping about what has just happened. Already many different versions of what actually happened is spreading, and almost all of them put Robert in a bad light.

"I can't believe that a semblance can be so deadly to its user." Weiss says after a couple of moments.

"I think I knew that it was, but at the time I just thought it made him exhausted. Like how mine does after I use it." Yang says, propping her head up on her elbow.

"It must be hard for him…" Ruby notes.

"He is going to be fine, we need to focus on the rest of our classes today. I think that more huntsman in training are going to be arriving today to." Blake reminds her team.

"Oh yeah! We can go… observe them." Weiss says as she concocts some plan to memorize the way her possible future opponents fight.

"You mean scout out the enemy?" Yang corrects with a sly smirk toward her White haired teammate.

"Quiet you!"

On the other side of the room, the other three members of HAMR, two of them are not so relaxed, instead they are thinking of all the ways that could have been prevented. But Reggie cheers them up by doing his usual thing and teasing his only female teammate.

"You seemed _really_ worried for a second there Ashley, perhaps you _actually_ care about our s _trong_ and _heroic_ leader?" Reggie teases with a smirk on his face. Ashley is snapped out of her intense thinking, and a red shade appears on her cheeks, not prepared enough to deny it.

"Why… You…"

Mike chuckles at the scene, and the actions of his partner. But as they argue on who is right and who is wrong he actually just wonders what the future is going to hold for them. His new family.

* * *

 **Infirmary**

 **Three hours later**

After recovering his aura as he slept, Hector's body began to heal at an accelerated rate, that begun about two hours ago. The first hour was waiting for his body to naturally begin to relax without interference by pressure point abuse. Robert feels guilty that he is more than in one way is responsible of Hector's situation, he's sitting in a chair next to him looking at the ceiling tapping his foot on the floor, he's nervous and with a stern look, and eating potato chips.

Hector finally begins to stir and rolls over on his side, revealing that he is actually sleeping instead of unconscious. Even with comfortable smile on his face, in addition to that he lets out an obnoxious snore.

"Hmm… not the worst I heard but getting close." Robert said as thought of… stuff while Hector started to wake up.

"Errgh, why is there light in my face." He says as he hits the lamp and knocking it off of the desk beside him. Luckily though Robert caught it just in time before it hit the ground. Then sits up in his bed and stretches his sore muscles out to his sides.

"They used it to examine your pupils, they left it there so that you would wake up faster I guess." Robert said as he grabbed some thing from the table. "Want some?" Right there Hector saw that he was not alone in the room, and that Robert was offering him a bag of cookies, he looked at the table and saw that there were a lot of little packages of food like from vending machines, including chips and soda also.

"What happened? Weren't we fighting like a minute ago? And what's up with all the food?" Hector asks as he digs right into the cookies.

"We fought and you used Kaioken level… I don't know not really."

"Awe did I forget to shout times five with that? Dammit!" Hector says in a frustrated tone, while eating the cookies though.

"Well after a bit, you fizzled out, went flying right out of the arena and passed out, you also started to violently convulse and spasm." Robert delivered that last part with a serious look and tone.

"Huh… I guess I was right to name it Kaioken, you know what that is right? Dragon ball? Please tell me you do you're literally the only person in the world who might know what I am talking about."

"If you refer to the original Dragon ball Z, yes, Super? Not so much." Robert answered with a roll of his eyes.

"Oh! That reminds me. You seem to know about RWBY and all that shit, since you seemed to know Ozpin and other characters. Rig-"

Robert clasped a hand over Hector's mouth.

"Ahora escúchame, la gente escucha muchas cosas, entiendes verdad.?"

(Now listen to me, people hear a lot of things, you understand right.?)

"Es eso un si?"

(So is that a yes?)

"Lo es. "

(it is.)

"Asi que, negocios. Tu sabes lo que va a pasar en los próximos meses, asumo que es durante o después del segundo semestre. Quiero evitar que pase. No le dije a Ozpin porque primero no confío en él exactamente aun. Te unes?"

(So, to business then. You know what is going to happen in the next couple of months, my guess is something during or after the second semester. I want to stop that from happening. I didn't tell Ozpin yet because I don't exactly trust him yet. You in?)

"Eso es lo otro, le has dicho a alguien acerca de todo eso de, distinta dimensión, show para nuestra entretención, no son reales o algo asi?"

(That's the other thing, have you told someone about the whole, different dimension, show for our entertainment, you are not real or something like that.)

"Bueno… no puedo decir que no, nadie me cree eso si, creen siempre que una broma."

(Well… I can't say I haven't but no one believes me, they think it's all a joke every time I bring it up.)

"Por favor solo dime que no has dicho eso de parte de un show y no son reales."

(Please just tell me you haven't said that of, part of a show and not real.)

"No, no tanto, solo lo de ser de una distinta dimensión."

(No, not that much, just the whole being from a different dimension.)

Robert released a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"But I did fight Neo, so there's that." Hector reveals in english on accident, before repeating the same sentence in spanish after realizing his mistake

"Pero pelee con…"

"I understood!" Robert said before Hector could talk. "But still... oh fuck all mighty, thank god you haven't said any of that… and we are never gonna say that specific part, got it?"

"Sip. Y entonces qué pasa con Cinder y sus súbditos cuando se convierte en "Estudiante"?"

(Yup .So what about dealing with Cinder and her cronies when she becomes a "Student"?)

"Primero no digas su nombre, y segundo ya estamos aquí, yo tu y tu equipo, las cosas van a ser distintas, eso es seguro, si solo por que nos afecta… ***Sigh*** Te voy a ayudar. Tienes un plan?"

(First don't say her name, and second, we are already here, me you and your team, things are gonna be different, that's for sure, if only because it affects us… * **Sigh** * I'm gonna help you. You have a plan?)

Me alegra que preguntes! Ya que sabemos exactamente qué están haciendo, tu y yo podemos contraatacar. En la gala durante el segundo semestre, ahí es donde deberíamos evitar que Cinder plante el Virus, pero hay un problema, una vez que hagamos eso, ellos van a saber que vamos tras de ellos y podría cau-"

(I am glad you asked! Since we know exactly everything that they are going to do, you and I can counter. In the dance during the second semester, that's where we should stop Cinder from planting that virus, but there's a drawback, once we do that, they are going to know that we are onto them and might cau-.)

"No digas su nombre!"

(Don't say her name!)

"Lo siento! Lo siento! Okay, qué tal si le damos el sobrenombre 'Glassy'. Pero si después de que acabemos con el plan de GLASSY, ellos podrían cambiar de plan, pero evitaremos que las máquinas de Atlas ataquen civiles y, a nosotros."

(Sorry! Sorry! Okay, how about we give her the nickname 'Glassy'. But yeah after we thwart that part of GLASSY'S plan, they might change up their plans, but we would be stopping the Atlas machines from attacking civilians and well, us.)

Robert thought for a second, tapping his foot on the floor… he came up with an idea.

"No tiene que saber necesariamente…"

(They don't necessarily have to know…)

"Qué quieres decir?"

(What do you mean?)

"I'll have to see if it is possible first, but that's a good start, we can relax for a bit. I'll see if my idea is possible and then we'll see from there, but it should work."

"Ha, now look at who isn't talking in spanish."

"Heh… well, and for your information, the food is because well, I thought it would be a decent apology for what happened, so I bought a lot of cookies and snacks from a nearby machine… yeah."

"You didn't have to do that man, I was the one who pushed myself farther then what I knew my body could handle."

Robert thought for a bit while he ate some chips. "You never tried using that in shorter, more controlled bursts instead of risking your life? Your team and girlfriend were worried."

Hector blushes at the "jumping to conclusion" move that Robert made and looks away for a second before looking back. "Ash is uh… not my girlfriend… and I try to use my semblance in short bursts but it only works for one body part, hence the flaming fists I get when I attack."

"So wait… you are technically only using your semblance instead of just using you aura more passively… you are wasting way too much energy, even if it regenerates quickly is still… somewhat suicidal."

"Don't you think I've tried using my aura along with my semblance? The two just don't mix with each other. It's either one or the other so I use aura mainly for defense and Kaioken for offense."

" ***Sigh*** Then I'm really gonna have to properly teach how to punch, aura, Kaioken or neither. Then maybe you'll have more options."

"Yeah, I guess I could use lessons on how to actually fight instead of teaching myself as I go in addition to short lessons from Double G."

"Why Double G?"

"Well, Glynda Goodwitch, her initials are two G's. So with my massive IQ level I thought up that nickname for her and she loves it."

"Hmm… well it's not actually shorter than saying Glynda…" Robert said mostly to himself.

"Well I don't have permission to call her by her first name unlike you Mister Assistant." Hector remarks.

"Well you are not gonna be hated by most of the students here, I think you friends already have a half mind on killing me, and I think I already heard a couple rumors… for what's is worth I'm sorry for what I did to you… that and the laugh… can't help myself with that…"

"You felt like an anime character, I get that. I do it to sometimes when I'm alone. Don't tell anyone that and I'll stop everyone from trying to kill you."

"You know… that's not really a good comparison… well, still at least they get the idea of what's gonna happen from now on, if you want to know the reason for all that beating well… Glynda and I agreed that the students are gonna need a different challenge… if you could say that."

"Pretty much all of them besides Yang and maybe Pyrrha suck at hand to hand, so that's something that should be taught to them. I'm no teacher so I'll leave that to you. Now do you know _when_ are you or do I have to spanish whisper it to you."

"I don't which when you are referring too but I can say I'll tell you eventually when I figure it out what's gonna happen with me after this… being half responsible of some spazzing during class… sorry, I'm sorry… I'm just, let focus, let me calm down, it's uh… wow… I have been stress eating haven't I?" Robert said as he locked at empty chip bags around him.

Meanwhile as Robert went off on a little tangent, Hector was just wolfing down some more cookies and drinking a soda, but then realizes that Robert was finished talking.

"Oh, um I don't know how you are feeling, I had time to adjust to all of this. But like I said before, it's not your fault what happened earlier today and if it helps you feel better then I forgive you for kicking my ass, and just so you know, I think this is where Blake has her little episode."

"Oh Nooooo…" Robert said as he hunched over and brought his hands to his face. "Okay, well, we'll deal with that as it comes, I still have to talk with Glynda about today, call me if something happens… I'm gonna need to see also if my master actually allows me to leave to Vale under any circumstance."

"I think it's actually today though, I did hear some news about some new students temporarily transferring over here today and Weiss might go on her little "Observation" trip with her team." Hector said with air quotes as he said observation.

"Are you sure it's today today that she plans to do that?"

The door to the room opens up just as Robert, revealing a timid Ruby as she realizes that Hector is awake and Robert is also there with Hector.

"Uh, so sorry to interrupt I was just wondering how Hector was doing and then I heard voices and I wanted to wait but you guys just kept talking and talking but I am super glad you're okay!" Ruby blunders, not even stopping once throughout that whole sentence to take a breath.

"Oh, by the way I think that happened already." Hector says to Robert before shifting his attention to the red hooded girl. He stands up from the bed and stretches his back straight up before taking a couple steps toward Ruby. "I'm alright as you can see, I heal fast."

"I don't hit that hard and I am not as evil as people say, I didn't kill him, or come here to wash his brain as I heard some people have said." Robert said still eating cookies.

"Hehe… I know there's one where you were a scared little kid when Hector powered up." Ruby says with a short giggle.

"Excuse me." Robert says with a deadpan face.

"Oh that is just GOLD." Hector says, breaking out into laughter that soons turns into a mixture of coughs and giggles. "Heh, it hurts to laugh but I can't stop!" He says between coughs.

"I'm gonna need more cookies and chips…" Robert says thinking about how many rumors he hasn't heard.

"Well uh… there's actually something I wanted to talk to Hector about… alooooonnneee." She drags out that last word with a hint of awkwardness.

"I leave with the food for you information… but fine." Robert says as he gathers whatever is left and leaves out the door with more than few packages of food in his arms.

"Hector! Remember, you are gonna learn how to punch better, don't use your semblance too much and… well take care, I'll talk with you later." Robert says as he takes his leave.

"Alright, now that he is gone what is the matter? You don't look as peppy as you usually are." Hector points out. Although already knowing what is going on he doesn't really want to reveal that he knows.

"You're friends with Blake right?" Ruby asks hesitantly,

"I like to think that I am, why?"

"She may have kept some… secrets from all of us."

"So you're just going to tell me them and hope I can help with whatever situation you got yourselves into?"

"Hehe, that was the plan at first. I don't really know if I can really share it with you but I want to."

"Is it about her being a Faunus?" Hector asks, acting like he doesn't know what is going on.

"Wuh- How'd you know?!" Ruby asks, extremely surprised that I already know that part of Blake. "Did she tell you?"

"Nah, it's just easy to tell when her bow twitches when there isn't any wind around. She always struck me as the black cat type anyway."

"... I thought I was crazy when I saw that."

"Soooo… I'm guessing you guys found out in a less than pleasant way."

"You could say that… but she also revealed that she was a member of the… White Fang." Ruby reveals something she thinks Hector doesn't know.

Hector does his best to act out surprise, widening his eyes and letting his arms go limp at his sides. "Huh… that is a doozy."

"Yeah… after that she ran off and we have no idea where she could be, and well since you are the person she talks to the most outside of our team I thought maybe she would have gone to you afterwards."

"So you didn't come to see how I was doing then?"

"What? No! I- shush!" Ruby gets embarrassed after being called out on her true intentions.

"Haha, don't worry about it, I'll go see what I can do to help her out."

" _I think I know where I can start to."_ He adds in the comfort of his own head.

"Thanks… and I really am glad that you are okay. You really worried all of us, it's too bad that you weren't able to go on that date with Yang to-"

"Wait that was supposed to be a date?!"

"I thought you knew."

"I didn't being challenged to a one-on-one was supposed to be a-... ' _Oh Gosh'._ I am going to have to make that up to her though someday." Hector says as his face gains a small blush as he realizes the hidden meaning behind Yangs earlier words, and tries his best to hide it. Luckily Ruby remains Naive and just smiles at my reaction.

"She won't let you live it down anyway."

"Knowing her, definitely not. Well It's getting dark- nevermind it is already dark, so I will be heading back to my own dorm, I don't feel like sitting in a hospital bed all night." Hector says as the two red warriors walk out of the hospital room.

"Aren't our dorms right next to each other? I'll walk with you." Ruby says as we walk side by side.

"Well uh… I have something to talk to Ozpin about first, so I am going to have to stop by his office soon." Hector lies, his true intentions are trying to go find where Blake might be, so he can do his part. He might end up sticking with her along with Sun and maybe helping out with that fight on the docks… ' _Shit if I do this I am going to have to tell Rob about it somehow. Please tell me I have his scroll number magically typed into my scroll already.'_

"Really? Are you in trouble?"

"No, he just... likes to play chess with me sometimes…" That was a horrible lie but hopefully it works.

"This late at night?"

"...Yes."

"Huh, thats interesting. Okay! I'll stop by your dorm tomorrow then!" Ruby exclaims as she dashes off to her own dorm, leaving a pile of rose petals behind.

"That seriously worked? Okay then." Hector says to himself as he heads in the opposite direction. When he walks out he notices just how late it actually is. "Is there less hours in a day here or what?"

 **Hector's POV**

About a half hour of searching for the spot Blake ran off to, I finally find it. But Blake is nowhere to be seen. "Dammit was I too late?" I say to myself as I stand in the middle of this dark courtyard.

As soon as I wonder which direction she could have gone, I hear quick footsteps coming up from behind me that skid to a stop as soon as the person realizes that someone is already there. I turn around to see who it could have been and lo and behold look at that perfect timing. Blake is seen with a tear stained face, and her bow coming loose from her head.

"Hector?!" She asks, feeling a mixture of wanting to run away from me and wanting to use me for comfort. "I thought you were hurt."

"I heal fast, nice top ears by the way." I say as I noticed half of one of her cat ears was sticking out one end of the bow.

Blake moves to hide her ears but then remembers who she is talking to. I have shown nothing but kindness and respect to every Faunus I have come across so far. Tolerating my less than kind Faunus partner. Even during sparring matches when it wasn't necessary, instead of running away if it was anyone else, she simply takes in a deep breath and removes her bow. Revealing her pitch black colored cat ears.

"How long did you know? Judging by your reaction I can assume that you have known for a while." Blake reads me like a book. Luckily, I have prepared a counter for this.

"When your bow twitches when we are in doors and you blame the wind when someone asks it is kind of obvious." I say as I start slowly walking toward the cat Faunus. "So why the secrecy? If you don't mind me asking.

She lets me walk up to her and looks down, might as well tell the truth now that she has been caught.

"Hector, the only reason I am telling you this is because you've been nothing but kind toward Faunus, and you've been a great friend to myself and my team. I… was a member of the White Fang before I enrolled here." Blake reveals, looking down at her feet in shame and hugging herself with one of her arms.

I feign some surprise by pushing my eyebrows up, but can't hold up the act and keep a smiling face despite the news I have just been told.

"Is that supposed to change how I see you?" I ask with a grin. Making Blake snap her head back up at me to look me in the eyes. "You're not in the White Fang anymore right? So there isn't anything to hate you for, you're still just Blake to me and-..." I am cut off when Blake finally reveals her more emotional side to me. Jumping into my and hugging me, letting herself cry into my shirt.

' _Oookay, wasn't expecting that. Damnit where is Sun?'_

"C-can you come with me? I don't want to be alone." Blake asks, her voice being muffled by my shirt.

"I uh…" I hesitate for a couple of moments, thinking about my options. I could deny her request and risk losing her as a friend for it, but become able to talk to Robert about this whole situation, and possibly taking him with me to go look for Blake in the morning when she disappears and show up late to the fight against Torchwick on the docks along with RWBY. But if I accept her request I can stick with her and contact RWBY and my own team to warn them about the fight that is going to break out, but risk losing Sun and his own team since he should have been here right now already. The choice is hard to make.

"Do you have anyone besides me to talk to about this?" I ask Blake hesitantly, treading in dangerous waters.

Her silence and a sniffle are my answer, and the choice becomes obvious. ' _Sorry Sun.'_ "Alright… I'll go with you." I say as I wrap my arms around her, giving her some warmth in the dead of night.

"... Thank you." Blake says with a smile that I can feel form against my chest.

' _This is gonna be a long night…'_

* * *

 **Robert's POV**

"Do you think I went too far?" I ask Glynda as I feast on some instant noodles that were in the teachers lounge for dinner, "Hmm… these are good."

"I was at fault as well for not knowing the full consequences of him using his semblance. And you never did anything when he was at critical aura levels that might have been dangerous." Glynda says, the two teachers are in the breakroom discussing how today went and sharing each other's thoughts.

"You really think so? Well my tendencies didn't help this first day of work, last thing I heard is that I like kicking puppies." I say as I kept eating, it's truly helps me relax, thank god, I picked the teachers rooms, there's really a sense of disconnection from what else happens in Beacon, it would be awkward to have my room next to the other students right now.

"Do not worry about the rumours the kids like to spread around, next class you will publicly apologize for your actions and shake hands with Mister Rivers. I am sure he will be more than glad to do abide." Glynda says in the nicest tone of voice no one but other teachers and I have heard.

"* **Sigh** * I was going to do that… if he hadn't started having convulsions… I did apologize to him in the infirmary personally."

"That's excellent, now you just need to do it in front of more people, show them it is so that they learn, you might be brutal in your teaching ways, but you are kind hearted enough to know when you go too far, they need to be put against someone difficult that isn't a fully trained Huntsman." Glynda explains.

"So that they can start properly thinking and improve against the toughest of scenarios… or some of them, maybe I should start by saying that's is all in hopes they learn something… hopefully they'll learn to not back out of a fight against a powerful opponent."

"Some will, others will not." She says rather somberly

"Personal experience?" I ask looking at her with a knowing look.

"You haven't been the only one that's been said to enjoy kicking puppies." I should have realized, with her attitude she must have some things said about her on a regular basis, how does she not have wrinkles from all that stress...

"Hmm… and now we are in the same boat."

"Trust me, there's gonna be a lot of people that won't understand it, and many that will complain and not listen to you, but the ones who learn will appreciate it, some will come around eventually, some might might even like the challenge."

Hmm… I guess it was gonna happen, not everything is sunshine and rainbows, but I'm not blame really if people see only clouds that's their fault, she's right, I just need to give it time, ease up a bit against some, go tougher with other, the important thing is that they learn.

"For what is worth, you didn't do anything wrong, Mister Rivers, needs to fight an opponent that will exploit his weaknesses, maybe even with no mercy, you handled yourself well to for your first day, if making…"

"Some mistakes, I know, his semblance did take me by surprise… I couldn't even see him move. He told me he went times five and I am assuming that is speed and power. If he learns how to control it, and train his body to endure it, he could become really powerful… if him and his team don't become dependant on it. How's is his team doing in comparison to him?" I ask worried if they can't keep up with each other, even Hector could make tactical blunders with his own team… and leave them behind.

"Miss Cain and Mister Cedric are definitely the more skilled ones of the team. Mister Nole is more of a brute when he fights, and often ditches his weapon to use his fists, for what reason I do not know. Miss Cain, although hides it, has a deep connection with the team, especially her leader. Whether it be romantic or not, it might get in the way when it comes to missions. As for the more the not so hidden relationship between the two other boys on the team, they seem to be balancing it well with school, so I do not bother them about it. Other then that I do not know much more about them."

"But what about how they mix together? Do they take each other into account during a fight, does Hector make good decisions as a leader? Do they work well together as a team, covering each other?"

"Although he does not show it, Mister Rivers can be very strategic at times. Has he told you about how the initiation went for him and his team?" Glynda asks, she almost looks… amused when she said that.

"Not really, we haven't talked that much." I said, truth be told, I was far more worried of my new position.

"He lead his team, that he has just met and barely knew, and came up with a plan on how to defeat a very old and durable Deathstalker, and at the time he had very little experience and had just unlocked his aura with help from his partner. It was very impressive, for his first ever combat trial." Glynda reveals. I admit that sounds good… but something gnaws at the back of my head.

"Did he just throw orders around? Or was he bait or something while telling them when to act."

"Actually, everything you just said is something he did."

"So he was bait…" I remember that moment he told he has fought Neo… "Has he had other episodes of something similar, other dangerous situations?" I ask noticing a pattern.

"Not that I am aware of, why? Has he told you something that he is keeping from me?" Glynda asks with a more stern tone and glare.

I do not really how, when or why he fought Neo, but the issue I have is actually not that.

"Nothing concrete, I was wondering, I'm starting to see pattern, he did said to me when I apologized that it was no different than something he did before." I carefully lied. "I was just worried that he might have too much of a habit of playing bait or hero when his team could need him, add that to the effect of his semblance… and I think he might be prone to getting himself into situations like today… too much maybe."

"I understand what you mean, I to thought of something similar. I will make it a point to bring it up with the team the next time I train them."

"If you think you can handle it…" I say as eat the last of my noodles, the best parts where at the bottom, they were like really good. "We need more of these noodles."

"If you think it will help you… we still need to work on your own mistakes, and your semblance, could be useful next you fight Mr. Rivers." Glynda said to me with a stern voice, a message that I need to improve.

"Just for you I'll do my best master." I say with a smile.

"I hope you do… apprentice." Glynda says with smile cracking on her face despite her best efforts. That's honestly very nice of her.

* * *

 **And that is the chapter!**

 **CrowSkull- Hope you liked the fights and the talks, yep I'm hated right now, but hey maybe eventually people will learn to love me, we certainly need more character interactions otherwise this wouldn't be much of a RWBY fanfic if we don't start talking with more characters more often.**

 **Genatools- I had fun writing this one! I wonder what Hector is going to get himself into next chapter… if guys read my other story and is updated, I am not going to be available for approximately the next two weeks, I am already being rushed as it is. But as always, thank you guys for reading, and please review and tell us what you think.**

 **CrowSkull- At Least with this guy going away for a bit we'll have time to think of scenarios, and don't worry, Sun will appear, eventually I'll also use more weapons and get my own too… that and maybe a cool outfit who knows.**

 **Oh yeah, expect more Master and Apprentice moments in the future too.**

 **Disclaimer- We do not own RWBY in any way shape or form.**


	12. Rwby: Team HAMR chapter 12

**AN- Thank you reviewers!**

 **Zeldawolffang- Oh you should know that is nowhere near his full potential, and yeah Robs pretty cool to have around. Thanks for the review! -Genatools**

 **Astra- Dude sometimes I am wrong when I write out some of the parts, I find even myself unpredictable so don't beat yourself up about it. Names in spanish are the same as they are in English by the way, and Glassy is because of her semblance and I thought up of it on the spot because my brain hurt too much trying to think of anything else. I may have accidentally set Hector up for a Harem… whoops, but yeah now I have a choice to make and it is not an easy one. And Voice actors whoof, honestly I don't know that names of a lot of them but I would think at least Hectors voice would be the usual Teenage male voice with a hint of extra manliness and endearance. As for Rob that is for him to decide. -Genatools**

 **I honestly have no idea, don't know many young actors around my age except... maybe Tom Holland… huh… now that did I think about it, in an alternate life… I could have been SpiderMan in the MCU… welp, for reference my voice is deeper (although not like super deep… I wish, I'm normal...ish) than Tom's and I also don't have that british accent, I'm Chilean so I also don't have an American accent either, it tends to go in a mix of American and British, I'll let you decide what voice comes close to that.**

 **Also hello to the new people following this, it's nice to know we finally got past that dreadful static 24… and also it's just nice to see you. -CrowSkull**

* * *

RWBY: Team HAMR

Chapter 12- Mission Impossible

 **Hector's POV**

"So where are we going again?" I ask Blake, we left Beacon soon after our little one sided emotional moment, it was already the next morning and we were walking around Vale. But this is a point in time where I have no idea what to do, since the only thing I remember from the show that Sun and Blake did was talk at a cafe about their past and then fought the White Fang at the docks.

"I was hoping to find a quiet spot where we can talk privately." Blake says with her usual stoic facial expression.

"Yeah but we're in a city, where exactly is there a 'quiet' place to talk?"

"I know my way around this city"

"Oh of course you do."

We walk down the sidewalk talking about things that friends usually talk about, such as other people, world activities, I even brought up that book that Blake thinks she is so slick at hiding.

"H-how do you know about that?"

"Yang is an awesome friend."

"Grrh, of course it was Yang. Always snooping through my stuff."

"Did you just growl? Isn't that supposed to be a dog thing?"

"Hector, since I know you didn't mean that to be a derogatory insult, I'll just correct you that it's not just dog Faunus' that can growl. You can growl for example. We all can."

"Oh shit, was that racist?"

"A bit. But I get that you still have things to learn." Blake says with a small smile as she looks away from me. Secretly glad that we steered off the topic of one of her smut books.

I take this time to properly get a good look at Vale, taking note of the actually pretty beautiful city. Shops, and restaurants almost every couple steps, and on every corner except for the occasional apartment complex, and the air actually doesn't choke me. So all in all this is a good area to live if you forget about the constant threat of Grimm and the White Fang terrorists. As we walk I stretch my arms out into the air and yawn, sleepy since I didn't really get the chance to go to sleep last night because some cat girl decided to bring me along with her. But this one moment of me closing my eyes is very convenient for a certain android to bump right into me right as I turn the corner.

"Oof." I groan as I feel a head drive itself into my chest and almost knock me over.

"Ah! Friend Hector!" Uh oh, that cheery monotonic voice is unmistakable.

"Oh, I'm gonna take a wild guess without opening my eyes that the one I bumped into is Penny?" I ask as I gently push her off of me.

"Correct! Very perceptive even with your eyes closed." Penny notes with her usual smile.

"You two know each other?" Blake asks, joining me at the side once more.

"Yup, wait don't you remember her? From our 'Top secret' mission?"

"I provided assistance by giving directions!"

"Yeah that, does it ring any bells?"

"Oh, right, now I remember. Sorry, I didn't really get a good look at you." Blake says, albeit a little awkwardly.

"No worries, people often forget things if they don't think about them for more than twenty seconds." Penny points out.

"Oookay, Penny I am going to have to teach you how to talk to people one of these days." I say as I nervously scratch my head.

"Sensational! I will treasure the experience!"

"Of course you will. Blake you can go on ahead for now, I'll catch up, _I don't think she is going to leave until I specifically tell her too."_ I whisper that last part out to her, hoping that Penny doesn't have enhanced hearing.

Blake nods and whispers back that she is going to wait around the corner for me, and without looking back out of fear of Penny following her she does just that.

"Okay, how have you been Penny?" I ask as I lean against the wall.

"Oh I have just been great, I have been walking around Vale for exactly three weeks, four days, and fourteen hours. The experience has been truly enlightening."

"Wait… you have been walking around Vale for _that_ long?"

"Correct."

"Okay then. Well since you popped up I actually have a very important favor to ask you, since we are friends, and all. If you do this for me I promise that I will do something for you in return."

Penny tilts her head as if she is processing something through her head, but then her smile returns tenfold as she thinks of something perfect for me to do for her.

"If I do this 'important favor' then you will walk with me around Vale? I have been awfully lonely." Penny says, keeping that happy grin on her face despite the sad statement she had just said.

I of course, am more then willing to do that for her. "It's a deal!"

I should have expected the death grip like hug to come as soon as I said that.

"Oh this is amazing! I have never had such a good friend such as yourself friend Hector!" Penny exclaims as her grip on me only gets tighter.

"Oh, that's great ***Cough*** but I need to breathe… please." I point out as my face turns red from lack of oxygen. She lets me go right away, and I nearly black out, but I manage to stay conscious. "Okay… what I need you to do is very important, if you happen to run into or see a group of three girls, one red, one yellow, and one white. I need you to tell them something." I say as I beckon her over so I could whisper in her ear.

Penny giggles as she turns her head and gets closer to me, excited with the prospect of doing something for a friend.

" _Tell them that Blake and I are okay, and that we will meet them at the docks around nighttime."_ I whisper into her ear.

"Oh do you mean Friend Ruby, Yang and Wei-"

"Yes! I mean all of them!" I say as I clamp my hand around her mouth, really hoping that Blake didn't hear that with her extra ears. "Get that done, and I'll take you out for a trip in Vale, sound good?"

"Very! I won't fail you friend Hector! I will come by to take you up on that favor one of these days." Penny says as she makes a one-eighty and starts marching in the opposite direction.

"Wait, what do you mean by come by?!" I ask but it is too late to receive an answer, she already disappeared into the crowd ahead of me with no sign of returning in sight. "Oh gosh what have I done." I mumble into my hand as I drag that hand along my face.

"She seems to like you." Blake says almost right into my ear.

"AGH! Why do people always sneak up on me?" I say as I jump almost all the way up the wall.

"I came back as soon as I heard you two say goodbye to each other, I hope you know that you are now going to be stuck with her right?"

"She's not that bad, just needs someone to… y'know… guide her."

"That is very kind of you." Blake compliments with a small smile. "Come, I found the place I have been looking for."

"I don't usually drink coffee, but I think I will this time." I say as I follow her around the corner.

Skip about ten minutes, and Blake and I are now sitting at one of the tables, sipping coffee - or what I think is coffee - and I play the listener to Blake's life story that I did not ask for. But it's not like I am going to stop her anytime soon.

"As you already know, I was a member of the White Fang." Blake begins.

I nod and wave my hand for her to keep going, letting her know that I am listening.

"I was a member for most of my life, you could say that I was practically born into it. Back then things were different,"

"By back then you mean like ten years ago right?" I ask out of curiosity. I honestly don't know when the White Fang fought for good rather than domination of the world.

"Approximately, but when it truly started going down the wrong path was about a year or two ago. But before that time, the White Fang was a symbol of peace and unity between the humans and faunus. But of course, despite being promised equality, the faunus were subjected to discrimination and hate."

"It doesn't seem to be like that now, there's always good people around."

"Just because they don't verbally or physically show it, doesn't mean that the mentality isn't there. That's why I hid my faunus features in the first place." Blake points out, letting her ears twitch under the bow almost in sync. "Humanity still thought of us as lesser beings, and most still do now. And so, the White Fang rose up as a voice of my people. And I was there, at the front of almost every rally, of every boycott, and I actually thought we were making a difference… But I was just a youthful optimist…"

"I don't believe that." I interrupt, setting my cup aside and leaning into the table, catching Blake off guard with my declaration. "If all that peaceful protesting truly did nothing to bring equality for our people, then how are faunus able to do the same things as humans? You can become a huntress still, work at the same jobs, have a family. Besides Cardin I haven't really seen any other signs of obvious racism besides maybe a few dirty looks. So yeah, like you said, the mentality may be there, but since they aren't acting on that mentality has to count for something right?"

"I… suppose you have a point there. I wish that the current supreme leader of the White Fang could see the world as you do. But back to the story, five years ago, our leader stepped down, and a new one took his place. A new leader, with a new way of thinking. Suddenly, our peaceful protests have been replaced with organized attacks. Setting fire to shops that refused to serve us, and other terror attacks you can think of yourself. And the worst part was, it was working. We started to be treated more like equals."

"But it wasn't of respect." I say before she can. "It was out of fear."

"Yes… I was going to say that."

"So what made you leave the White Fang? If these terror attacks were working like you said."

"I left because I didn't want to use my skills in order to aid in their violence, and when I did… someone didn't take it very well."

"Adam..." I mutter under my breath.

"What?! You know Adam?!"

Oh shit, I said that out loud. "Oh, uh…" I struggle to find an excuse to get myself out of this situation, he was the first person I thought of when she said that last sentence, and unconsciously said his name out loud on accident. "I… uh…"

"Yes sir?" a waiter comes up to the table, catching both of our attention. And can you believe my luck when I say that the waiters name tag, said Adam on it.

"I'd like to get the bill." I say quickly. On the inside I am dying with joy, and Blake goes red out of embarrassment when she sees the name tag herself.

"Right away sir." The waiter bows as he turns around and walks off.

"Sorry about that, I was listening but at the same time I felt the need to pay for this stuff. But it seemed the name Adam means something to you." I turn the tables on her, suppressing the urge to smile at my victory.

"Oh uh… he was someone I was with during my time in the White Fang… please let's leave it at that, I am not comfortable with talking about him." Blake almost begs me.

"Alright I won't pry, but I can't promise to not bring it up again one of these days. So moving on from that topic, what are we going to do now? We're lucky its the weekend so we don't have to worry about classes, but I can almost guarantee that both of our teams are going to be either searching for us, or at least wondering where we are."

"Yeah…" Blake trails off, looking down into her empty cup.

"You don't have any plans of telling them where we are do you."

"Sorry…"

" ***Sigh*** No worries, I kinda expected this anyway." I say as I stand up, leaving lien on the table, not really caring if its too much at the moment.

Blake looks up at me and wonders what I am doing with an arch of her eyebrow. "What are you doing?"

"So where do we start looking?" I ask with a clever smile on my face.

Blake smiles at my question. "You always know what I am thinking somehow, how do you do it?"

"It just comes natural with the people I like to be around." I answer honestly, it's a half truth but at least it's part of it.

Blake gains a small tint of red on her cheeks, she hides it from me as she stands up herself. But looks at me with a chuckle anyway. "I'm glad I met you."

"I can tell." I say as we exit the cafe.

"So what exactly is your plan?" I ask as we walk the sidewalk.

"There's no way the the White Fang are behind all these robberies. They never needed so much dust before."

I suddenly remember exactly this moment, and know exactly what to say. "So, why don't we go to a place where they are most likely to do it, instead of going to places where they already did it, that way we can find out if they really are the ones behind all of this."

 _Thank you Sun._

"Hmm, that is a good plan, but I have no idea where we should start."

"Wasn't there a huge freighter that docked at the docks earlier?"

"Yes but… what could be on it?"

"You didn't see the big ass S.D.C on the side of the ship? Its Schnee dust, and from the size of the ship I can guess that it is a LOT of dust." I continue, using my hands for emphasis on almost every word.

"That is actually… a really good place to start." Blake says with a nod.

"The plot thickens." I say as I stick my hands back in my pockets. "So the docks it is then?"

"Yes, the docks it is."

* * *

"BLLAAAAKEE!" Ruby calls out, cupping her hands over her mouth.

"Blaaaake!" Yang calls out after her, doing the same to her mouth but with only one hand.

"Blaaaaake?! Where are you?!" Ruby calls out after her sister is done.

Meanwhile, as the two sisters call out to their teammate, Weiss is doing no such thing. Instead looking around the streets, checking out restaurants and such while providing little effort to actually look for Blake.

"Weiss, you're not helping!" Ruby exclaims, annoyed with her partners inactions.

"Oh! You know who might be able to help? The police!" Weiss says in a smart ass sort of way.

"Ugh, Weiss…"

"It's just an idea! Really, I don't know what the point of all this anyway, obviously she does not _want_ to be found." Weiss says in a bitter tone.

"We're looking for her because she is our teammate!" Ruby exclaims.

" _She,_ is a criminal!" Weiss shouts back.

"Weiss, I think we should get her side of the story before we jump to any conclusions." Yang says as she walks past the two shorter girls.

"What story is there to get from her? She is a member of the White Fang!"

"EX member of the White Fang." Ruby corrects.

"Ex member or not, she has no doubt done horrible things, and has to pay for them."

"Weiss, don't you care that she is our teammate? Our friend? We have all been living together for the past two months!" Ruby exclaims, stopping to face her fully and deal with this problem.

"Of course I care! Maybe you just fail to see how this is effecting me! Just like you somehow failed to keep a tab on Hector when you sent him to look for her. So now we have TWO students from Beacon missing."

"It is good to see you all again!" Penny interrupts the girls before a full blown screaming argument can break out.

"Agh! Penny where did you come from?!" Ruby asks for her team when they all turn around to face her.

"Oh, I have been here for quite some time actually. Friend Hector asked me for a very important favor and I intend to fulfill it!" Penny exclaims triumphantly.

Ruby looks to Weiss with a shit eating grin on her face, and all Weiss can do is mutter something under her breath as she looks away from the young leader.

"Oh really? Tell me, what is this favor Hector asked you to do?" Ruby asks Penny in a cheerful tone, rubbing it in Weiss' face with her words.

"He said to meet him and Blake at the docks when the sun goes down." Ruby jumps into the air with an excited cheer. "Even better, he promised to take me out on a trip through Vale if I did this for him!" Penny exclaims with a happy smile on her face. Everyone looks at Penny, with a 'Are you serious' look on all of their faces. "It has been a very exciting day so far!"

Yang clears her throat, before asking the well needed question. "Was Blake with him at the time he said this?"

"Yes. The faunus girl was with him." Penny answers with a nod of her head.

Every present member of RWBY blink in unison at the news.

"Wait, how did you know that?" Ruby asks the question on everyone's minds.

"Uh, the cat ears?" Penny answers as if it was obvious while pointing at her own bow.

"What cat ears? She wears a... bow…" Yang and everyone realize the mistake that they have all made for the past two months, and while they process this information, a tumbleweed of all things out of nowhere tumbled past them.

"She does like tuna a lot." Ruby whispers to her older sister.

"She will be at the docks in approximately five hours. Would you like for me to lead you there?" Penny offers.

"I uh.. Don't think that is necessary Penny." Weiss says with a nervous smile.

"Sure, go ahead." Ruby accepts her offer happily, much to Weiss' dismay.

Weiss facepalms while Yang sweats nervously, and during the pause of dialogue, the tumbleweed returns and tumbles right past them once again.

"It sure is windy today." Penny states.

"Oh! Before we go I should text Ashley where Hector is. I heard them talking about where their leader might be through the wall earlier." Ruby says as she takes out her scroll and texts Ashley this message

 _Hey Ashley! I found out where Hector is, he is going to be by the docks around night time, I asked him to find Blake after she ran away and well that is a whole problem my team is going to have to deal with once we get our hands on her. Don't be mad at him please!_

After a couple of moments of staring at the dots beside Ashleys profile picture, which is one of Team HAMR, with my arms around every with Reggie taking a selfie, and she actually smiled for the picture while she elbowed me in the ribs. Mike is not really smiling but it is the best picture we got of him so far.

 _We'll be there._ Is Ashley's response after what felt like an eternity of waiting.

"Guys… I think we should hurry up and get there before Hectors team does."

* * *

"N-now Ashley… WOAH." Reggie ducks under a chair that was thrown at him as he tries to calm down Hectors partner. "I'm sure he isn't in any trouble or anything." He whimpers as he hears Ashley stomp on the ground from in front of his makeshift barricade.

"What is that asshole thinking? He was hurt after his fight just the other day, and he doesn't even come to us before he goes off on another crazy adventure. I swear when I get my hands on him Im gonna… UGH!" Ashley groans as she leaves the room, with her full combat gear on, and somehow has her weapons with her already.

"You know she is the most worried out of all of us right? Not a lot of people can deal with her besides our leader and a few select people." Mike says as he finishes getting dressed in his gear himself.

"Yeah but… I don't want her to kill him." Reggie says as he throws on a shirt.

"She won't, trust me, she won't." Mike says with a grin uncharacteristic of him.

"I feel like you know something that I don't. But I won't pry, we don't have the time for that."

"Let's just make sure that no one dies today."

"I can agree with that."

* * *

 **Robert's POV**

I was heading up the elevator towards Ozpin's office, he apparently had something to ask of me, important enough to take me away for the rest of the day, I already had to help Glynda with the weekend classes that are optional, and something did stand out.

 _-FlashBack-_

" _I've been aware of the rumors surrounding my assistant in just one day, I have to say they have spread faster than even I thought possible, yes, Robert might be brutal, he might take no mercy in your mistakes if you make them, but yesterday was an entirely different case, it was an accident that neither one of us foresaw, I guarantee you, he has no wish of hurting you or to crush your spirits." Glynda said as she acknowledged the class at the beginning, there were some murmurs but nothing recognizable, I did spot something peculiar, Blake was not here, I expected that, but Hector was also missing, he was the one I was supposed to do a public handshake with… and now I'm left hanging with just a general public apology._

" _The only thing I hope is that you learn from the experience, that you don't back down that easily from someone that might be stronger, take it as a challenge, a place to test what works out and what doesn't, and yes that's the same as normal combat class, but here I'll make sure to help you improve as much as I can, that's my goal." I say to the class._

" _And if I ever came with a wrong vibe to any of you… or I give in one in the future, I promise I don't mean to hurt any of you, it's the last thing I want." I said, it was true, I didn't want to severely hurt any of them, they were still kids after all, they might need a beating but not a too severe one. The were some murmurs and some relaxed sighs, however… good enough._

" _The class begins now, Mr. Urra will grab his weapon for the day. I'll decide who will be his opponent." Glynda said as I started leaving to prepare, I heard some nervous laughing and some worried looks._

 _Once I came back I had spear shotgun at my side, and in front of was some nervous guy with a green jacket and jeans worried or planning and how he would approach this._

" _Mister Darius, prepare yourself and try your best." Glynda said, he looked me over and readied his weapons… if nervous, he had what appeared as a rifle, but he pulled out and it shifted into a sword, close and far range then, rifle bolt action, not a fast fire rate, sword one handed, could be also two handed, possibly a hit and run, maybe more aggressive and direct...hmm… okay then. With a quick analisis done I got into a stance._

 _-Flash back-_

The fight itself was not bad, he used what he had at best he had, except for somewhat clumsy swordplay, he was also not good at retreating to take shots with the rifle if someone followed him constantly right up in his face, I hit him with pretty much every part of the spear, hitting him the face, pushing him, tripping him, I kicked him around a bit, hit him the spear in the groin, and upper cutted him up with it into the air, there I blasted him with shotgun blast.

After the fight, I told him what he did right, a few pointers and what to watch out for, he nodded and went back to his seat if limping slightly, he's most likely fine, the rest of the day was more fight with more students… that went pretty much the same, no one I knew… but still showed them a few principles of how to fight, some even started to caught up with my techniques… until I switched them up a little,for all of them I gave them pointers, some appreciated them, two particularly didn't and walked away with growls and scowls, oh well, for the day I had six fights in total… I knew why, Glynda was testing me, testing for how long I could fight, it helped that I didn't take much damage, and I recover quick… but soon I could be getting stuck fighting the entire day… that at least would be good training.

The doors of the elevator opened up and I came out of my musings.

"Ah, Robert, it's good to see you." Ozpin said. "Please, sit down." He said as he waved his hand toward the same seats Hector and I sat in a couple of days ago. I took a seat and asked,

"Hello Ozpin,so...what was the reason I was called up here?"

"General Ironwood has come to me asking for assistance of searching for an Atlesian asset wandering around the city, and as you can see I am quite busy." Ozpin states as he holds his hands out in front of him.

 _Penny?_ I thought.

"Asset?"

"Yes, an android with the capabilities of producing an aura. Some how some way he lost it, but I can't spare any time today to launch a search for it. So I thought this would be a good time to call you up here and give you your first task, provided by me of course." Ozpin explains the situation with a small smirk.

"Uh huh, so is it gonna become a theme for me to disappear during classes without any previous notice?"

"One of the many burdens a professor of Beacon must hold upon their shoulders. Do not worry, you specifically will not be targeted with this… much. See this as more of a… training mission if you will."

"Since when am I the one in training? No offense Ozpin, but I just would be glad if things like this don't interfere in my job."

"It doesn't, and this isn't a request I'm afraid."

"I know it isn't, I generally don't get a choice in a lot of things, I know when I am in those one of those situations… ***Sigh***... So… an android?"

"Yes, an android. The last time it was spotted was in Vale, I will send you a picture of what it looks like and you can go from there. It's name is Penny, although I am sure you already knew that." Ozpin says as he begins to type away at his computer. I personally only responded with a blank stare.

"Hmm… So I'll be heading to Vale then." I say as I get a glimpse of a nervous look on my face. "Uh… since I'll be in Vale, is it uh… alright if I check some others things out, I mean, my previous clothes were tattered, and even though this sweater is nice… is not my preference… and my hair and beard are getting a bit out of control… so I was wondering if you could maybe… uh…" I start asking along with some hand signs here and there, my serious tone before completely away, not forgotten, but away.

"Provide you with Lien?" Ozpin finishes for me.

"Maybe… now that I think of it, I don't remember if I get paid… do I?"

"Done, you're account now has the sufficient funds to buy what you need." Ozpin said as he pushed a button on the computer. "And of course you get paid. You just need to keep tabs on your bank account."

"Well I'll settle that with you, I mean the specifics of my account, and I'll go to Vale… with luck I'll find also two missing students."

"Yes, it has come to my attention that Miss Belladonna and Mister Rivers are absent, please keep an eye out for them as well." Ozpin says with a nod as he goes back to work on his computer.

"I will, don't worry, I do care and worry for the people I work with." I say, it came out more like a jab, but in a way that was also the point, Ozpin didn't really acknowledged it either way. "So what's my account?"

"Enough." Ozpin simply answers.

"No, the specifics, how do I access it, what's my code, what do I do?"

"Well, you have a card don't you? Use that, and your code is 1452, I thought Glynda was supposed to handle that for you. No matter, things work similarly in that regard between our worlds, think of it like that."

"Have you been talking to Hector a lot before I came here? Or are you just omnipotent or something?"

"Haha, no I am not omnipotent, but I have spoken to Hector quite a lot. He is very vocal about how… 'Shitty' your world is compared to my own."

"He might be a bit biased, is not that bad if look for the crazy side of things, reality can surpass fiction sometimes."

"That, I can agree with. Now I do believe it is time for you to go, we both have work to do."

"Very well." I say as I stand up and go for the elevator. "Hope whatever you are working on gives results." I say as I leave.

"As do I Mister Urra." Ozpin says once the elevator door closes. "As do I…"

* * *

 **Vale**

 **Blake and Hector**

"Blake how many hours are there in a day?" I ask quietly as we are coming up to the docks.

"What? Why are you asking me that right now of all times?" Blake asks out of confusion.

"Because Im bored." I answer honestly. "And I am actually pretty curious, sometimes it goes from day to night before I even realize it."

"... are we seriously having this conversation right now? We're supposed to be sneaking." Blake whispers back.

"You know this is my first time actually sneaking right? I don't know about you but my body isn't exactly built for sneaking around."

"Just stay close to me." Blake says as she peeks around a wall.

"I will… sooo… about that question."

"Twenty four, now stay quiet." Blake says as she climbs up onto one of the storage containers.

 _There's actually no way._ I think to myself as I gingerly climb up after her.

We lay down side by side to each other, and peek over the edge to see members of the White Fang loading dust canisters into Bullheads.

"Well I think that's them." I point out the obvious in a whisper.

"Yes, it is." Blake says as she narrows her eyes.

"Wow that's a lot of White Fang." A new voice calls out from beside me, along with a munching of a banana.

Without looking I instinctively grab the man beside me, and curl myself around him with my bicep around his neck. Blake steps on his chest and points her blade at his neck.

"Woah woah woah FRIENDLY." The blond haired man chokes out.

"What are you doing here?" Blake asks in a less than pleasant tone as she recognizes this boy as the one who winked at her the day before.

"Wait a second." I mumble to myself as I notice the blond haired tail, and the unbuttoned up shirt showing off his abs, along with blue jeans and red sneakers. I roll my eyes and slump my head against the metal, letting Sun go in the process.

"Damn dude, you got an arm." Sun says as he rolls off of me. But before he can stand Blake kicks his back so she can keep him low.

"I will ask again, why are you here?"

"Okay, okay. I sort of… followed you." Sun shamefully admits.

"For how long?" I ask, leaving my head down on the metal.

"Well… I was going to come out but I saw you two talking, I hid behind one of the pillars at Beacon, then saw you two hug and run out of there. I lost you guys at first but found you when you left the cafe." Sun explains.

"Sooo… you stalked us." I deduce as I sit up.

"W-well I wouldn't say stalk but…"

"Shut up, you're here now so just stay quiet for the time being." Blake says as she peeks over the storage container again. This time seeing Roman Torchwick of all people barking orders to the members of the White Fang. She mumbles something to us but we can't hear it, but we understand when we peek over the container ourselves.

"So… what did you two do while I wasn't around?" Sun asks me, despite the current situation we are in.

"What do you mean?" I ask him, missing his meaning.

"Well I mean, you two seem close, and you ran out of Beacon in the middle of the night… and you're both teenagers."

"Oh my god you can not be serious right now." I say as I beat my head on the edge of the container. In any other situation I probably would have been glad to meet Sun, but right now? Not so much.

"Just curious man, what was it like?"

"We didn't do anything, we just spent the night walking around Vale." I answer honestly.

"The whole night." Sun doesn't sound convinced.

"Wait, where did Blake go?" I ask as I look over his head and don't see the cat faunus.

"Brothers and sisters of the White Fang!" Blake exclaims from below us.

"Oh god damnit…" I say as I get ready to jump into action, along with Sun beside me.

* * *

 **RWY and Penny**

"So, Blake is your friend?" Penny asks for the third time, this time finally getting an answer.

"Yes Penny." Ruby finally responds after sighing.

"And friend Hector is to?"

"Yes, they are both our friends."

"Hm, but you're mad at Blake?" Penny asks.

"Yes- uh no I just… I'm not but Weiss is." Ruby settles for saying.

"Is 'she' friends with Blake and friend Hector."

"Well, I think she is friends with Hector, I haven't really seen them talk much. But with Blake, that's kind of up in the air right now." Ruby answers honestly.

"But why?!"

" ***Sigh*** Well you see, Blake wasn't who we thought she was."

" ***GASP*** You mean she's a man?"

"What? No, no, Penny, she's… I don't know what she is."

Penny leans in to whisper to Ruby. "Is she a robot?"

"No, she's not that either. She didn't exactly talk to us a lot before she decided to run off."

"I don't have a lot of friends besides you all and friend Hector, but if I did, I'd want them to be honest about things with me."

"Yeah, me too." A new voice calls out the them from behind Penny.

"Ashley? You're here already?" Ruby asks out of near shock of seeing them.

"We are to…" Reggie and Mike say while panting lightly, they had to run after Ashley for many miles before they finally caught up to the dog faunus.

"Yeah, we just ran into you on our way to the docks." Ashley says in neutral tone, honestly the nicest Ruby has ever heard from Ashley.

"Yup, we are here to help!" Reggie exclaims with a thumbs up.

"Sensational! I am glad we now have more people to help us." Penny exclaims happily.

"Oh, it's the weird girl from before." Ashley says in a bitter tone.

"You are friend Hectors partner, am I correct?"

"That would be me, yes." Ashley answers with a nod as she crosses her arms.

"Amazing! Tell me, do you two ever engage in intercourse when no body is around?" Penny asks with a wide grin on her face.

Ashley's eyes widen and her face turns as red as Ruby's cloak. "W-what? We're not that kind of partners!" Ashley exclaims angrily.

Meanwhile in the background, Mike and Reggie are trying - and failing- to suppress their laughter.

"Why would you even ask that?" Ashley asks as she turns her face away from the ones in front of her.

"Oh, my apologies, I was not aware that your relationship is not developed that far yet." Penny apologizes with a bow.

"Ugh, just… shut up." Ashley says as she brushes past her and Ruby. "Thanks for texting me." She mutters to Ruby as she walks past her.

"Oh, that was just gold." Reggie says as he follows her, trailing behind him is Mike.

"Huh, what an interesting group of individuals." Penny notes.

"They are, and they talk pretty loud I must say.." another new voice says as the person approaches from the other side of the street.

Ruby jumps at the sound of yet another voice, one that she knows a bit too well for her liking.

"Oh, h-hi Mister Urra. What brings you here? Nice new clothes by the way." Ruby greets nervously.

"No need to be so nervous. I took the chance since I had to go to town." Robert says as he fixes his collar. His new getup consists of a blue dress shirt, with the sleeves ending at the elbows, a black vest that unlike other formal vest had a collar, over that shirt, black jean pants and the same boots he came here with. He still wears the bracer over his left wrist. He also seems to have shaped himself up in the hair department as well, now clean shaven on his face, but his hair is a bit different but in the same style. Buzz cut on the sides, a swept back top with the same ponytail he is known for now. He also had something else on his back strapped to his back, a round guard longsword with everything and scabbard,

Robert then looks right at Penny for a good couple of seconds, before returning his gaze to the young leader. "So from what I hear Hector has done something… hasn't he?"

"Well… uh… Maybe?" Ruby says, not really wanting to lie about it.

"He is with Blake at the moment sir!" Penny says with almost no hesitation.

"So they both decided to run off during the night together… " Robert pinched the bridge of his nose while close his eyes and looked down. "Isn't this glorious…"

"Wait, uh… I was the one who sent him after her." Ruby reveals. "It's not what you're thinking, whatever that is. Blake is having a problem, and he is just being a good friend to all of us and helping her out with it."

"I know, Ruby, the problem is that he could also have told people before going missing for the night, I mean his team seems worried, and other people are also worried for him Blake, and he decided to just… run with her."

"To be fair sir, he did not really have a chance to take his scroll out during his time with Blake, but he did tell me to go get these three girls." Penny comes to Hector's defence. "I'm sure you know what it is like to be put in a tough spot."

"I do… so he did contact someone in the end… thank goodness, oh and also seems I found you." Robert says ha boops Penny's nose with his finger.

"So you did! Congratulations, would you like to come with us as a reward?" Penny asks.

"... Penny, you do know why they ask me to look for you right?" Robert asks with more sad tone in his voice.

Suddenly, before anyone can respond to him, an explosion that sounds off pretty nearby to their current location. And in the air can be seen a ball of orange flame and smoke. Along with the sound of a certain someone screaming, _God damn it! What did I just say?!_

"Uh oh, that explosion was set off right on our destination, people may be in serious trouble." Penny points out.

"* **Sigh** * I think we found them, let's fetch them up before they hurt themselves." Robert says to the group as he starts running in the direction of the explosion… at a rather impressive speed.

* * *

 **Third person POV**

"God damn it! What did I just say?!" Hector shouts at Blake as he jumps down from the storage container.

Roman has just shot the ground where Blake was standing, and somehow didn't injured himself while doing so, sending Blake flying away from him. Hector jumps in front of Blake just as bullets begin to fly their way toward her.

"I think we have to work on that temper of yours." I say as my aura blocks the bullets from getting anywhere near Blake.

"Really? Another red one?" Hector sees Roman point his cane at him, getting ready to fire off another explosion at him.

"Oh shit!" Hector says as he jumps out of the way.

Roman changes targets and begins shooting at Blake, who dodges every shot and leaps behind another storage container.

"Here, kitty, kitty, kitty." Roman mutters to himself as he chases after her, but before he can take his third step, and banana peel gets thrown right into his face. "Huh?" This moment of distraction is enough for Hector charge right up to Roman, and tackle him right into one of the storage containers.

"Hey! I was going to do that!" Sun complains as he jumps down behind him.

"Not now Sun!" Hector exclaims as he throws a fist at Roman, who dodges it just in time for his fist to go right through the metal.

Sun jumps over Hector before Roman can re-aim his cane, and begins to get into a scuffle with him as members of the White Fang surround Hector as he pulls his fist out of the metal, he looks around to see Sun get kicked back to his side, and they stand back to back with each other.

"I blame Blake for this." Hector says as he watches the guns get pointed at them.

"It's not entirely her fault exactly…" Sun responds.

"We'll figure that out later, time to go wild for now though. You ready?"

"I'll go after Torchwick, you deal with these guys." Sun declares.

"Alright, seems easy enough, when I'm done I'll help you out." Hector says as he clenches his fists at his sides. "Just gotta get this little trick perfect first." Hector's body gains a small red aura, making the White Fang members look to each other in confusion

Sun uses that opening to jump right out of the circle, and chases after Torchwick.

"Kaioken time two!" Hector shouts as his aura gets a little bigger. _Alright, my body doesn't feel too bad right now, I should keep it at this level for now._

"Kaio-what?" One of the grunts asks before he gets a fist to the jaw, knocking him out instantly as he flies right into one of the storage containers. The force of the punch creates a shockwave that the others had to shield their eyes from.

"So who's next?" Hector says as he cracks his neck.

Back to Sun, he runs after Roman just after he turns the corner, he sees Blake fighting with him until she flips away. Sun uses that moment to jump into the fight, taking out his staff from his back and hitting away the end of Romans cane before he can fire it off at Blake.

"Ugh, what is it with kids always trying to play the hero?" Roman asks as he jumps back from the blonde faunus.

Sun dashes right after him, and unhooks his staff into nunchucks, he twirls them around as he flips over Torchwick, and in a flurry of red and begins to fight Torchwick. He brings one of the nunchucks over his shoulder and fires off a shot into his aura, before quickly firing off another one from under his other shoulder, which hits Roman in the gut. But the next one is dodged, and Roman uses his cane to hit fire off a shot right in front of him, using the blast to blow away Sun and launching himself away. But he doesn't get a chance to relax as Blake jumps right back into the fight, almost cutting Romans throat as she comes in for a surprise attack, missing by just a hair before the cane hits her in the back of the head, but her body disappears in a black haze and she reappears beside Sun.

Before they can resume their fight, one of the poor White Fang grunts gets thrown right between them, and out from the earlier dust cloud created by Romans cane. Is Hector wrapped in his red aura as he yawns. "Dude, you seriously need to get better guys to work with."

"Oh~ Now I remember you. Neo told me about you after your little scuffle with her, tell me how is that chest of yours doing re-, uh Dark red." Roman makes up a different nickname for Hector off the top of his head.

"Oh, just great. How is her stomach, I remember a fist being in there the last time I saw her." Hector retorts as he gets into a fighting stance.

"Oh I like you, but I'm afraid we are going to have to cut this meeting short." Roman says with a bow as two Bullheads with machine guns on their sides fly up above Roman. "What are you going to do alone against all these bullets though?"

"They're not alone!" A high pitched voice yells to the whole group, we all look to where the voice came from, of course it is none other than Ruby Rose. Arriving to the battlefield much earlier than expected. What surprises Hector more is when both of their teams with the addition of Penny and Robert all walk up to her side.

"Finally, reinforcements." Hector says as he runs up and grabs both Blake and Sun before the pilot of the Bullhead comes to their senses and opens fire.

"Ugh, even more kids to deal with." Roman says as he jumps into one of the Bullheads.

"Oh no you don't, not that easily, make sure everyone's alright, fight the goons AND make sure Hector doesn't use his semblance too much… at least not the level of the other day." Robert says as he runs into the direction of the cranes with swift jumps and agile movements, he starts to make b-line to jump towards the Bullhead. He makes powerful jump and land inside kicking a grunt towards the wall of the bullhead leaving him unconscious with a loud thud. He was now face to face with Roman.

"Well, that just happened." Reggie says with a whistle, then turning to his team. "So are we getting down there or are we just going to keep standing here doing nothing?"

"Ashley already went down." Mike points out, for some reason reading his book now of all times.

"Of course she did."

 _Meanwhile, in the Bullhead..._

"Another kid, this is just getting in my nerves." Roman said pointing his cane at Robert.

"So kids keep kicking your ass time and time again? That's just sad."

"I wouldn't say that, more like being a nuisance more than anything." Roman replies with a shrug.

"Hmm…" Robert doesn't say anything right away, soon the doors of the cockpit slide open, one White Fang member comes out trying to surprise attack him, he delivers an elbow to his face swiftly, grabs him by the neck and throws him directly at Roman, he ducks and just in time put his cane up to block an attack from Robert, he had finally unsheathed his sword and was coming towards Roman fast, the traded a couple of attacks and blocks before Robert pushed him back, sword against cane locked in place.

"Think you'll survive this time?" Robert asks him.

"When have I ever not blue?" Roman says with a cocky smile, however he wouldn't admit that the guy he was fighting was deceiving, he push harder and striked harder than one would think at simple glance, he had to put more effort in holding him back, otherwise he'll surprise him.

"You really need to get creative with these nicknames." Robert disengaged with a kick sending him back, he rushed back at him, they traded blows and slashes, Robert using his sword with two hands and delivering flurries of consecutive attacks, Roman blocked and dodged those that he could, he stepped away and back and fired a shot, that Robert sidestepped, it hit the back of the bullhead.

"Hey! I don't know if you can hear me, but Penny is about to do that thing! You know THAT thing!" Hector shouts with his hands cupped around his mouth, while stepping on the head of a one of the grunts.

"What!?" Robert said in surprise, he was on limited time, Roman took the chance to go back at him strong, he had switched tactics and use the cane itself as a projectile, the barrel of the cane fired and soon it was bouncing all around the interior of the bullhead next to Robert, he was able to see the cane coming and step away from its path, Roman dived in grabbing the cane mid air coming in hard with cane hold in both hand, he threw a strike that Robert blocked but send him to the back of the bullhead, Roman continued to attack him with multiple strikes and shots from his cane, he was even bouncing the cane again from the wall to try and hit him, but Robert was slippery, he blocked the attacks, dodged and cut the shots in mid air and avoided the flying cane of death the came very close to his face, he responded with more strikes and attacks, using his longsword one handed, two handed, reversed griped, kick, everything, Roman was slippery as well, he however managed to jump of wall avoiding shot, got for a strike that was blocked, but still used it to kick him in the face.

Roman staggered back, and Robert was right next to him clashing weapons in place once again.

"I can't help but notice that your ASS IS NOT OUT OF THERE YET!" Hectors voice reaches his ears again.

"Hehehe… yeah, yeah."

"Enjoying this kid?!" Roman asked, Robert responding with a smile, Roman went for a kick while they had weapons locked, Robert took it and stood in place as sparks of lightning came out of him, soon a small shockwave of blue lightning sent Roman away against the wall with some force, they both look surprised at that, Robert in particular looking at himself, and then both of them spotted a green light from the open side of the bullhead, they both saw Penny charging her beam.

"Oh shit…" Without any other thoughts, Roberts body jumps out of the Bullhead through one of the many breaches landing on the floor with rool. While Roman jumps out of the Bullhead and into the other one getting a running start.

Just as they both land, a bright white and green laser pierced right through the Bullhead they were just in, making it explode almost on contact. Hector runs to Roberts side, helps him up, then slaps the back of his head.

"I know you heard me, you can't deny that." He says as he powers down from his semblance.

"I. Was. Busy."

"Yeah, we all were. So how did it go up there?"

"I think he left with more bruises than me, seems decent."

"Well, that's fun, what abou- AGH!" Hector gets pulled by the ear by a certain dog faunus before he can finish what he was saying.

"YOU are coming with me." Ashley says as she somehow easily overpowers the bigger person.

"OW! I'm sorry Ash okay!? Geez, we'll finish that talk later okay?! Ow shit!" Hector shouts to Robert as he is pulled away by the ear.

"This… seems more like your problem." Robert says as he spots all the other people and the result of the fight, there were knocked out grunts everywhere, and then he spots Penny, Ruby, Sun, and Blake all sitting on a bunch of boxes. Along with Mike and Reggie who are standing in the background talking to some of the cops. With Yang and Weiss walking toward them. Now he has to complete his mission, the reason he was sent out here in the first place.

"* **Sigh*** "

Robert walked next them, sword now sheathed, and hand in his pockets, he eyed Blake for a second as she spotted him coming towards them, Ruby spotted him too and jumped to her feet.

"Hey, Mister Urra, are you alright?" Ruby asks with concern.

"I'm fine… are any of you hurt, at least physically?"

"We are all fine for the most part." Yang answers with a shrug. "It's too bad I didn't get to punch any of them though."

"Im sure you will get plenty of chances in the future to do so." Weiss adds as she walks up next to her.

"Hmm… and so, how are things inside of team RWBY?"

"I was just about to get to that." Weiss says as she walks up to Blake. "You."

"Weiss, I want you to know that I am no longer a member of the White Fang, and that I-"

"Zip it. Do you know how long we have been looking for you?" Weiss asks, jabbing her finger into Blakes chest.

"I...uh."

"Twelve hours, and I had twelve hours to decide how I feel about all this. And I don't care."

"You… don't?" Blake asks, not sure if she should be angry or happy.

"You aren't part of the White Fang anymore right?" Weiss asks in a more gentle tone this time.

"I'm not."

"All I want to know, is the next time something this big comes up, you come to your OWN team, and not whoever this is." Weiss gestures to Sun, who scratches his head nervously in response. "Can you promise us that?"

Blake smiles and nods her head. "Yes, I promise."

"Then everything is forgiven. Mister Urra I hope you can forgive my team's rather… dysfunctional tendencies. We will head back to Beacon right aw-" Robert cuts Weiss off signaling her to stop with his hand, he then looks directly at Blake.

"Miss Belladonna." Robert says in soft yet firm voice.

"Uh, Yes?"

"Be sure to keep that promise, I hope you realize that you have worried a lot of people that care about you, more than you might think I bet." Blake did look guilty for that

"I…"

"Everything is forgiven, don't worry, just try your best to count on them, and also remember there are people even amongst the teachers that can help you too. Just please try not run off again, not without a message or telling no one anyway. Please?"

"Of course. Sorry to worry you."

"Good." Robert started to walk towards Penny before stopping. "You know, you should lose the bow, it isn't doing you many favors in how you look, it looks nice, but you look better without it." Robert says before looking away and going directly to Penny.

"Oh, thank you, but I'd rather keep it on for now." Blake says as she re-ties the bow onto her head.

"Suit yourself, now… Penny" Robert says as she get close to her, she seemed fidgety, and slightly worried.

"Yes?"

"You know you shouldn't be here, that's why they asked me to come and bring you back, don't you."

"Of course, I apologize for leading you here."

"That's fine, I was looking for Hector and Blake too anyways."

"So, where are we required to go?" Penny asks in her monotone chirpy way. Robert personally thought of she disappeared in the show, without being able to say goodbye to anyone, or come back more relaxed even.

"Well, back to Beacon…I didn't say however when I would bring you back... and all of you seem pretty stressed out, and my shopping wasn't that expensive, and I need to relax too so… who wants to get ice cream? I'm inviting."

"Ooo! Me!" Ruby exclaims, dashing up right to the offer to accept it, leaving nothing but rose petals behind where she once stood.

"I guess if Ruby is going I'll go to." Yang adds, walking up beside her.

"I'll come, but I don't want any for myself." Weiss said.

"Blake doesn't have a choice, so she's coming." Yang says, draggin Blake along by the arm.

In the background, Mike stops Reggie from joining the little group.

"Miikke, I want some to." Reggie whines as he is held back from his collar.

"We have to wait until Hector and Ashley to get back. Then if they're still nearby, it's up to our leader."

"But they're already walking away…"

"We have strong legs." Mike simply states.

"We'll be nearby don't worry," Robert calls out to them, besides him if walking somewhat behind was Penny while team RWBY was slightly ahead Sun was also with them, Penny herself seemed different than before, she looked happier… if that was possible.

* * *

 **Hectors POV**

Ash continued to pull me by the ear until we were out of everyone's sight, but oh no that didn't stop her from continuing to pull me by the ear, no it only got worse from there. She throws me up against one of the storage containers, and pins me there with her arms. My aura flickers around my back as it protects me from the trauma, but the pain is still there.

"Geez Ash, what was that all abou-"

"SHUT UP!" Ashley yells at me while look down at her feet. For the first time she looks almost… emotional?

"Ash…" I call out to her, making her look up at me.

"Where the hell have you been?! Tell me everything." She demands from me, stepping back and allowing me to push myself off of the storage container.

"Ruby asked me to look for Blake, and then I found her, you're going to find out anyway so I'll just tell you. She's a faunus, and she was an ex member of the White Fang." I can see Ashleys eyebrow twitch a little bit at that, but she gestured me to keep going.

"Her team found out in a less than pleasant way. So she ran off, I didn't really have enough time to tell anyone where I was going so I went after her right away, and well, long story short I helped her through it and offered her someone to talk to. I couldn't just leave her alone in the city, so when I bumped into Penny I told her where we were going to be at the end of the night, and well, here we are." I explain with little to no hesitation.

Ashley seems to calm down a bit, but still radiates an angry aura that I can feel with our connection. "Why do you have to be so damn nice." She says as she tears her eyes away from my own.

"Is… that a bad thing?"

"Yes, and no… Listen, sorry for freaking out but I was just worried." Ashley admits.

"You, worried about me?" I ask in a playful voice.

"You of all people should know that there's more to me then my bitchy exterior." Ashley actually doesn't yell at me after one of my jokes that she hates so much.

"Well, dragging me by the ear isn't really a good way to tell me that." I point out.

"You smelled weird, and that set me off for some reason."

 _Smell weird? What do I smell like-_ I suddenly remember Blake hugging me and how close she has been to me all day today, and immediately understand why. _Ooooh, she's a dog faunus, and I smelled like a cat… makes sense._

"Sorry about that, must've have been… ash or something."

"Whatever it is I don't give a shit, what I want to know is why you don't tell your own team about these things? Why don't you involve any of us? Or your own partner that you have been leaving in the dust for a while now…" She trails off after looking down at the ground with a sad expression. "You trust the guy that put you in the infirmary more than your own team for pete sakes."

I widen my eyes as I realize the facts, I really have been ignoring my own team, my partner, except for initiation and that secret mission where I was almost killed, I haven't really done much with them. "Ashley, I'm sorry." I shamefully say, calling her by her fully name rather than the nickname I gave her when we first met, she looks back up at me when she notices. "I didn't know I was hurting your feelings, nor did I realize that I wasn't interacting with my own team as much as I should have been. I've failed you as a leader and a partner. I'm sorry for worrying you."

Ashley is taken aback by how sincere I sound, not knowing that I was capable of such a thing. "There's one more thing you should be sorry for." She points out, with a smile no less.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry that I didn't come to you guys or even let you know that I was okay. I bet you're savoring this aren't you."

"Every second of it, this is probably one of the only times I am going to get you like this." Ashley teases. "But… I forgive you… for now." Ashley steps closer to me. Her dog ears flat against the top of her head.

"Sooo… are we good?" I ask out of nervousness.

My answer is something I never would have expected from Ashley Cain of all people, she closes the distance between our bodies, and hugs me. Letting her face get buried in my shoulder as she wraps her arms around me.

Unlike before with Blake, I actually get a little red from this rather intimate side of Ashley, and I slowly and gently wrap my arms around the girl and reciprocate the hug. It doesn't last however, as she pulls away just a few seconds after she pulled me in, looks look back up at me, just as red faced as I am. "There, now we are."

"Awe~ You do like me!" I cover up my embarrassment with a tease.

"Ugh! Shut up!" Ashley shouts as she heads back the way we came.

"Can't, I never will after what just happened." I say as I quickly catch up to her.

We walk back to our own team together, and Reggie wolf whistles as soon as he sees us but it gets cut off my a rough elbow by Mike. They tell us the situation about the ice cream problem that has Reggie starving, but I have a better idea.

"How about just us, as a team, go out to get food. I bet you are all hungry, I know I am." I offer with a friendly smile to my team.

"Alright but you're paying." Ashley says right after I'm done.

"I agree."

"Same here, but can we get Ice cream afterwards?"

"Ugh, I hate you guys but love you at the same time. Fine I'll pay, and Reggie just for you to shut up about it after we start heading back to Beacon I'll get some for you."

"Yes!"

* * *

 **AN- We have returned! I apologize that this story hasn't been updated in a while, we weren't able to get a time together to properly spend time on it but here we are with our longest chapter yet for this story, hopefully it was worth the wait!- Genatools**

 **More than 11k words, I feel like in my younger days.- CrowSkull**

 **You'll be fine.- Genatools**

 **I truly hope so.- CrowSkull**

 **Please review and tell us what you think of the story thus far! We looks forward to every single one of them!**

 **Disclaimer- we do not own RWBY in any way shape or form.**


	13. Rwby: Team HAMR chapter 13

**AN- Here we are with another chapter, let's thank our reviewers of last chapter first.**

 **Zeldawolffang- Both kinda do and kinda don't. You'll see more of it in the future of the story. -Genatools.**

 **It's young love, which means it can be pretty stupid and make no sense at times, expect more of it. -CrowSkull**

 **Astra- Well, to start off with, Rob is probably going to be bugged by Hector to go on a shopping spree, because that is the manly thing to do. -Genatools.**

 **Knowing me it's gonna be more or less simple one, I still don't know how long we should pent on that kind of things but I know I get in charge of it it will have a lot of descriptions and maybe some other people coming along. -CrowSkull.**

 **Let's pretend that Blake had a brain fart moment and missed that, I will personally make sure that is fixed in the future chapters, so keep an eye out for it. Poor Sun, the stalker that is now on Hector's bad side, and that's next to impossible. He'll have to redeem himself. The 24 hours joke is probably going to be a trend for this story, it is always amusing to write for me. The "Kaio-what?" TFS joke is literally one of the main reasons I made Hector's semblance Kaioken. I mean, look at all the possibilities! Whats next… Penny! I have a ball writing her, I don't know how she is so easy to write but I just went with the no filter honest and excited approach. -Genatools.**

 **Plus things he has been waiting forever to use, say or joke about. I approve of all of them. -CrowSkull.**

 **Lastly, before I write a whole page, Team HAMR will be getting more shine, instead of just Hector going off on his own, you'll see what we have in mind… depends how much we wing it. Thanks for the review as always, I look forward to your next one. - Genatools.**

 **Guest- So far max power is times five, Hector went times two for the docks scene, but I will make it clear in the future how strong he is when he goes all out. Thanks for the review and for finding this story entertaining enough to read. -Genatools**

 **This story has finally broken thirty followers, about time we got out of the twenties! Thank you all for your support!. -Genatools.**

 **Yay! -CrowSkull.**

 **Now let's get right to the story!**

* * *

RWBY: Team HAMR

Chapter 13- Volume 2… Begin!

It is about eleven o'clock in the morning, at least that is what it says on the clock. Vale is particularly extra active today, with the recent defeat of Roman Torchwick at the docks a couple of weeks back, by huntsman in training and an assistant no less, people are feeling a little more confident, and crime has gone down to a new record.

One of those pretty confident people, is a certain man, who owns a certain book store. Tuckson's booktrade to be specific, and as the owner, whose name is also Tuckson, brings a box of new books to put on his shelves, a gray haired man with clothing matching his hair color for the most part, looking to be in his mid to late teens or early twenties, along with a mint haired woman, also with clothing that matched her hair color, who appears to be around the same age, both walk into the store with curious looks on both of their faces as they look and walk around the store.

"Oh, hello there, welcome to Tuckson's booktrade, home to every book under the sun. How may I help you?" Tuckson asks as he places the box behind the counter.

The green haired girl walks up to the counter with a friendly smile on her face and leans over the counter. "Do you have any copies of 'The Thief and The Butcher?'"

"Yes, we do." Tuckson answers with a nod of his head.

"That's great!" She exclaims, but something is off about her voice, it sounded terribly forced and Tuckson picks up on this.

"Would you… like a copy?" Tuckson asks hesitantly.

"No, just wondering." She answers in a much duller voice.

Just as she finishes her sentence, the other person in the store slams a book shut, making Tuckson jump at the sudden loud noise.

"Oh! Oh! What about 'Violents Garden', in paperback?" The girl asks right after he puts the book down, not even phased by the noise.

"He's got it Emerald." The man who slammed the book says as he finds the same book she just asked about and waves it around in the air. "Hardback to." He adds.

"Ooh, options are nice." Emerald says to herself as she leans back and puts the tip of her finger to her chin.

"Eh, no pictures." The mysterious man says as he slams that book shut as well. "Hey! Do you have any comics?"

"Near the front." Tuckson answers right away, gesturing his left hand to the location.

"Oh! No wait." Emerald interrupts. "What about, 'Third Crusade'?" Emeralds red eyes get more narrow, and she smiles in a weirdly friendly yet threatening way as she asks this, even leaning in more on the counter for added effect.

Tuckson frowns after hearing the title, and ponders around in his head if he actually has that one, but realizes that he doesn't after a few moments of hesitation. As he was hesitating, the gray haired person in the back puts down his book, and walks up next to Emerald with the same friendly yet threatening look on his face that is telling Tuckson to get out of there. "Umm… I… don't believe we carry that one." He finally answers, taking a step back from the counter as he does so.

"What was this place called again?" Emerald asks with fake curiosity so fake she doesn't even bother to hide it.

"Tuckson's Book Trade." He answers with little hesitation.

"And… You're Tuckson?" The man to her right asks.

"That's right." Tuckson answers.

"So I take it, you're the one who came up with the catchphrase?" Emerald asks, taking her hands off of the counter and stepping back while crossing her arms. "Mercury, you were the one who wanted to come here, I take it you know the phrase?"

"Tuckson's Book Trade, home to every book under the sun." Mercury recites perfectly.

" _Except,_ Third Crusade." Emerald adds.

"It's just a catchphrase." Tuckson weakly defends.

"It's false advertising." Mercury says in a angry voice, his facial expression churning up into a scowl.

"You shouldn't keep a promise you can't keep. Tuckson." Emerald says in a much deeper and menacing voice, reaching behind her back slowly to her weapons.

Tuckson instantly realizes what she means by that, and mentally curse to himself as he narrows his eyes at the two teenagers in front of him. "So you're with them."

"Yes and no. No use explaining it to a dead man." Mercury answers with a deathly serious tone.

"Are you going to run away?" Emerald asks, unsheathing her weapons and letting her arms hang to her sides.

"No…" Tuckson answers as he bears his claws and teeth at them. Getting into a lower, more animalistic fighting stance.

"Good." Mercury says with a smile as he gets in a fighting stance.

 _ **BRRRRIINNGGG**_

The door to the book trade breaks the silence rings throughout the store with it's bell while it opens. Emerald and Mercury immediately relax, and sheathe their weapons, Mercury whistles a tune as he goes back to looking at some books.

"Ash, c'mon you're telling me you've never read a book before?" A tall teenage boy with black hair, wearing a black quarter sleeve combat shirt with a red dragon design on the left side of his chest, and olive colored combat pants with black combat boots, asks his ashen haired dog faunus partner, wearing her own huntress uniform, as they enter the store, being watched by every other occupant with their every step. Tuckson releases a breath of relief at the sight of two

"Of course I've read a book _Hector_ , I just don't like to read boring books, and boring books are about eighty percent of this guy's stock." 'Ash' responds in a half-playful half-annoyed tone.

"Well there's twenty percent that's actually exciting, so stop getting your panties in a twist and get over here." Hector says as he continues to pull his partner gently by the wrist as they both walk over to the counter, in between Emerald and Mercury. "Got any exciting books for myself and this wonderful ashen haired beauty beside me?" Hector asks as he leans over the counter, he then winks at Tuckson and gently flicks his head to his side.

"Tch, flattery is not going to make me forgive you for this." Ashley says as she begins searching through some of the many rows of books for one that has a decent sounding title, conveniently not very far from Emerald, who has her back to her but watching through the corner of her eye.

Tuckson catches on to Hector's silent message, and proceeds to act as he normally does, but not without a hint of nervousness in his voice.

"W-well I'm sure we do, do you want anything specific?" Tuckson asks. A sweat drops from his forehead on onto the wooden countertop.

As soon as the sound of the sweat hitting the counter, Mercury and Emerald make their move. Mercury dashes at Hector with a flying kick, while Emerald dashes toward Ashley, one blade coming from below while she aims at her with her other.

Hector spins around and catches the kick, getting into a contest of strength against Mercury. While Ashley gets a green shield formed out of pure aura to defend her from the bullets and blade attack, then Emerald gets caught by a kick, delivered by Ashley as a counter attack, her aura defends her but doesn't stop her from getting slammed into the bookshelves.

Hector pushes the kick away in a burst of red flames that wrapped around his arms. Mercury uses the momentum to flip and land on his legs, but immediately get tackled into the wall by a man made of steel.

"Ha! Perfect timing Reggie!" Hector exclaims, giving him a thumbs up.

"Thanks Boss!" Reggie responds as he pins up Mercury against the wall with his forearm in his neck.

"You too Mike, couldn't have timed that bubble better." Hector continues, looking through the glass and to his last teammate who is at the door with his hands extended outward, they flicker green as he lowers the shield and looks back at his leader.

"Yup." He lazily acknowledges as he sticks his hands in his pockets.

"You planned this?!" Mercury chokes out as he kicks Reggie, who is barely reacting to the kicks because of his metal body.

"Only a little," Hector admits with a shrug. "Went a lot smoother than planned though."

"Yeah, the hardest part was convincing us he was right about an assassination attempt on a store owner." Ashley adds as she lunges toward Emerald, but she is forced to change her path when Emerald starts shooting at her.

"Mercury, we're leaving." She says as she jumps back into a corner.

Mercury finally pushes up the forearm enough to slip out of the grip and roll away, but can't get to Emerald since Hector steps in his way, red flames coming off of his arms as he gets ready to fight. Mercury makings a tch sound as he gets into his stance, and faces both Hector and Reggie after realizing he is also cornered.

"Kinda hard to do that right now." He responds as he gets ready to kick at them.

"One on one, and you might've been able to beat us, but how are you two going to fair against four of us?" Hector asks in a taunting tone as he and Reggie get ready to attack Mercury.

On the other side, Mike and Ashley stand next to each other in combat stances, and are being extra cautious with Emerald. For a reason that Emerald is stilling trying to figure out. Emerald aims her weapons at both of them, and gets ready to use her semblance on one of them to give herself an advantage.

But before anything can happen, and smirking pink and brown haired girl gets in between them, gives Ashley and Mike a wink before grabbing Emerald by the wrist and seemingly pulling her into a different dimension, and then reappearing in front of Hector and Reggie, who widen their eyes in response of the random newcomer to the fight, but Hector recognizes her instantly as Neo. Neo takes an extra long look at Hector, and gives him a flirtatious wink and a smile as she jumps back through her pocket dimension, leaving nothing but a broken pieces of a mirror behind.

"What the fuck was that?!" Ashley asks after she shakes her head to rid herself of her shocked paralysis.

Her piercing voice instantly makes everyone in the room cringe, while also snapping them all out of their own frozen state.

"Damnit Neo!" Hector exclaims in frustration as he kicks over the garbage can.

"You know her?!" His whole team asks, making him wince from the loud voices all coming at him at once.

"Ow, and Ashley! You knew who she was, she was the one who almost killed me!" Hector exclaims, pointing his finger at the dog faunus on the other side of the room.

"Oh yeah…"

"Oh shut up with that sarcastic ass voice."

Tuckson peeks his head over the counter as the team continues to bicker with one another. He is very grateful for the perfect timing of the huntsmen in training, but really wishes that we weren't so loud when they argue, and wonders why they are arguing in the first place, they just saved his life!

"Uh… hello?" Tuckson greets with a nervous yet happy smile.

"Oh yeah, almost forgot about you." Hector says as he notices Tuckson's voice.

"... You did?" Tuckson asks as he tilts his head in confusion.

"Yeah! Dude you have no idea how many texts I got from one of my buds to wake up this early on a weekend and reminded me to do this."

* * *

 **Earlier that morning**

 _In team HAMR's bedroom, Hector's scroll was buzzing, unattended, Hector himself was sleeping in his new couch, completely oblivious to his scroll, as a matter of fact the whole team was, there in the room was also Robert, once Hector didn't respond for the tenth time he took matters into his own hands, he expected the team to be more aware of the sound of someone entering their room, he finds them all in their beds, where they lay asleep and mentally exhausted by the exams at the end of semester, he honestly didn't know how that made even the faunas of team not hear him, the scroll was still buzzing and no one reacted… Well that's why he brought the other thing he had in his hand besides his scroll… an airhorn._

* * *

 **Back to Present**

"... But ignore all that and you're welcome." Hector says with a friendly smile as he turns around and begins to walk to the exit. "Oh, and before it's too late to say this. Please move, just get the hell out of here before they come back and we can't protect you."

"B-but where would I go? The only place I can think of is Mistral where I have friends."

"Then go to Mistral dumby. I don't know much about transportation, but I think your life is more important than your books." Hector adds as he leans on the frame of the door as his team walks out one by one.

"I-I understand, I'll pack my things right away." Tuckson says with a sad nod and a shake of his head.

"Glad you understand, and I'm also glad that we came in time to save ya." Hector says as he begins to turn away and exit the store himself.

"Wait!" Tuckson calls out, stopping Hector in his tracks and regaining his attention.

"Hm?"

"Who are you? And how did you know this was going to happen?" Tuckson asks the first two questions that pop into his head.

"As for how, lets just say we had… an informant. And as for whom… I am Hector Rivers, leader of Team HAMR of Beacon!" Hector answers both questions as he leaves the store, making sure to wave goodbye through the one way windows as he walks away with his team.

"Heh, what a lucky second chance." Tuckson says to himself as he runs to the back of the store.

* * *

 **Hector's POV**

"What did I say Ash?! Huh? C'mon I didn't hear ya." I say in a taunting tone as I wrap my arm around my faunus partner playfully, she is not in a very good mood right now. Not because we failed to capture the two people we _knew_ were not good people. But because I have been bugging her about me being right for the past five minutes, she is considerably annoyed with me.

"Alright! Alright! Shut up! I get it you were right but guess what? _Nobody cares_! We know Mr. Urra is the one that knew, enough to wake us with a fucking airhorn." Ashley finally blows up on me, getting up in my face and pushing my arms off of her shoulders.

"I'm pretty sure Tuckson cared, he gets to live a full life now." I remark with a happy smile on my face.

"Oh shut up." Ashley seethes as she moves away and looks to the ground. Trying to find anything that could distract her thoughts from me.

"Heh, what about you guys?" I ask as I walk faster to catch up with my two male teammates, wrapping one arm around both of their shoulders.

"I don't really care." Mike answers in a bored tone.

"I do, great job Boss!" Reggie exclaims the opposite of his boyfriends mood.

"THANKS Reggie! At least _one_ member of my team appreciates me." I say with a mock scolding voice, and then laugh along with Reggie who was thinking the same thing at the same time.

"I'll always be that _one guy_ on your team." Reggie adds.

"Ha, clever."

"Would you two just stop rubbing it in already?! It's just getting more annoying than it is funny." Ashley points out.

"Ditto." Mike agrees.

"What, did you find us funny before? Or only just now but you had to say that to make it seem like you didn't care?" I ask in a taunting voice and with an arch of my eyebrow.

"W-what?! Don't be stupid please, like I'd ever be amused by you." Ashley defends, thinking that she blew us off with that one.

"Yeah she definitely got a laugh out of that." I say with a nod, I honestly expected her to say something like that. "You are such a tsundere and I got you figured out so hard." I had to make sure to add that, she never likes it when I call her that.

"What does that even mean? Seriously I think you just make up words in your head to make yourself sound smarter." Ashley retorts.

"I mean sometimes I do. It works sometimes and sometimes it doesn't. But luckily for me you are never around to witness my failures."

"Like that time you needed me to save your ass?"

"That doesn't-"

"Or that time I saved your life?"

"Well-"

"Oh, how about the time where I caught you in a lie?"

"..."

"And this one is my favorite. I was there when you became the leader of this team you know."

"Ssss, ouch. That one was just uncalled for." I shrink in my place, utterly defeated.

"Oh chin up Hector, was just teasing ya." Ashley says as she pats my back in a more friendly way then she used to. "I can read you like a book, and remember, I know all of your soft spots." Ashley adds with a wink.

I stand stunned in place, completely unexpecting her to say something like that, or do something like that, even in my general direction and with our teammates right next to us. "D-did she just...?"

"Yeah congratulations, she is more comfortable around you now." Mike answers with a rare smile on his face.

"Aahhh, can't believe I was here to witness that." Reggie adds in an excited tone, making me feel my face warm up around my cheeks.

"Alright… that will be acknowledged later, I have a promise to uphold, preferably the one I made this morning." I bring up, changing the topic. Luckily for me, it works.

"Oh yeah, I can't believe I was able to fight on an empty stomach, are you sure you won't run out of funds feeding us?" Reggie asks with an arch of his eyebrow in my direction.

"For some reason my card has not been denied once. Honestly I didn't even know I had a card until that night on the docks, much less how much is actually on it." I answer honestly.

"Huh, that's convenient."

"No Reggie, it's not convenient." Mike buds in. "You should go to a bank and see how much you have. So that when you actually need one something, you won't be out of money."

"I don't know what a bank looks like around here though."

"Wha- How do you not know where a bank is in Vale but you know where a random book store is in the ass end of downtown section eight?" Mike asks, now more interested in the conversation.

"Yeah I have no idea what you just said but I am going to nod and pretend that I do." I nod with a smile on my face. "I'm not from around here, not used to cities."

"Where are you from anyway? Besides that other dimension you keep trying to convince us you're from."

I hesitate for a couple of moments, thinking on what kingdom would be the most logical for me to act like I am from. "I'm from Vacuo." I end up answering with a shrug.

"Vacuo? Me too! What part?" Reggie asks next.

 _Oh fuck._ I think to myself as I struggle to think of a name that Reggie might be familiar with. "Uh… the desert part." Yeah, not too good at coming up with names.

"Hahaha, alright, understandable, i'm from a little town called 'Dust Bowl'. It's where I grew up." Reggie says with a chuckle at the fond memories he has of the place.

"Oooh, that's nice. How about you Mike? Guessing from how you guys interact with each other, I can make the guess that you have known each other for a while."

"I'm from Mistral." Mike answers. Wait a second…

"Wait, how did you two know each other well enough to get together if you were literally across the world from each other?" I ask out of confusion.

"W-well. There is a… interesting answer to that." Mike says with hesitation.

"We were online dating for a bit." Reggie says with little to no shame.

"REGGIE!?" Mike exclaims, punching the larger person in the shoulder.

"What? He can be trusted."

"Pfft." Ashley lets out a silent giggle from behind her hand, no one even knew that she was somehow behind us until just then.

"W-well. Maybe not her but-"

"Hey!"

" ***Sigh*** This stays with the team, next time you want to reveal our history let me know and _don't_ blurt it out." Mike scolds, pinching Reggie's ear as he does so.

"Ow OW OW! Okay I'm sorry! Stop that!" Reggie exclaims.

"Heh, what lovely a team I have. What about you Ash? Where are you from?" I ask, turning around and walking backwards so the front of my body is facing her.

Ashley seems to be caught off guard with the question, and is visibly stunned for a few moments before blurting something out. "I'm from around…"

"Uh, specifics? Or are you too uncomfortable to share that with us yet?" I ask in a more concerned tone.

"I'll uh… it's just that the place I am from brings up bad memories." Ashley finally reveals, but the fact that she showed enough trust to reveal to her team that she has bad memories of her past is not lost on me.

"Well, i'm glad that you shared at least something about you to us." I say with a more serious voice. Patting a hand on her shoulder as she catches up with us.

"Yeah, whatever."

"You already know we're going to talk about it when we're alone right?"

"I hate you."

"I know, but you're hating me less every day."

"Sure, keep telling yourself that."

"Man I love you two. No two other people entertain me more than you two." Reggie says through his laughs.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, in the cafeteria of Beacon**

"W-weiss, I'm sure we can wash it out of your hair if you jus-"

"I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU!" Weiss cuts Ruby off with her screaming voice while spitting out bits of the pie that was just thrown into her face, and all over her snow white hair that now has sticky contents all in her hair. She throws her whole lunch tray at JNPR, who are all sitting in front of her, and all don't feel like getting their schools clothes messed up right there, at least for now.

And of course, the entire tray of food misses and hits almost everyone at the table beside them. The whole cafeteria goes silent and waits to see the reaction of the unknown students, who are looking around to see who just threw a whole tray of food at them, before finally locking eyes with the only other person in the room with food on them. But before they can even think of retaliating…

"FOOOOD FIGHT!" Yang and Nora exclaim in unison as they throw both of their trays in different directions throughout the whole cafeteria, covering at least twenty people with food.

Nothing is in control at that point, and food begins to be thrown everywhere, the cooking staff all duck for cover behind their counters as loads of food is being thrown around every second, they don't even know where those turkeys came from, and no one has any recollection of even preparing either of them.

Before anyone knows it, about eighty percent of the population of Beacon's huntsman in training are all down, piled up to somehow form a castle of sort, made out of bodies. With Nora standing on top of it!

"Ha Ha Ha! Who dares to challenge the queen of the castle?!" She chants as she twirls around a flagpole that she impaled into a watermelon to imitate her own hammer. Her teammates are all on lower levels of said castle. With Ren not too far from his childhood friend, wielding two long pieces of celery as weapons. Next is Pyrrha, a level below him and in a heroic pose, using a piece of wood from one of the destroyed tables as a shield, anda stale long stiff piece of bread that is somehow hard enough to be considered a weapon, and behind her is Jaune who is still trying to catch his breath, wielding similar weapons made of the same material, except his bread is broken at the end of it.

"We do!" Ruby exclaims from across the room, standing atop her own fort of chairs and tables that somehow assembled themselves perfectly to resemble a castle. "You have reigned over this cafeteria for far too long!" She adds as she crushes a carton of milk that splatters all over her clothes on accident. She tries to ignore it but is ultimately defeated by her own embarrassment.

"Your tyranny will not last any longer!" Weiss exclaims in a voice that could be mistaken to someone who is psychotic and looking for revenge. She wields a swordfish as a weapon, using its long pointy nose as a rapier.

"We will take back our lands!" Yang exclaims next, standing on the equal level as Weiss. Cocking back those two turkeys from earlier like she is readying her Ember Celica. Beside her is Blake, who is very reluctantly fighting alongside them, only doing it so she doesn't get caught in the crossfire.

"For team RWBY…" Blake unenthusiastically cheers, holding her own two stale and stiff pieces of bread up into the air.

"For the land of RWBY! We will-"

"Now hold on JUST a moment!" came in the voice of another person that had entered the cafeteria, just in time to get in between the two teams before they can start charging each other and getting into a climatic battle.

"Hi friend Ruby, Yang, Blake, Pyrrha, Nora, Ren, Jaune, and ice queen!" Penny greets from the double doors that are still swinging after being slammed open.

"Hey!"

"Okay, just before these two nations go to war, just before that! Can we calm down for a second… just a second, try to hear me for a little bit first!" Robert said as he was holding his hands in the direction of either side of the large cafeteria.

"Now whatever happens, however it happens, I just want one thing answered, ONE… are they gonna be fine? No harm will come to them?" Robert said pointing at mountain of bodies team JNPR was standing on.

"Oh them? They're just sleeping… I think." Nora answers, putting a hand up to her chin as she ponders the fate of the poor fools beneath her feet. "They were trespassing on my territory."

"Nora, you hit them with a watermelon." Ren points out.

"They deserved it, trespassing will not go unpunished as long as I remain queen."

"Uh, okay well as representative of the befallen and also those that have to clean this place when something goes wrong, among them ME! I'm sure there's a way for both sides to settle this at the very least outside, that also may save you from detention, and maybe those poor souls you are standing on. That way everything is alright for everyone!" Robert says as he takes a step toward JNPR's castle.

"Diplomatic assignment!" Penny cheered from the door.

"Exactly! Now, if you continue this here, you'll be fine, you'll have to clean it up after-"

"Hey! Don't think I didn't see that!" Nora exclaims, jumping down from the castle and aiming her makeshift weapon at the assistant.

"Eh?"

Nora moves at lightning speeds, so fast that Ruby gets jealous of her speed. Little does anyone know, one of the other students somewhere in that pile of bodies had a taser on them for whatever reason, giving Nora a boost of strength and speed. Before anyone knows it, she is in front of Robert with her hammer down to her side, ready to be swung up like a golf club.

"Wait what how, WAIT WAIT WAAAIT ONE SECO-"

Nora smiles menacingly as she breaks the watermelon on Roberts aura, sending him up and crashing right through the ceiling.

"FUUUUUUUUCCKK!" Is heard in the distance and eventually getting quieter. Both teams stand slack with their jaws wide open, Nora had just attacked what was essentially a teacher.

"Diplomatic unit is down… or up, calculating trajectory." Penny says she start to go for Robert's landing zone, meanwhile…

"She attacked the diplomat! The messenger of peace!" Ruby said with a new speech in mind, and an accusatory pointing finger at Nora.

"There will be no peace in the lands of this queen." Nora said as she threateningly points her flagpole toward her temporary enemies.

"There will be justice for all your tyranny, there will be justice for the ones in your pile of bodies, for Mr. Urra too, we will avenge them, your justice will be swift! It will be painful! It will be… delicious!" Ruby said with battle cry followed by cheers from her team and soon the fighting commenced.

* * *

 **Team HAMR**

After team HAMR's little excursion, they have finally returned, just in time for lunch to.

"So all in all, if you removed the fact that he basically stalked Blake and I, Sun is a pretty cool dude." Hector finishes his explanation as he and his team walk toward Beacon.

"Only you would become friends with a guy who stalked you." Ashley quips.

"Stalkers sometimes are just people looking for a friend." Hector retorts with a shrug.

"What? Since when was _that_ your mentality?"

"Since about nowish, for this specific moment of bugging you."

"Ugh, of course it is."

"C'mon you two, I'd rather not miss lunch again because of one of our leaders little ideas." Mike says as he begins to walk faster, along with Reggie who silently agreed with him.

"As leader I say we should all dramatically walk in at the same time. We are one of the best teams here." Hector tries to order his team around, only to get completely ignored. "Assholes…"

"Hey, there you are! Told you I smelled him out Neptune." The blonde monkey faunus I was just talking about says as he rounds one of the pillars off to the side, dragging along his partner who futilely tries to break the grip off of his wrist.

"I would appreciate this not being my first impression to your new friends." The blue haired one complains as he is being pulled along.

"Oh don't be a baby, these four our literally one of the least judging people in this school."

"I can tell who is the bottom in this relationship." Ashley says with a chuckle. Judging the shit out of Neptune already.

"That isn't very nice Ash." Hector says as he attempts to hold in a laugh of his own, along with Mike and Reggie who seem to have forgotten their previous feelings of hunger. "You just met them."

"Woah, nothing like that of the sort around here." Neptune says as he finally rips his hand away from his teammates grasp.

"Yeah, kinda forgot about that one. She doesn't really like me." Sun whispers that last part into Neptunes ear.

"What was that?" The dog faunus asks, showing just a hint of her bitchy nature.

"N-nothing!"

"I thought so."

Finally, Hector regains his cool, and is calm enough to greet a friend he hasn't seen for a couple of days. "Sup Sun, sorry about my teammate here, she is shy around new people." He says as he pats Ashley on the back, earning him a rough elbow to the gut that he winces at but keeps the same smile on his face.

"Yeah, no problem. Heard there was an attack on some book store earlier today." Sun says as he begins to walk alongside us.

"How do you know that? It literally _just_ happened." Hector asks with an arch of his eyebrow.

"I uh…" Sun hesitates for a few moments, thinking on what his answer should be.

"Yeah, I wouldn't want to answer that either. So to answer your unasked question. Yes, that was us." Hector says with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders. "So whos the blue haired guy?" Hector asks, his acting skills have improved significantly, now able to keep a cool head around those he already knows about.

"I, am known as Neptune-"

"Yeah no shit. Sun said your name like forty five seconds ago."

"Oh. Well it is nice to meet you, Sun wouldn't stop talking about the new friends he's made here." Neptune mentions. Sun widens his eyes and finds himself short of breath as he looks to his partner in the eyes. Silently begging him not to say any more.

"Oh really? Things like what?" Hector asks, getting more intrigued with the conversation.

"Well, one of those things was ranting on about how cool 'this guy' was running around and beating members of the White Fang while he was on fire."

"Oh I wonder who _that_ was." Mike says with a roll of his eyes.

"Actually now that I think about it, other then you there was only one other person he really talked about. Someone with cat ears?"

"Oh _oh._ PLEASE tell me more." Hector says as he leans in to Neptune, pointing his ear toward him to get the best possible quality of answers so that he could put it into memory.

"Well he started off with-"

"Oh would you look at that! Some ginger just fell over!" Sun exclaims while nervously laughing and pointing in a random direction. "Oh, and now she is sprinting." He adds in a much more serious tone.

"You seriously think I am going to fall for that- OOF" Hector slides back several feet as a blur of bright green and orange barrels into him, picking him up and crushing him with a bone breaking hug.

"Best friend Hector! Oh it is so nice to see you!" The new person exclaims as she spins around with the larger teen in her arms.

"Oh gosh it's her again. But this is just too funny to try and stop her." Ashley says between giggles hidden behind one of her hands.

"Oooh, I like that one!" Reggie adds.

Mike just chuckles once and shakes his head.

"Agh- Penny, please… we've talked about this." Hector chokes out as he struggles to break free of Penny's grip.

"Oops! My apologies." Penny says as she drops him to the ground.

"Oh god… my chest. What are you doing here? Not that I am not happy to see you or anything." Hector says as he recovers from the surprise attack with deep breaths.

"Oh! I managed to enroll myself in Beacon! Also you might want to move to your right a couple of steps." Penny says as she moves me herself. Not even giving me a chance to respond.

"Aaaaaaahhhh!" was heard as a figure came from the sky and crashed into the ground beside Hector, leaving a crater. "Ouch...Ugh… damn it all." Robert said as the dust began to clear.

"The diplomatic mission failed I'm afraid." Penny said immediately next to him on the crater.

"I realized Penny, thanks for coming here right away." Robert said as he began to sit up. "Oh hey."

"So, you gonna tell me how and why you just landed right next to me?" Hector asks as he offers his hand to help Robert off the ground.

Robert took Hector's hand and got up to at least a sitting position, dusted himself a bit and answered his question with one word. "Nora."

"Ooooh, that explains everything. Let me guess, food fight?" Hector asks for his team.

"Something of the sorts, tried to get in the middle of it, next thing I know she manages to surprise me with her semblance… and then I'm flying through the sky… really fast too, didn't have time to atleast put a song on while flying."

"Your vitals seem to be in healthy condition, you should expect a bruise to appear soon a big one however your aura seems to be doing just fine" Penny says with a nod.

"Yep, I know, thanks for worrying Penny."

Hector looks to Penny, and then down at Robert. "So… didn't know you were into that kind of stuff." Hector says with a smirk on his face, very well aware that is not the case but why not have some fun every now and again. Robert for his part took like an exact second to understand, he returned with a glare, but said nothing about it.

"Since it seems you want to know, Ozpin, in a way has put me in charge of her, and so she seems to follow me around now."

"I might have figured that out already. But I'm guessing I can expect Penny to be in my classes now?"

"More or less… to what extent I don't know." Robert stood fully up and next to Hector whispering. " _But I prefer that at least she gets to walk around more freely now."_

Hector nods, immediately understanding what Robert has just whispered to him. "Alright then, Penny. You wanna accompany us for some lunch? I'm sure my team would be _happy_ to have you."

"Oh I'd love to! Thank you for the offer!" Penny exclaims as she speeds up to his side and smiling happily.

"Yeah, Penny go ahead with them, I need to look for… ugh the cart with the mops, the buckets of water… and everything else used for cleaning" Robert said as he started go on a different path, toward the maintenance department.

"Oh yeah, almost forgot, hey Rob! Mission was successful!" Hector shouts to him before they get too far out of earshot from each other.

"So we have an ALIVE book merchant then?!"

"I don't know what you said so I am going to say yes!" Hector's distant voice response for the last time as he tries to keep up with his hungry teammates.

"... Well, If he was dead he would have dragged me away or looked defeated… he's alive, that good news." Robert says to himself as he continues to maintenance.

Back with the group of huntsmen and huntressess in training, most of them starving. They made their way to the cafeteria just in time before the period ended… only to find the room almost completely destroyed with every member of JNPR stuck against the wall covered in all sorts of food and drinks.

"Hm, well then." Hector says with wide eyes as the doors close behind him.

"Oh hi Hector!" Ruby greets with a bright smile, still covered in the milk from earlier as she picks up and fixes just one of the chairs so that it stands up right.

"We missed this!? Awww." Reggie whines, really wishing they didn't have to go save a life just before.

"I did not expect this when I enrolled into Beacon." Mike mutters to himself.

Ashley just stands there wide eyes, "Where is everyone else? Why are there only five people in a cafeteria big enough to hold hundreds? How- I mean why?"

"Well, I can answer one of those questions…" Ruby shrinks on the spot, holds her arm and looks up for a second. Causing the rest of us to all look up in unison.

"Oh…"

"I've found the missing students!" Penny exclaims happily.

On the ceiling, are literally hundreds of bodies covered in food, including the rest of RWBY…

"Poor… literally everyone up there." Hector says as he leans down to pick up one of the cartons of apple juice that is somehow still in one piece. "So how did that happen?"

As if on cue, all of JNPR slide off of the wall, and land face first on some broken tables beneath them, all echoing the word "Ow." at the same time when they land.

"I sorta maybe kinda… ran so fast that I made a vortex tornado… and then launched it at them." Ruby answers, pretty embarrassed but not really ashamed of destroying the entire cafeteria.

"Huh… well I am going to try to find some food that isn't destroyed. Too hungry to care about sanitism." Hector says as he walks off in a random direction, looking to the ground to find any healthy looking piece of food.

"You're _always_ too hungry for sanitism." Ashley points out.

"And _you're_ going to sit by hungry as I find myself some food."

"By my calculations, about 98.7 percent off all of this food is now inedible, eating any of this will give you food poisoning." Penny says in her half-happy half-robotic voice that somehow nobody but Hector catches on to it.

"Alright, so who wants to go out to get food?"

As Hector says this, one by one, members of RWBY and other random no name students fall from the ceiling, and of course Yang has to land right on top of Hector, with Weiss and Blake to the side. Nobody would have recognized them if somehow their hair was all missed by all of that food.

"Ow…"

"I'm down." Yang says as she stands up and off of his body.

"What just happened here?" The headmaster's voice rings throughout the cafeteria, freezing everyone in their place. Not because of the arrival of the headmaster, but of the woman next to him, who is somehow staring it everyone's eyes with her own green eyes that seem to glow with anger.

"... So, who started it?" Glynda asks with a creepily relaxed voice.

"Now now Glynda, no need to be so hostile." Ozpin attempts to dilute her seething rage.

"Professor Ozpin! They _destroyed_ the cafeteria!"

"They are kids Glynda, for now, let them play the part. None of them will be able to enjoy it in just a few more years."

"Hrrggh fine. But you are all getting detention!

"What!? But I literally just got here!" Hector exclaims as he pushes himself out from under Yang. Hell, even his team didn't dare speak out against her.

"What did you just say?" Miss Goodwitch says in a deathly serious voice, pointing at Hector with her riding crop menacingly.

Hector gulps out of the instant rush of fear and nervousness that has taken ahold of his body.

"Yeah, I love these guys." Sun finally speaks up.

"Ahem!" everyone hears, out the door was Robert coming in with a massive cart full of cleaning utensils.

"Oh this place hasn't been fixed yet? Good, because the nations involved in this disaster are gonna help me clean it up!" Robert said in an indignated voice.

"Whaat!?" Teams RWBY and JNPR exclaim in unison.

"Nah nah nah, no, don't give me the what, you know what you did!" Robert said starting to take out mops out of the cart. "Especially you Nora!"

"Sorry not sorry." Nora says with a shrug.

"Mr. Urra, calm down, like I said to Glynda, they are kids having fun while they can, they don't need to-"

"I don't wanna hear it!"

"Mr. U-"

"No, nope-itty nopes."

"Excuse m-"

"Tada tada nah, no, shut up Ozpin, I don't know about you, and I don't what you might want out of this but I'll tell you this, they might not need detention, I don't think they need it in fact, but at the very least they are going to learn to own up to the disasters they make."

"Mr. Urra, I think you need to calm down a bit-"

"Ozpin… the diplomatic nation in all of this isn't going to clean up all of this all by himself, that is just not fair." Robert said mostly towards both the teams that were in the food fight, they did look around with guilty expressions all over them.

"Nation?" Ozpin asks with a quizzical expression, same as Glynda who was wondering what was the point her apprentice was trying to make herself.

"That's… you know what, the point is! That I propose a better solution for this, instead of detention, they are gonna help me clean this up… maybe not the structural damage, but yes the tables and everything else, that way we avoid detention, and maybe just maybe they learn to clean up what they leave behind, because many people here don't, the hallways are proof enough of that!"

"Uh…"

"No. I've been cleaning enough around here, alone sometimes, and Glynda also fixes most of the damage alone too, I'm not doing it alone anymore!"

To Robert's credit people were impressed that he was actually talking to Ozpin this way, some even with their mouths open in disbelief, even Glynda was impressed, it was clear he was mostly fed up of cleaning everything for the last week, Ozpin pondered for a second, and took a sip from his mug before he gave Robert an answer.

Meanwhile Hector is clapping for his friend from Earth, as well as nodding, also impressed with Roberts bravery against his superiors.

"Very well, seems fair enough, no detention but they have to clean the cafeteria not counting structural damage. But I must warn you to not speak to us in that way ever again, next time I may not be in as good as a mood as I am now."

"Yeah... sorry."

"Good, I have to say it seems fair. Glynda?"

"Much more fair then what I would have done, but I suppose I shall allow my apprentice this moment. I accept these terms." As she says that she whips her crop and the pillars and windows and crack reform themselves, however, the food, the cans, the soda and tables are still scattered around.

"Thank you… Now listen the eight of you!" Teams RWBY and JNPR come at full attention, Ruby letting out a tiny squeak.

"The nation that tried to be diplomatic, the nation that was attacked, isn't going to clean this place alone!

"Yeaaaah, I'm just gonna take my team and Penny away before we get dragged into this." Hector says as he pushes his team out of the door, being followed by an eager Penny and then a nervous looking Sun and Neptune

"Please do so. Now where do we start?"

"Uuhhh. Mr. Urra uh I know it's not fair if you have to clean this place alone but uh… uh, just so you know team RWBY did avenge you!" Ruby said pointing towards the air, Weiss and Blake nodding while Yang gave a thumbs up.

"And for that I thank you, and that's also why I'm helping too, Now let's get started!" Robert said as he tossed mops and buckets towards them member of the teams, pointing them in different directions while they responded with different versions of "Uh huh, okay, got it, on my way" and so on. Robert continued shouting instructions on what to do, who cleans what, and also begging Ren to keep Nora in check.

"Come on, if we do this fast we'll be done in less than an hour and you'll have the rest of the day!" Robert shouted towards the teams as they started putting everything in order.

"* **Sigh*** So… what was the most awesome part of the fight?" He asked as he relaxed a bit.

* * *

Mercury and Emerald, lead by Neo, return to an abandoned depot where they are met by the one and only Roman Torchwick, who literally welcomes them back with open arms.

"Ah, there are the kids. Thank you for bringing them back Neo." Roman begins with a taunting smile on his face.

Neo nods and does a mock salute, before jumping away into her little pocket dimension and reappearing somewhere that even Roman has no idea where.

"Ah this is turning out a lot better then the divorce." Roman says as he places a hand on both of their shoulders. Mercury slaps his hand away, while Emerald visibly shutters and has to swallow down puke before it left her mouth.

"Ugh, please spare me the thought of you procreating."

"Don't touch me." Mercury adds.

"Kids kids! Like I'd ever do anything to you. But this might tell me where you've been all day." Roman raises his hand up to reveal that he has pickpocketed Emerald, on the paper is an address to a certain book store.

"What?" Emerald questions herself as she checks all of her pockets.

"I'm a professional sweetheart, stick around and you might learn a few things." Roman says as he opens up the folded paper. "Where did you get this address."

"Doesn't matter, we were cleaning up your mess. One of them at least." Mercury answers.

"I had _that_ under control!"

"Packed bags, tickets out of Vale, and hired bodyguards say otherwise." Mercury retorts.

"Bodyguards? What bodyguards?"

"Yes Roman… what bodyguards?" An all too familiar and weirdly soothing voice asks.

Roman freezes in his spot, and Mercury and Emerald smile at the arrival of their leader. He laughs nervously before continuing his sentences. "I uh… seem to have ran in to a bit of a problem."

"What kind of problem?" Cinder asks as she walks toward him.

"Well uh… I think your kids here can answer that for you." Roman makes way for Cinder, and presents them like they are some sort of gift.

"Well, go on." Cinder demands, leaning on her right hip.

"He was going to escape to Mistral, and we went after him before he could escape." Emerald says right away with a smile on her face. Meanwhile Mercury just slaps a hand to his face.

"Did I not tell you to keep your hands clean during your stay in Vale?" Cinder asks in a dull yet deadly serious tone.

"U-Uh well… we didn't. If that makes you feel any better." Mercury answers.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Like I said earlier, guy had bodyguards. A whole team of huntsman of huntsman in training, if Neo didn't get us out of there in time we would have been taken down." Mercury explains.

"A whole _team_ of huntsmen in training?!" Cinder seethes. "That means they would recognize you if we snuck you two in to Beacon!"

Emerald, Mercury, and even Roman all shrink in their places as Cinder release some of her fury onto them.

"W-we're sorry mam." Mercury and Emerald both say in unison as they bow down in surrender.

Cinder sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. "Now we have to come up with new plans for you two, since you two can't get into Beacon, I am going to need two more people with me, along with that Neo girl. Roman, could you provide me with this?"

Roman flinches after being addressed so abruptly. "W-well, I suppose I can." He eventually answers.

"Good, we are done with dust, have the White Fang clear out this building. I'll send you details and coordinates tonight." Cinder says as she begins to walk away, her heels clicking as she walks.

"But, what about all the dust?"

"We are done with dust, we shall aim higher now." Cinder answers cryptically as she beckons her two servants. "As for you two… You have disappointed me tonight. See to it that you do not do so again."

"Yes mam." Emerald and Mercury responds right away.

As they walk out of view, Roman releases a breath of air he didn't know he was holding, and rubs his face. "I'm getting too old for this."

* * *

 **AN- And that is a wrap! I had fun writing this chapter, and I am sure Crowskull did to. I personally laughed a lot as I wrote the scenes. Already, a major deviation from the canon, since Emerald and Mercury can't show themselves at Beacon. -Genatools**

 **And I got people to clean stuff. Always clean your own mess, whatever it may be… or atleast try, is an essential part life in book. -CrowSkull.**

 **Please review and tell us what you think! Along with any ideas or concerns you may have.**

 **Disclaimer- We do not own RWBY in any way shape or form.**


	14. Rwby: Team HAMR chapter 14

**AN- First, thank you to the two reviewers from last chapter!**

 **Astra- I had no idea that that was how you actually spelled 'Tukson' I just typed that name and the red line formed underneath it so I was like "Oh, okay then 'Tuckson' it is," and I sorta stuck with it,** _ **Don't tell Crowskull.**_ **-Genatools**

 **Hmm…? -CrowSkull**

 **I always have fun writing Neo scenes, she is one of my favorites. She will return with a vengeance, and Hector's accidental harem will grow. (Just note that I was joking when I said that.) I enjoyed the food fight snid bits for obvious reasons, I always wondering in the show where the hundred other students went when the food fight started, so I figured they either all ran out or Nora dealt with them. I like Sun, let me set that straight, but I can't deny that he isn't a stalker, a stalker with good intentions, but still… he is still fun to be around once you give him a chance. About the rest of the review, who knows? Tyrian might make an early appearance just for that reason, he can be the male yandere, oh I already have an idea or two… Mercury and Emerald may not be as useless as you expect, leaving it at that. Thanks for the review! See you in whatever chapter I post next. -Genatools**

 **Zeldawolffang- Straight to the moon and back. -Genatools**

 **With Moon dust as well. -CrowSkull**

* * *

RWBY: Team HAMR

Chapter 14- The Getting To Know You Game

After the whole food fight fiasco that Hector was both glad and disappointed that he missed, team HAMR with the addition of a certain ginger android went to go somewhere the leader has described as 'Anywhere but where an angry Double G is.' Which is somewhere even he doesn't know where since he is at Beacon.

"So I think that is _two_ meals we lost because of our leader?" Mike asks rhetorically, making Hector groan in the process. "Man, I feel like we may start suffering from malnutrition if this keeps up."

"Alright alright I get it!" Hector exclaims, looking back at his platinum blonde haired teammate. "I am sorry I didn't know that there was going to be a food fight. Would it have mattered though? Even if we got their early enough to start eating there would have been a food fight that we would have gotten caught up it, and I don't need to listen to Ash complain about not being able to get juice or whatever out of her white and black hair."

"If I got juice in my _ashen_ hair," Ashley corrects. "I would have made sure you scrub every drop of it out yourself." She said as she flicks her hair back behind her.

"You really trust me with your _precious ashen_ hair?" Hector asked with an arched eyebrow and a smirk. "You must _really_ have a lot more trust in me then I originally thought."

"Tch, on second thought, I'd clean it myself and then slap you and whoever was stupid enough to throw juice at me." Ashley said as she combed her fingers through her hair almost protectively.

"Wait, why would I get slapped if someone else threw juice at you?" Hector questions, failing to see the logical reasoning behind it.

"Because, I know you would have had something to do with it." Ashley answers simply.

"Oh please, you really think I'm stupid enough to risk getting my balls cut off? Besides, I wouldn't do that to you." Hector points out.

"Awe~!" Reggie sounds out from behind the two, reminding the team that he is indeed with them still.

"What does 'Awe' mean friend Reggie?" Penny asks with a tilt of her head.

"It's a sound someone makes when they see something that is cute or makes them excited, could be both to in some situations." Reggie explains pretty expertly, and in doing so actually surprises his team. So much so that Hector and Ashley actually forget to acknowledge the implicating sound he just made about the two.

"Wow, Reggie, I didn't expect you to be able to explain something like that so well." Ashley compliments with a nod of approval.

"Hm, if that is the true definition then all of my friends are cute, but since best friend Hector and best friend Ruby both make me excited then I suppose they are my favorites!" Penny exclaims.

Hector rubs his face and laughs into his hand, not being able to fully hide the flush that appeared on his cheeks.

Mike sighs and facepalms. "Oh Oum, he's reeled in another one."

"I swear I don't do this on purpose." Hector said after a short recovery time.

"What about the ice cream girl? I saw her smile at him and give him the 'I'm going to have you' look." Reggie points out, making Hector slap another hand to his face and groan.

"She's the crazy one that almost killed me!" Hector points out. On the outside, Neo may look very attractive, but he knows what goes on in that crazed little mind of hers. Or at least he has a good idea. "I'd rather not stick my dick in crazy thank you very much."

"Yeah, well, you know what they say about women being drawn _big_ and _strong_ men." Mike said, his voice etched with amusement from teasing his leader.

"As if he is either of those things." Ashley joins in with her own tease, earning an 'ooo' from Reggie and him egging on Hector for a comeback.

"I dunno Ash, six feet one inch tall, semblance that multiplies me strength and speed and makes me look badass, and not to mention my apparent charm." Hector lists off with a suggestive shrug, then decides to get a little bolder. "It's what got you into me right?" He finishes with a smirk and a certain look in his eyes that was new even to him.

Ashley for once doesn't have a retort, she was going to retort with something before he went on and said _that_. Now only that, but with the aura connection they have, she can feel a faint feeling of what emotion he has going on in his head, and what he feels is… _desire_. It both scares her and excites her for reasons _very_ private to her, and looking straight into his deep brown eyes doesn't help her one bit. On the outside she just widens her eyes and flushes before looking away with a growl. "You're getting too brave for your own good dipshit, you wish I was into you."

Mike and Reggie jaw's dropped, but after a couple of moments they shook it off and fist bumped each other. Penny just stood there wondering what was going on. In her head she was thinking about if this was how humans interacted with each other with mutual interest.

"Wow Boss, you won that one hands down." Reggie said as he wrapped one arm around Hector's shoulder and pulling him in playfully. Luckily the two are of similar height to one another.

Hector scratches his face and chuckles. "Eh, it comes with experience. All it takes is a little bravery." On the outside he brushes it off like it's nothing, but on the inside he experienced the same thing Ashley just went through. It works both ways after all, he felt the surprise and bashful feelings coming from his faunus partner, along with the feelings of excitement, and fear, and if he is being honest with himself, he felt the same way just now. He thought to himself if it was really okay for him to feel anyone from this world, for the obvious issue that he isn't from Remnant at all. Should he be able to find a way back to Earth, be it soon or much later in his life, would he be able to leave if he had someone he loved on Remnant? Similar to his partner, looking into her dark blue eyes didn't help at all. Also similar to his partner, Hector felt both fear, and excitement at the prospect of being romantically involved with someone, but neither would let the other know that.

"Well, before you two burn holes where you stand, how about we take our wonderful leader up on his offer to take us out to eat?" Mike brings up, making Hector moan and lower his head once again. "It'll help fill this hole we have in our stomachs, and we've still got a few hours of daylight left."

"By my calculations, there is about five hours left of daylight." Penny states right away.

"Exactly, come on money bags."Mike said as he somehow single handedly managed to turn the entire group.

"You are oddly more talkative than before Mike, what's going on?" Hector asked, being careful to not come off as nosey or too assertive.

"I guess I'm just more comfortable around you all now…" Mike hesitantly answers as he always does. Short and simply.

"Even around Penny?" Oh, he forgot about her…

"Salutations!" Penny exclaimed after hearing her name being said.

"Oh Oum… how'd I forget about her?" Mike asked himself as he buried his face in his hands.

"Oop! Actually I must apologize, I have somewhere to be so I cannot accompany you on this group date." Penny said after something in her left pocket beeped, started breaking off from the group. It could have easily been a scroll, but Hector thinks otherwise because of the knowledge he has, but he doesn't press the issue, he's been meaning to have another team day after it's been a while without one.

"It's not a problem Penny, go do what you got to do, come around the next time you want to go get ice cream again or something." Hector says as he waves goodbye, chuckling as he remembers the time Penny seemed to try and figure out how to lick ice cream without sticking the whole thing in her face, almost forgetting one key thing that he feels like he should mention before they get out of earshot. "And please don't sprint into me with bone crushing hugs next time you see me!"

"No promises!" She shouts back with a giggle, no one was able to respond to that in time before she disappeared into the building.

Hector takes a moment to process what the android had just said. "Did… did she just sass me?"

"It happens to the best of us Boss, now c'mon, you have a duty to your team." Reggie said as he patted his leaders back.

"Yes, you are my favorite teammates ever and only deserve the best treatment." Hector says with his voice etched in sarcasm.

"Wow, I might believe that if we weren't the only teammates you had." Ashley pointed out with a smug smile, now fully recovered after the emotional clash she just had.

"That's the point of it Ash. So where we off to? Same place as always or somewhere new?" Hector asks his team as he stretched his arms out above him.

"Same." His team answered all in unison.

"Of course…"

* * *

"Hello, welcome to IPOP, table for four?" The usual faunus waiter at the front door as the team, recognizing them almost immediately because of the usual clothes that they always wear. This is one of the few restaurants that actually serve faunus without issue, so in order to not create a scene, the whole team, including Ashley because she knows how she is, made sure to find a place that is accepting of their customers, no matter what race, color, or orientation may be. Doesn't change the fact that Hector knows of a place very similar to this one, it bothers him somewhat but he cannot deny that the service and the food is very good here.

"Yeah, tell the manager team HAMR is back so he knows what to expect." Hector says with a friendly smile as he leads his team into the restaurant.

"Right away sir." The waiter replied with a chuckle as he made to call his manager to tell him of the situation. It's nothing serious, it's just that the last couple times HAMR have been there they may have made the cooks work about five times harder than they are used to, not that they don't appreciate the many compliments the team gives them of course. On top of that, since one of the most well known teams from Beacon comes to this particular place, it had lead to an increase in it's popularity, and that means more money. Hector doesn't know how but somehow they are among the top three teams in the first years. Going in order from best to not the best; RWBY, JNPR, HAMR. With many other random ones behind them.

 _Must be because of the assassination attempt we thwarted, or because of that time at the docks. We did take down a lot of White Fang and actually prevented most of the dust from being destroyed._

Hector knows that what they are doing is nowhere near enough to stop the attack on Beacon from happening, but it is at least a start on getting them just a bit weaker in terms of firepower and man power.

"Give us a private table this time, last time we were barely able to eat because of all the fanboys and girls." Hector says to the waiter leading them.

"Of course." The waiter lead them all through the crowd of tables and people until they reach their destination in one of the corners of the restaurant that is much more spaced out then the others. Hector has a hunch that this was placed here just for them but doesn't want to be too biased to himself and the team. "Right here, would you like to order now or will it be just the drinks for now?"

Hector doesn't know how, but it is always the same waiter every time for whatever reason. "Well?" He asked his team as they looked through the menus. The always sat in the same positions, he and Ashley on one side, with Mike and Reggie on the other. He also didn't know why they took so long to make up their minds, they always ordered the same thing anyway. But then an idea popped into his mind.

"Hey guys." Their heads snapped in his direction, waiting for the reason he called out to them. "How about we have some fun this time hm?"

"Fun how?" Mike asked, admittedly a little concerned but willing to humor his leader.

Hector smiled after basically being given the go ahead. "I'll order for Ash, she'll order for me, Reggie'll order for Mike, and he'll order for him." He recites perfectly.

Ashleys eyes widen out of fear, Reggie's out of excitement, and Mike just huffs in indifference.

"I'm okay with it I guess." Mike says with a shrug.

"Hell yeah I'm down!" Reggie adds.

"I think it goes without saying that I'm okay with it to." Hector says with a smile.

The waiter chuckles and awaits patiently for the final member to make a decision. Ashley looks around to see all eyes on her, two pairs silently begging her to accept the proposal. Seeing no way out of this without being bugged about it for days she lets out a sigh and nods her head.

"Don't fuck up my meal, and I'll be okay with it." Ashley relents.

"Great! You heard us waiter, we'll order now." Hector says as the team places down their menus in near perfect sync.

"Wonderful, what do you wish to order for the girl?"

Hector takes a quick look back through the menu, and then back at Ashley, who is glaring at him and somehow making it look like a neutral look at the same time, he smiles to himself as a certain dish catches his eye, and slaps the menu shut and beckons for the waiter to get closer. "I want this to be a surprise."

The waiter chuckles once again as he leans down to let Hector whisper in his ear. Then nods and leans back up to write it down on his mini notepad. After the mystery order is written down, he turns to the next closest person, which is Mike. "And what are you ordering for him?"

"I will never understand why but he likes to have breakfast foods for lunch, so give him that omlet he always orders." Mike says out loud, uncaring of Hector's disappointed groan.

"You know me so well!" Reggie exclaims, leaning back in his chair and placing his hands on his heart for dramatic effect.

The waiter smiles and writes down exactly what Reggie gets from memory. "And what about for-"

"He'll get pancakes, and make sure it's those chocolate ones that have the smiley faces on them. _He secretly likes those_." He whispers that last part out loudly, making Hector and Ashley laugh while Mike sends him a death glare with a flush on his face. But ultimately just groans and looks back down to his scroll, reading _something_.

"Very well." Waiter with a name tag that no one calls him by writes down the next order. "And what about you miss? Will you be secretive like your leader?"

"You know what? Yes, I will, get over here." Ashley demands, gesturing to the the waiter to lean in with a single finger. She then whispers something in his ear, and the waiters usual default smile gets even brighter than usual. Hector can only hope it's for good reasons.

"Good choice Miss," The waiter said after he leaned away and wrote down the last order. "Now what about drinks?"

"Fruit punch." Mike answers first.

"I wanna try that thing called a 'Grimm snapple'." Reggie said next.

"Water." Ashley said right after.

"Water." Hector adds almost at the same time as his partner.

"Pussy." Ashley states with a teasing smirk.

"What? You also ordered- whatever, fine get me a wildcard drink, strongest non-alcoholic shit you got." Hector changed his mind with newfound determination.

"Pussy." Ashley repeats, her smirk getting even more smug.

"Go fuck yourself."

Again, the waiter chuckles. "You all are the most amusing group of people to serve on a saturday afternoon. Your food and drinks will be with you as soon as possible, thank you for returning to IPOP." The watier bows before turning around and heading off to the kitchen.

"Well that was fun, Ash what'd you order for me?" Hector asks, knowing damn well that Ashley isn't going to answer him, at least not with the truth.

"I wanted to go for a plate full of dog shit, but sadly I didn't see that in the menu."

"Really? That's what I ordered for you to!" Hector exclaims sarcastically.

"I will kill you, and it won't be painless."

"Well no shit, I don't think dying wouldn't be painless, but when I die don't pay thousands of Lien for all that dramatic funeral crap, just toss me in a hole and be done with it." Hector said playfully. Reggie and Mike laughed, the more surprising one being Mike because usually it is much harder to get a reaction out of him. Ashley on the other hand just puffs some air out of her lungs and leans back into her chair.

After a few minutes of waiting, they are given their beverages first.

"What is this called?" Hector asks as he inspects the cup that has a multi colored liquid inside of it.

"It is called the 'Surprise Mix', I was told that it is a popular drinks amongst young men." The waiter answers.

Of course, Hector's mind goes straight to the gutter…

"This isn't going to be giving me a _raging_ boner for hours right?" Hector asks in a more concerned tone then it really should have been. Reggie spits out his snapple out of his nose as he cracks up, Mike chokes on his drink for a second before swallowing hard, and Ashley just gives him a disgusted death glare as she continues to drink her own beverage.

"N-no sir, it simply relaxes the body," The waiter couldn't hold in his laugh, but quickly recovers. "In other terms, you could compare it to an after workout drink."

"Oh, goodie, I need one after today." Hector says as he takes his first sip, as soon as the liquid touches his tongue, his eyes widen and he slowly places the cup back on the table.

His team look at him with somewhat concerned look, if Ashleys and Mike could be considered as such. Hector just stares into nothing before looking back down into the multi-colored drink.

"Uh, Boss?" Reggie finally speaks up. "You okay?"

Hector takes a deep breath, smiles, and nods to the waiter, who bows and walks off to check on the progress of their food. Hector then picks the cup back up and downs the whole thing in one go. His team stared wide eyed as they watched his neck bulge slightly with each gulp.

"WHOO!" Hector exclaims as he slams the cup back down on the table, attracting some negative attention but once they realize who they are watching the laugh nervously. "That's the good shit!"

"So I think it is safe to say that you like it?" Ashley asks as she sets down her own cup.

"Pfft, I think my reaction gives the answer away well enough." Hector said as he leaned back in his chair, satisfied with soothing feeling in his belly.

"Yeah, don't even know why I bothered." Ashley said.

"Yeah, me neither, you should get that checked out."

"Ha, ha." Ashley laughs sarcastically.

Meanwhile, as Hector and Ashley go back and forth to each other, Mike and Reggie have their own conversation, about boyfriend things, things that they are careful doesn't reach the ears of passer-bys.

"So you _did_ like what I did to you then?" Reggie asked as he wrapped an arm around his boyfriend's shoulder.

"Against my better judgment, I admit it." Mike answered with a flush on his face.

"Against my better judgment I listened to more of that conversation then I am comfortable with." Hector interrupts with a shudder. "And before you ask why I was listening in the first place, it is a little hard to ignore it when it's being said literally right in front of you."

"You know me so well to answer a question before I even ask it." Reggie jokes. "I humbly apologize for your ear's health." Reggie adds with a mock bow of his head.

Hector chuckles and shakes his head, but ends up going along with it. "I humbly accept your apology my humble servant."

"Many thanks m'lord, you honor me with your very presence."

"As do you."

"Please, stop, this is melting my brain the longer I listen to this." Ashley said, massaging her temples to get the horrible imagery out of her head.

"Ah! The anomaly speaks!" Hector exclaims, holding a hand out to his partner

"NO! That is not becoming a thing!" Ashley bears her teeth threateningly, showing her rather sharp and slightly longer canines.

"Sire! It threatens us with it's very teeth!" Reggie exclaims out of fake fear, pulling Mike nearly onto his lap to use as a human shield.

"Fear not! For the sacrifice is coming!" Hector holds his hand out to the waiter who is somehow holding four plates at once with one hand. "We must last but a few steps longer!"

The waiter pause for a moment, concerned for a moment that he was supposed to be some kind of sacrifice but shakes the silly thought out of his head. "Here are your meals, I am honored to have aligned myself with house HAMR of the kingdom of Beacon."

Reggie and Hector burst out laughing, and surprisingly Mike joins in on this. Ashley tries to hold it back and does, but makes it look obvious that she held it back.

"For the blonde one named Mike." The waiter said as he placed a bowl of delicious looking stack of chocolate pancakes, with the melted chocolate chips aligned to make a face with a piece of butter as the nose. Mike tries to hide it, but he nearly drools at the mere sight of it, once you get to know him you realize he has a very potent sweet tooth.

"Next is the ever so jesterous Reggie, also hailing from the house HAMR." The waiter continues as he brings his hand back to grab the plate of the steaming omelet, with a variety of dressing and sides on and around it.

"Alright, man, it was funny the first time, you can cut it out now." Hector said with a wave of his hand.

"Thank Oum." Ashley added.

"Very well m'lord. Many apologies." The waiter gets one last one out as he places the plate in front of Reggie, who claps his hands together and rubs them together at the sight before reaching toward a fork and knife with each hand.

The waiter looks to his last two plates, and wonders who to start with first. "Which of you would like to receive your dinner first?" He is also in a position where only Mike and Reggie can actually see the food. They both snigger as they realize what both of the dished are.

"Alright, I'll take whatever poison she got me, I gotta eat it anyway because I am not about to spend any more money." Hector said after a moment of waiting to see if Ashley wanted to go first.

The waiter shrugs and takes one of the plates down, revealing it to be a medium rare steak that is already pre cut. Hector's mouth literally drops when he sees the plate set out in front of him, but it is replaced with a minor scowl and he looks back to the waiter.

"I ordered this for her remember?" He points out, pointing to Ashley with one of his thumbs.

Ashley widens her own eyes as she realizes what they had just accidentally done.

The waiter doesn't bother to respond, and places a plate with the same exact looking food in front of Ashley. Who in turn widens her eyes even more as her mental question was just confirmed.

"Wait…" Hector takes a moment to think about it.

"Don't hurt yourself." Mike speaks up.

"Wow…" Hector doesn't even acknowledge his teammate. "We ordered each other the same thing!?"

"I ordered what I liked!" Ashley exclaims, attempting to cover it up with a fact. She does always order steak when the team comes to IPOP, and she ignores Hector's every quip about her being part dog and liking steak.

"Well, I ordered what you liked for that reason! Even told him to add something a little extra to." Hector blurts out before he even realizes what he is saying. Then feels heat rush up to his cheeks after he realizes what he just said.

"Eh!?" Ashley flushes as Reggie makes a drawn out 'aw' sound.

"I must admit, I myself was surprised when I took both of your orders." The waiter points out. "Enjoy! I'll get the bill, since I know by the time I come back you all will be done with your food." He leaves right after saying that, leaving the team to their food.

Hector and Ashley look at the food, and then too each other, then back to the food.

"Geesh, jush phuckon ee it alreay." Mike said with a full mouth.

Hector and Ashley waste no time, and dig right into their meals. Ashley moans as the familiar yet much better than usual taste floods her mouth. Hector does the same but for a much shorter amount of time, and gets right back to eating. After stopping to swallow in unison, Hector and Ashley look back to each other, and then back to their food where Hector has eaten slightly more than her. Then back to each other, Hector with a smirk and Ashley with a competitive grin. In a flash they both dig right back into their meals, and start wolfing down the food faster then they can.

Reggie has already finished his meal, and he just watched the spectacle in front of him as he picks his teeth with a toothpick. "I wonder who is going to choke first." He mutters to his partner.

"I wonder when one does if the other will give them mouth to mouth." Mike mutters back.

"Heh, Hector would be more willing, after some laughing that is, but Ashley would probably just laugh and wait for someone else to help him." Reggie said.

They watch each other from the corner of their eyes for a few seconds at a time to check each other's progress. After a few more seconds, they both reel back and beat their chest for a bit to get the last bits of food down their throat easier, and then swallow at the same time and start panting, both out of breath for holding it in for so long.

"I won." Hector says right away.

"Bullshit, that was all me." Ashley said right after.

The glare they give each other seem to cause some sparks, even making Mike and Reggie sweat a little bit from the intensity.

"Uh… let's call it a draw?" Reggie suggests weakly.

"Don't think I didn't see you use your semblance!" Ashley ignores him entirely. "I saw your hands flame up for a split second as you were shoving food down your throat. Does it come from experience?" Ashley ends with a smug grin.

"No, and I don't think we set any rules, we kinda just looked at each other and knew what the other was thinking." Hector says with a shrug and a grin of his own. "Maybe you should unlock your semblance first, and we can have a rematch."

"Oh screw you. You know that was all me."

"You wish."

"Ugh!"

"C'mon you two, let's let our leader pay and leave before you end up destroying the place." Mike said as he stood up from his chair. When he finished his own meal, no one will know. Not even Reggie was paying enough attention to tell. He was too busy secretly recording his other teammates with his scroll and put it away right after the finished beating their chests. He doesn't dare to even hint at the fact after the sparks that just appeared out of nowhere.

"Yeah, sounds good, what time is it now?" Hector asked as he wiped his mouth with one of the stray napkins.

"About 9pm."

"What!? Why!? I mean how!? How long were we waiting?" Hector asked as he jumped up from his chair.

"Eeeh, about three hours." Reggie answers as he subtly put his scroll in his back pocket.

"... I need to buy a watch or something, and just watch the seconds tick by." Hector said as he rubbed his face from the top down.

"Don't think that this is over." Ashley said as she wiped her own face with a napkin.

"Yeah yeah, keep being jealous of my eating skills."

"The only skill you have is annoying me."

"You kidding? That's my favorite one!"

"Ugh…"

* * *

After the meal was payed for, HAMR was offered a picture being taken of themselves so that the manager can post in outside their windows. Telling any passer-bys that team HAMR likes to visit this particular restaurant. Hector accepted this happily, much to the reluctance of two of his teammates, - neither of them were Reggie - and posed for a picture going in order of every letter. Hector is seen with a smile on his face, standing with his hands on his hips and in a heroic position, Ashley just has her arms crossed and has a forced smile on her face, Mike is in a similar position as the former, and Reggie is in his metal form flexing his muscles, with a sparkly smile of his own.

After a quick thank you the team was able to go their merry way. Talking with each other about the food they have just eaten, and what the future holds for them. The dance was brought up once, and Mike and Reggie already decided that they are going together, but when it comes to the other two teammates…

"Probably just gonna either skip it or go on my own." Hector said with a shrug. "Not much of a dancer anyway."

"Same." Ashley said with a nod

Mike and Reggie don't bother to push the issue, since they know both of them are going to come one way or another.

The next topic was about the coming Vytal festival, and with it the tournament.

"We are definitely going to win that thing." Reggie said as he pumps his fist into the air.

"How are we going to decide who fights in the duos and singles rounds though?" Mike asks right after, cutting off his boyfriends celebrations short.

"Easy, Ash and I for the duos, and then me for the singles." Hector said in a nonchalant way.

"Why you for the singles? Sure you're strong but you're more of a brawler then a fighter." Mike pointed out.

"Well no shit, I'm going to get better by then, and master more of my semblance so I don't end up killing myself using it." Hector adds.

"You really think you can get it to that point in such a short amount of time?" Ashley asked, surprisingly intrigued with the conversation.

"What do you think I've been doing on my off days? I've been training nearly everyday with Miss Goodwitch. Something about personal training requested by Ozpin himself." Hector said the professor's name with a shudder, remembering one specific day that occured when Robert started to help him out… He never thought fighting could sound so complicated and hard to understand when it is being explained.

* * *

 _ **That one time**_

" _What is your preferred combat style?" Glynda asked for what has to be the fourth session in a row._

" _How many times do I have to tell you this? Fisticuffs, unarmed combat, punch things until they give up. I have the power to do it, so why do you keep asking me the same question?" Hector asked as he rolled his sore shoulder, still aching after all the times Glynda has whipped him there._

" _I ask you this question repetitively because you simply don't have a style. You just rush in and hope that you can adapt in time. While that is a good skill to have, it is not always reliable, which is why I am going to force a style into you." Glynda said as she pointed her stick of death at him once again._

" _You really shouldn't word things like that, someone might get the wrong- GGH!" Hector gets cut off as body gains a purple aura around it, and an invisible force drives his arms to his sides. "Why didn't you this this against that Bullhead?" Hector asked through gritted teeth as he tried to push himself out of it. Even with Kaioken times three it isn't enough to get out of it with brute force._

" _How do you even know about such a thing?" Glynda asked as she released me from my punishment._

" _Uh… Ruby?" Hector answered nervously._

" _Hm, that could explain it." While Glynda knows of Hector's true origins, she does not know that he knows everything that is going to happen for the next year._

" _Ugh," Hector groans as he pushed himself back up the ground. "That always feels weird."_

" _Perhaps you should stop antagonizing me, as a result it would happen less." Glynda stated as she re-entered a combat stance._

" _What kind of style are you supposed to be teaching me anyway?" Hector asked as he entered his own. He has gotten a bit better at fighting, instead of teaching himself he wisely sought out for some professional help, and ended up getting stuck with training with Double G for Oum knows how long._

" _Not specifically her, but me more like it" Robert said as he came in the training arena_

" _Oh, of course, I just spent the last half hour getting my ass kicked just to wait for him?"_

" _Well if it is of any consolation, you did manage to entertain me for a decent amount of time." Glynda surprisingly cracks a joke as she crosses her arms._

" _See that, that's just scary, and you don't want to see her when she trains you in her expertise, she'll mock the hell out of you and make you look more of an idiot than either you or I am." Robert says with a nervous chuckle._

" _Oh, so it only gets worse from here?" Hector asks next._

" _With just her? More or less, with both of us? Definitely."_

" _Are you insinuating something disrespectful of me? Perhaps YOU could use some training as well." Glynda threatens as she uncrosses her arms and glares at Robert._

" _You already train me relentlessly, I already face people in full fights when I'm already getting close to orange on the aura meter like. The. Whole. Week. Honestly you are doing a pretty good job of pushing my limits, what's another session? Like another 20 minutes of exhaustion at most and pain all over."_

" _You are very mistaken if you truly believe that." Gynda says with an uncharacteristic sadistic smile._

" _Aaah… yeah, it's gonna get worse, ehe heh uh…" Robert says with a nervous mix of laughing and sobbing._

" _I suddenly feel very under the weather." Hector said as sweat dropped from his forehead. "I think I'll come by another-"_

" _Nope! I did promise I'll teach you how to punch properly, and guess what, this is the opportunity."_

" _Oh… great, what's next? I'm not allowed to use the Kaioken?" Hector asked in more of a joking way then intended._

" _You guessed it, but we could go further than that, Glynda what you think? No aura? Just to drill him in some basics? No causing harm of course."_

" _I will supervise." Glynda simply states, walking off the stage and off to the side._

" _Thank you very much."_

" _Oh, okay then, now I have two crazy trainers." Hector mutters underneath his breath._

" _What was that!?" Glynda asked, Hector has no idea how she could have possibly heard that._

" _NOTHING, Hey Rob I am feeling super excited all of the sudden how about we train over there, where she isn't, so we don't accidentally kick a pebble her way or something." Hector stammers._

" _ ***Sigh***_ _First we are starting with no aura remember, and second…" Robert walks closer to Hector until he is standing right in front of him. "Stance." He said as a simple command_

" _Uhh, yeah, about that…"_

" _Come on let's try and solve this once and for all I'm getting real tired of looking at the excuses of stances you try to use everytime."_

" _I'm not even in a stance yet…"_

" _Then hurry!"_

" _Alright FINE." Hector gets into the best stance that he could. Mimicking from memory what Yang looks like when she gets ready to start a fight, it's nowhere near perfect of course. He puts his left leg back, and his right leg forward, and raises his fist into the air ahead of him, with one further away from his face then the other._

" _Okay, better than the other ones, but your feet are too close, too rigid on the legs, your arms fall short and…" Robert threw a lightning fast punch that didn't touch Hector's face but was right in front of it. Hector didn't have enough speed to stop it in time. "You don't have your arms up to react fast enough, you are not alert, at all."_

" _Okay… how about this then." Hector does as he says, and fixes his stance up, widening his feet apart even further, and brings his right arm lower to his body, and brings the other closer to his face. "Hows this?"_

 _Robert looks at him for a bit, up and down then looking square at him, he goes next to him and pushes him a little, Hector loses balance pretty fast and recovers, he didn't fall down or anything but the message was clear, a little push and he was out of the stance._

" _Now your legs are a bit too tense, the arms are fine, we can work with that but the use of your legs…" Robert places a hand on his chin as he thinks, then shakes his head and tells the truth that Hector needs to know, even if it is hard to understand. "it still needs work… look I won't lie, it can be confusing but the best thing you can do is get in a pose that's both alert and relaxed, without exposing yourself. You can't just copy something you have seen without getting that down first."_

 _Hector cringes at being caught, but exhales and leaves his stance. "So you caught me with that one huh…? Alrighty then, so, what I got from that is basically keep making them up until it pleases you and myself."_

" _It would if I wasn't going train you right away, now… we are going to find your stance then, footwork first." Robert got himself in a simple stance no paying attention to his arms, they were slack at his sides, he focused just on the legs. "Come on, get comfortable and put your arms down, you won't need them. This is shadow footwork"_

 _Hector mimics his stance, and lets himself relax more._

" _You don't need to copy me fully, just relax your legs but always keep them ready to even jump, we'll move in all directions, forward, back, left, right get yourself comfortable with the footwork you are making."_

 _By the end of this particular session, Hector managed to get something down, but it is going to need work. He may have the strength and speed, but unless he is up against someone who isn't as skilled or can be overwhelmed easily, he won't last long, his spats against Neo and Robert are a constant reminder of this. And if he wants to be able to make his plan work, he is going to need that skill, and time flies by fast._

" _How do you know so much of this?"_

" _... Eight years of shotokan and shuri ryu aren't for nothing."_

" _You know I don't know what that means, but that's cool."_

* * *

 **Present**

"What kind of training have you been doing then?" Mike asks.

Hector visibly shudders after hearing the question. All the whippings… all the lectures… the eventual actual spars that came after, and the imaginary sound of Professor Goodwitch laughing maniacally in the background. "Special… training, and the first rule of said training… don't talk about her training…" Hector answers hesitantly as a bead of sweat falls off the back of his head.

"Geez, you make it sound like you're being tortured." Ashley points out.

"... Worse."

"Oh don't be such a baby, is that why you have been sitting on the sidelines looking exhausted in the middle a team training session all the time?" Ashley asks.

"Yes, now we are moving on, I'm getting tired and my brand new couch is calling to me." Hector says in a new peppy voice, walking just a bit faster despite claiming himself to be sleepy.

After about another twenty minutes, the team got back to Beacon, with full bellies and another story to tell. In another five, they make it back to their dorm, laughing about some story Reggie told them about his first Grimm kill.

"I refuse to believe that it bit down so hard on you metal skin that it killed itself." Hector says between laughs as he sits down on his couch, which is placed against the wall near Ashley's bed. Mike and Reggie sit on her bed, forcing her to sit next to Hector if she wants to stay relevant in the conversation. She is having fun though so she doesn't mind too much, HAMR is finally growing on her more.

"I wouldn't believe it to, but I can confirm." Mike says through his own softer laughs.

"Well, my first was an alpha fucking Beowolf, still don't know how Port got that… I punched it to death!" Hector says triumphantly, puffing out his chest in the process.

"You got some hard punches, you were lucky you ended the fight before it adapted, the older ones are more dangerous and intelligent than the younger ones." Mike points out.

"Yeah, I think I knew that. Luckily Ash here unlocked my aura back in initiation, I wouldn't have been able to last long without it." Hector nudges Ashley with his elbow, who in turn rolls her eyes and nudges back.

"Miss Goodwitch would have unlocked it if it wasn't me, you would have been fine." Ashley says as she plays with her hair.

"And have an emotional connection with that demon? No thank you, I'd rather have you."

"This team has come so far in such a short time." Mike speaks up before another bickering/blushing match can happen again.

"What do you mean?" Hector asks with a smile.

"This team started out so dysfunctional, Ashley hated you, and I didn't really like you much either, you're too loud." Mike says honestly.

"Yeah, I can agree with that." Hector funnily enough agrees.

"Exactly," Mike chuckles a bit. "Reggie was basically the only one I could rely on, our leader spent more time with other teams and nearly got himself killed the first time he actually tried to work with us." Mike refers to the time Hector went up against Neo, and nearly lost his life for it. Hector and Ashley hang their heads at the memory. "Not to mention you getting along with a total stranger better than any of us, besides maybe Reggie. This stranger also being the one that pushed you too far with your semblance, and I was considering applying to drop out of the team after that." Mike reveals, even Reggie was a bit shocked by this.

"Oh… I'm sorry about that, I am trying to be better now." Hector says with a sigh.

"But I changed my mind," Mike continues. "Obviously I wasn't too keen about it at first, I saw him to be egotistical, and overall a dickhead. Now i'm indifferent about him. But after the docks, when you went out of your way to go after Blake, and fought the White Fang. At first that basically sealed the deal about me leaving the team, but once I overheard that talk you had with Ashley, and promise to be a better leader and partner, I decided to give you a second chance, of course Reggie helped make that decision for me, since he seemed to love the team even as dysfunctional as it was."

"Wait… you heard that?" Ashley asks, feeling heat rise up to her cheeks out of embarrassment.

"Guilty." Mike said with a shrug. "So yeah, I decided to give you a second chance, and you certainly kept your promise so far. You've been with us more, you've trained with us, and thought about how we felt more, I started to trust you more and more and I am glad to say I finally consider you as a friend, a good one at that." Mike said with a smile.

"Wow man," Hector rubs the back of his head and blushes at the praise. "That means a lot. I'm glad you decided to stay with us." He said as he offered a fist bump, using his long arm to get within distance.

Mike rolled his eyes and reciprocated the fistbump. "I'll admit though, I wasn't expecting you to be so accepting of my sexual orientation, of course I wouldn't really care if you did, but it was still unexpected."

Hector just shrugs his shoulders and smiles. "Why would I care that you prefer the same gender other then this thing over here."

"Hey!" Ashley did not appreciate that.

"It was a joke Ash, but yeah, I simply just don't care. Gay, Bi, or whatever the fuck else people have come up with to describe themselves. We're all people." Hector said as he leaned back in his oh so comfortable couch.

"Haha," Suddenly Mike's expression turns more sad, and a more forced happy expression appeared on his face. "I wish my father saw the world the way you do." Mike sadly said as his smile faded away.

Reggie winces at the mention of his partners father, and he to gains a sad look on his face. Hector isn't stupid enough to let this obvious sign fly over his head. Ashley thought the same thing.

"If you don't mind me asking… what do you mean by that?" Hector hesitantly asks.

Mike lets out a long drawn out sigh, and forces himself to look back up into his leaders eyes. "My father didn't approve of my relationship with Reggie, to put it simply." Mike reveals, pushing his taking his glasses off and handing it to Reggie, then pinches the bridge of his nose. "Reggie, you can fill in the rest, I trust them with the story."

"You don't have to if you don't want to man, I can tell that it hurts to think about." Hector points out, leaning back over his knees to get closer to his teammate.

Ashley seems to also be intrigued, and leans on the rest beside her, listening intently on what may come net.

"It's fine, I… I want to tell you both, I haven't talked about it a lot and maybe it would help." Mike says as he releases his nose, his eyes can be seen to have a hint of red on them. Hinting that he is already getting sad.

Hector looks down to the ground, thinking about how he should handle this situation, but goes with the option that if he wants to talk about it, then let him, even if it comes from Reggie. "Alright," Hector nods his head. "Lay it on me."

Reggie nods and gets more serious than any of them have seen before, even more serious then how he was against the Bergingel in the Forest Of Forever Fall.

"It starts off like this, Mike lived in Mistral before coming to Vale, he wanted to be a Huntsman, so he went to the training academy there. His father is also a huntsman, and the family name was pretty well known over there, so a lot was expected from Mike." Reggie begins. "He was able to handle it at first, getting praise from other kids and teachers for his quick progression. But as he got older he realized that he was never attracted to any of the girls, every time one would work up the guts to ask him out, no matter how good looking they were, he'd always turn them down. Then started noticing how he always seemed to stare out the other boys and well… You can figure it out from there."

Hector and Ashley both nod, giving him the okay to keep going.

"Eventually, in his second year, he came out as being gay, and while some people supported him, more were disgusted… even his dad." Reggie continues.

Hector already can tell where this is going, but needs to listen more to see if his hunch is correct.

"His mom supported him the best she could, she loved him, and didn't care for his orientation. His father seemed to calm down a bit after a time to, while it was hard, it wasn't unsalvageable. But then… his mother was killed in an work accident." The news hits the team hard, Mike covers his face with one hand, and rests that elbow on his lap. Hector widens his eyes and curses under his breath, Ashley begins to tear up but holds them back for now. "His father didn't take it well, no one did, and with no one left to temper his father's temper, he eventually began to get more and more open with how he felt about his son. Mike had a hunch that his father knew that it was wrong to feel this way for his son, but it wasn't enough to stop his father from viciously beating him and passing it off as at home training when he got back home from a mission. During all this, we were in contact, just getting into the early stages of our relationship." Reggie takes a moment to take a deep breath to calm himself down. "One day, he found out about us, and didn't take it so well, he renounced Mike of everything but name, and kicked him out of the house, after that, Mike lost everything, he couldn't go back to the school, and being dishonored like that meant that he couldn't find work either. At the time I was going through a pretty rough patch myself, it was around the time I lost my horn. We agreed to meet up in Vale, and live together until we were old enough to attend Beacon, so that we can chase our dreams of becoming Huntsman, I still don't know how we made it this far." Reggie finishes, ending the story as he leans his elbows on his lap, shaking his head at the memory.

"That's it," Mike spoke up. "That bastard… to his own son." Mike cries out. "When I get my license, I am going to go confront him with this, and I want my team to come with me. Can you do that for me?"

"Hell yeah man. I'm so sorry that happened to you." Hector said right away.

"Of course." Ashley said next.

Mike lets out a sigh of relief. "Thank you."

"Well, my turn then." Reggie said as he cracked his knuckles, getting back to his usual mood for a split second before calming back down.

"Wait what? Are you sure? I don't know if I can handle two sad stories in one night." Hector half-joked half-pointed out.

"It's fine, Mike and I, we love each other." Reggie declares, making Mike blush, and even blushing himself a little bit. "So if he is going to reveal something like that to people he trusts, then I will too."

Hector and Ashley look to each other, silently asking what the other is thinking.

"If it's what you want." Ashley said.

"Same with me." Hector said next. The two look back toward their teammate, awaiting for him to start his own story about his past.

"I'm not going to make it longer then it has to, but this is how it goes. I'm a faunus, you all know that, and I'm gay, which you also all know. I lived in a little town called Dust Bowl outside of the kingdom itself in the desert, which I once again already told you." Reggie starts with a chuckle. "Basically it's like this, most humans, not all I know, are racist toward faunus just for existing with animal parts. Now combine that hate with the hate people have for homosexuals. I didn't have it very good, I won't sugarcoat it." Reggie takes a moment to calm himself, his hands started to shake when he started his own story. "I always brushed it off, tried to ignore them, to this day I don't know how they found out I was gay, but I tried my best. I lived on my own, I have no idea where my parents are, could be dead for all I know, or maybe they are still in Vacuo somewhere, I honestly couldn't care less at this point." Reggie steels himself for what comes next, literally, his semblance steels up his whole body and he nearly breaks the bed with the added weight he got. "One day, the teasing about my horn, and all the times I got jumped, and all the times I refused to fight back besides hardening my body, it was nowhere near as hard back then so it was still able to hurt. I had Mike to fall back on, but I knew he had his own issues so I passed it off as training at Shade, the school had a branch that was meant for more training then learning. But one day… it went too far. I was jumped again, and I hardened myself as always and prepared to take the beating, but color me surprised when I noticed that I was pinned down against the sand, and I heard a industrial buzzsaw rev up." Reggie clenches his fist so hard that it cracks his skin, but his aura gets to work on that one right away. "They broke my aura, and without aura, there is no semblance. I kicked, and screamed, and I kept begging for them to stop, but they just laughed it off." Reggie moved his hair to reveal his scar.

"I thought you told us it was surgically removed…" Hector points out sadly.

"I lied, whoops." Reggie said. "They cut off my horn, and then took with them to hollow out and make a horn out of it. That was the day that I had enough, and I ran away. The rest lead up to me meeting Mike in person, and training together until we were old enough to apply to Beacon, I managed to sneak onto a ship and stowaway the whole way here." Reggie finishes, a single tear trailing down a metallic cheek as he finishes he story. He lets the metal fade away, and let himself be comforted by his partner in a hug and a quick kiss on the lips.

"Im appalled." Hector seethed as he looks down at the ground. "Reggie, I promise you we are going to make the right, we may not be able to get your horn back, but I'll make sure you get justice." Hector let his anger show, and didn't bother to hide his own tear that fell from his face, he balls his hands into fists and tenses up.

"Thanks for the offer, but I have my aims set higher." Reggie reveals after a moment of recovering.

"Huh?"

"I want to become the headmaster of Shade, that way I have the power to fix the bullshit that goes down up there, it's a lawless place to be, you can get away with almost anything, as long as you don't kill someone, I want to get some authority there. Boss, I don't want revenge, I want order for my home kingdom." Reggie said with a smile, shocking both Hector and Ashley with his declaration.

"Heh," Hector chuckled. "Should have expected that from you. Alright, I won't tear up all of Vacuo until I find your horn, and I'll help you however I can once we graduate." Hector makes a promise he knows has a big possibility of not being able to be kept, all the more reason to save Beacon.

"What about you?" Mike asked suddenly.

"Huh?"

"Do you have any stories to tell?" Reggie asks next.

Ashley doesn't make it obvious, but she is also interested in her leaders past.

Hector takes a long moment to think about how he should answer this, they'd never believe the truth, and trying to tell the truth would only get him glares and scowls since they'd think he was joking in a time like this. So he settles for a half-truth, and a forced lie that he would have to make to make it believable.

"I didn't have a rough life, I had my down moments but nowhere near to intensity of yours." Hector begins simply, his team nod in understanding. "I was mostly on good terms with my mom and dad, and on _very_ good terms with my little sister Rhea, she was always there to brighten my day up." Hector said with a smile, but then it quickly turns into a sad look as he remembers he might possibly never be able to see any of them again. "I don't know what happened but… they all just… disappeared, one day they were all around the house, and the next, gone without a trace, I have no idea what happened, the next thing I know, I'm going crazy looking for them." Not a complete lie, he only searched up many families in hopes of finding his own surname, he never found any.

"Gone without a trace?" Ashley asks.

"Yeah, never saw them again, been about two years." Another lie, it's been a few months on Remnant so far, but they wouldn't believe the truth. "I guess the constant pain I feel is… wondering if I am ever going to see my family again, I lost everything overnight, and the next thing I knew, I was applying to be a huntsman. I didn't really know I wanted to be a huntsman until I really gave it a shot, I don't know how I got into Beacon with no previous training but, i'm here. The rest you all know already." Hector finishes, leaning back into the couch, somehow able to not even let his eyes water from thinking about his own pain, he's become numb to it.

"Wow… that is somehow really shitty to think about." Mike says unexpectedly.

"You know I don't speak in riddles, you're going to have to be more clear then that." Hector pointed out with a sad smile.

"You had a loving family, and you loved them, you had things to cherish, and you lost them all overnight without even an explanation, not even a home if I am guessing correctly." Mike explains.

Well, he isn't _too_ far on that one. "Huh, guess you're right." Hector says with a shrug.

"I can relate." Ashley, catching the attention of everyone there. She is sitting curled up with her knees against her chest, and her arms wrapped around her knees, her eyes barely visible through her hair.

"Ash?" Hector calls out to her.

"I said I can relate, I wasn't going to speak up about myself until you went ahead and said all that." Ashley clarifies, lifting her head out from her knees. "I… had a family, a lot like yours, but I was an only child. I lived outside the kingdom of Vale, in one of the more isolated villages. Far from any other civilization, and that means also far away from any help…" Ashley trails off, extremely hesitant to keep going, but does so nonetheless. "I'm going to keep it short, and I am only telling this story once. So pay attention." She demands to her team, who nod to her without hesitation.

In truth none of them expected her to open up like she is now, but none are about to let her miss this chance to become closer with everyone.

Ashley takes in a long, deep breath, and lets it out just as long.

"My family and I were the only faunus in the village full of humans with nothing better to do then harass us. As a child I never understood it, and thought there was something wrong with me. My mother always comforted me by saying that there was nothing wrong with me, but with the humans in the village, that they have evil in them that corrupted their hearts. My father always said something similar. So yeah, skipping all the bullshit of us getting harrassed and bullied around, the humans decided to kick it up a notch, a _lot_ of notches…" Ashley begins to let out raspy breaths, and begins to shake at the memory that haunts her dreams to this day.

Hector raises an arm slightly, hesitating to give her some physical comfort, but goes back on it out of fear of being rejected right away. He can feel how distraught she is, and it is getting to him.

"They attacked us, while we were sleeping. They threw molotovs into the house, I was panicking, crying, didn't know what to do I was just a kid! My mother knelt down to me, and pointed to a hidden door I didn't was there until that day. She said to me "Go in there Ash, keep crawling until you find another door, and push it open and get out, keep running until you come across the next settlement, they'll take care of you." Then she pushed me in and locked the door… through the crack I saw them butcher my father, who tried to fight back with a machete, and the beat my mother to death." Ashley loses her composure there, and begins to cry into her arms, not able to continue the story from there.

Hector raises his hand once again, and this time places it gently on her back. She snaps her head in his direction, tears still flowing out of her eyes, but surprisingly doesn't push him away, instead she leans in, and cries into Hector's chest, moving her body until she is pressing up against him.

"Is that why you were mean to me at first?" Hector said.

Ashley nodded against his chest, before turning her head enough's so that her voice wouldn't be muffled. "Y-yeah… I wasn't exactly fond of humans after that."

Hector nods understandingly, and wraps his other arm around his partner. "Ash- Ashley… i'm so sorry that happened to you." Hector mumbles as he holds her tight.

Mike and Reggie move close as well, and they all wrap their arms around each other, all in a team effort to cheer each other up.

"We're glad you shared that with us Ashley. We're a team, and we'll always be there for each other, so if you have to talk about how you feel, we're all available whenever you want. As leader I make it an official order." Hector said as he leaned his chin atop her head.

Ashley weakley chuckles. "You dickhead… y-you can call me Ash if you want. It feels weird when you call me anything else." She mutters into his chest.

"I think it's time to go to sleep now, this night has gone on long enough and we've made more progress in this night then in three months. Objections?" Hector asks his team.

"Nope." Reggie said right away and is the first to break away from the group hug.

"Same." Mike said as he slowly broke away next, and walking over to the joined and laid in it without another word. Leaving just his leader and last teammate on the couch.

Hector wonders what to do in this situation. Ashley hasn't moved yet, and he is feeling comfortable, and she isn't resisting his touch whatsoever. So he does what any normal person would, and heads off the sleep himself right then and there, while leaving his arms loose enough so that Ashley could move away if she wanted to.

Little did he know, his faunus partner was already fast asleep, and with a smile on her face. They didn't even get into their pajamas.

* * *

 **Robert's POV**

 **Elevator up to Ozpin's office.**

"Really? Are you sure you don't want the other noodles that are in the fridge?" I asked, seriously they were good.

"I don't need them, and you seem enjoy them so I see no reason to take that away from you when I do not crave food at the moment." Glynda answered.

"Well, thanks, but it's not like I can eat all of them alone, besides I don't believe you don't crave any of it, you haven't been eating much yourself lately. Why exactly?" Glynda took a moment, she looked towards ground and then back at me and spoke after realising a heavy sigh..

"We have a situation on our hands and it's more complicated than you might think, I won't lie when I say that I may have lost some of my appetite over it."

"Does it have anything to do with the students? They seem to be doing fine these last few days."

"It's nothing related to them, thankfully, and yes the students seem to be progressing rather quickly, although some select students could be doing better."

"You are thinking on the whole show Abel put up aren't you?"

"I'll admit I am."

"At least he stopped trying so hard to impress that girl from two rooms over, took me forever to tell him that's not how you get someone's attention, he was letting it show even in his spars, in other news team HAMR seem to have a better relationship with themselves, looks more stable now, most first year teams are starting get a better grip on themselves, and we are getting the second years to act more coordinated in team fights."

"Yes, I know, and we still need to see what partners are going to spar with you two on one by the next week."

"You just love pressuring me don't you?"

"Perhaps, but knowing you it is what you need to get the most out of you. You like to test your limits after all." I knew what she was referring too.

* **Sigh*** "I'm getting a better control on it, I can make solid energy and even shapes now, I can manage it." Glynda didn't answer for a bit, but eventually she did, just as the elevator reached its destination.

"I hope you can, because you are gonna need it soon."

"Glynda what's going on? You are not usually this vague on anything."

"I'm just concerned for my apprentice, I don't really know if you should be helping with a matter such as this so soon after your employment."

"What exactly?" As I said that the door opened and inside Ozpin's office where both him and Professor Oobleck… Dr. Oobleck.

"Ah, they are here, good, excellent, fantastic! Come here son, we have no time to waste." Oobleck said he was managing some images and files in Ozpin's holo table.

"Hello Dr. Oobleck, good to see you again." I've said as I extended my hand for a hand shake.

"It is good to see you as well Mr. Urra, and I'm glad you are here, we are gonna need all the help we can get with this dilemma that we have on our hands." Oobleck said in a rapid fire way while going working whatever he was doing, shaking my hand and sipping his own coffee… all at the same time. Don't ask me how he managed that.

"And that would be? I've gotten no answers as of yet."

"It would be a matter of the security of Vale Mr. Urra." said Ozpin from his chair.

"Hmm?" as soon as I said that… or hummed that, Ozpin pushed some buttons, the glass of the office became darker, and soon there was a projection in front of me, one of a Grimm jellyfish looking creature.

"Say Mr. Urra, do you know about what a Grimm Seer is?"

* * *

 **AN- Long as all hell but we managed it, not going to lie when I say it was hard for me to write all the backstory down for HAMR, but in the end it paid off, felt very satisfying. -Genatools**

 **You guys have no idea what this could have turned into, and oh boy what could I have possibly gotten myself involved with now? -CrowSkull**

 **My eyes hurt, and we've been working on this for many hours, so I hope you all enjoy it! This story is going to be getting more intense soon, and I am getting much more serious with it. I'll see you all, in the next one! -Genatools**

 **This giant filler of an episode is just the beginning of it. -CrowSkull**

 **Please review and tell us what you think! Seriously, let us know.**

 **Disclaimer- We do not own RWBY in any way shape or form.**


	15. Rwby: Team HAMR chapter 15

**AN- As always, reviewers come first**

 **Zeldawolffang- I agree, I don't like him either, and I wrote him into existence.**

 **Astra- Sun means well, he just has a weird way of showing it. Don't think too hard about Tyrian, the possibilities are way too plentiful. Glad that you mentioned Mercury, and Emerald, you might see them more than you expect. It's hard coming up with creative names for this, and to be fair Ashley is the only one on HAMR with their hair being derived from a color, so give me that much at least. Harems are just not my thing, but for those who like harems i'm just going to joke about it, both in and outside the story. In a nice way of course. You know I should have wrote that, it actually did got through my head when I was writing that particular scene. But I gotta ask you right now, do you really think I am going to be** _**that**_ **predictable with the pairing? C'mon you should know me better by now. Everything in the IPOP paragraph was fun to read, and thank you. Writing feels scenes is new to me, so i'm glad I was able to write it well enough like that. I was nervous at first, and went through a dozen of ideas in my head for each character, Hector was the hardest, since the truth isn't something any of them would believe. As for Rob's secret mission, can't say anything about it, but it's going to be more and more important for his character. - Genatools.**

 **He mean he doesn't yet have the full details of it, I do, I'm still not telling. - CrowSkull.**

 **Thank you for the review as always, I'll see you in the next one, be it in TBH, or Unlikely Hero. - Genatools.**

 **Liiweing- Thank you for the praise! I hope this blows up one of these days, me and my co-writer work hard on this each chapter, seriously, we almost fell asleep on the last one we worked on it so long. - Genatools.**

 **Now let's get right into the story!**

* * *

RWBY: Team HAMR

Chapter 15- Good Looks

 **Ozpin's office.**

 **Robert's POV**

I looked directly at the hologram, analyzing it from top to bottom, Seers really looked differently when you could see one up close, it certainly looked like it wasn't normal, as for the question, I was familiar but completely knowledgeable of all it could do? Not really, so…

"I can't say I do really, certainly haven't seen them on all the Grimm encyclopedias I've been reading." I say as I pace around the room looking at the seer from different angles.

"That's because they are not in any of the encyclopedias or books related to the Grimm, they do not appear or spawn like any other Grimm." Ozpin explained simply.

"Really? Why?" I felt the need to ask.

"That would be because of by whom they are created by, and how they act, truth be told there's actually a lot about them that not even we know about." Oobleck said rapidly… so he was referring to Salem, but they didn't need to know I knew. They had their secrets, and I had mine.

"Um, whom?" I asked to feign ignorance.

"Mr. Urra." Ozpin said. "I called you here because we are in a dire situation, and that direness is relevant to who created this creature, and yes you heard right, someone created this monster or more appropriately something."

"Something?" I gently interrupted, thinking hard about what this mission may actually be for me. Is it a training mission? A mission to see if I can be trusted with secrets? So many possibilities that I just have to wait and see for myself what this truly means for me.

"Yes, this creature is an extension of another ancient Grimm creature, it doesn't act like other Grimm, and it has other abilities as well."

"Yes, such the spreading of negative emotions, and in an very unnatural way at that. They also have some form of telepathy, along with other ways affect to the mind, and in some extreme cases, they can affect how one can perceive reality." Oobleck rapid fires with his voice.

"So… they are intelligent then?" I already know that answer to this question, but still felt the need to ask, besides there's definitely some things I didn't know, they could seriously affect pieces of reality then?

"They are, and the goal of this one in particular is to infiltrate Vale itself." Ozpin said with finality. I blinked, I wasn't expecting this really. An infiltration, this soon? If this happened in the show then I missed it entirely.

"Excuse but… how can something like that infiltrate a city, and if is trying then… well how do you know that."

"Modus operandi of previous Seers, and as well that… we fear it might already be technically inside the city." I picked up Glynda's voice from behind me.

"Wha- what you mean it's already in the city? How? Who- how's that possible? When did this happen!?" I asked with a very concerned voice. If this thing was in the kingdom already… if it knew what to look for, or _who_ to look for. It could spell disaster for Beacon and certain individuals.

Ozpin added a few more images to the hologram, this time there were schematics of serious amount of tunnels, and people in orange robes and black masks, the robes looked a bit similar to the ones the White Fang used, however they were more ornate and had more designs to them, and the mask, it didn't resemble a Grimm, it was just a black flat mask. Interesting design all in all, if a little bland.

"As for where the creature is in the city, it's not on the surface, it's hidden underneath, probably in the old tunnels far beneath Vale's own sewers." Ozpin said as he zoomed in on the hologram.

"Old tunnels?" I ask, a bit perplexed.

"Ah, you see Mr Urra, Vale has its own sewers, however the current system we have today, is built up above the ruins of its predecessors over the ages, those ancient tunnels are far further beneath the surface that of even the sewers, they were used for many reasons, some were private escape tunnels for ancient noble or the ancient king, some were just old sewers, some were used as secret passages during different time of war, including the great war itself." Oobleck said really fast.

"Huh…" That's… a lot to take in.

"Since they are so ancient however, a big portion of these tunnels are in ruins, and many of the passages have collapsed, the map for this massive network of tunnels with passages and big chambers has been lost with time, as of now, no one in Vale has been able to map it properly, and it's extremely dangerous to go into those tunnels."

"Dangerous because…?"

"Grimm! The place so distant to the surface and it has been the center of many tragic events, they were built because of war, paranoia and other fear related issues, these ancient tunnels are not also a hive of Grimm-" Oobleck began to explain.

"Vale's on top of a hive of Grimm?!" Really?!

"Vale was there before the tunnels, the tunnels themselves kept expanding and soon enough they reached to far below the surface, the Grimm actually are equally as lost and trapped on those tunnels, and we'd know if one of them tried to reach the surface, for the moment we are safe, and the bounty boards sent huntsman regularly to clean the parts of the tunnels we have managed to map." Ozpin explained calmly.

"That however is still a small portion of tunnels, some of these can expand perfectly across all of Sanus, having entrances that we don't even know about, that's how we presume the Seer managed to infiltrate, through an entrance we didn't know about. Or of the many as a matter of fact."

"So… it's far below the ground, in an area that's not mapped that's also a place that if I'm hearing correctly, it's giant maze basically." I simplified.

"Not only that, but the deeper on goes into the tunnels, scroll signals begin to disappear, communication becomes unreliable, and a majority of the cases there's a total loss of it… there many Huntsman that we never heard from again when they tried to go into these tunnels." Oobleck said sadly… shit.

"So a giant death maze where people can get no help at all." I simplified again.

"Precisely and it's down there, we fear it would eventually try to influence the people above ground in some way, or worse, organize the Grimm down below that has no doubt aged a dangerous amount, and start an invasion, with enough time it could mass an army that even the defenses we already have won't be able to deal with." Ozpin said as a matter of fact. It did look pretty bad, and considering the other things coming… seems like Salem really is taking no chances. But that is what concerns me the most, Salem is taking more steps then she did before, at least with what I know now. Was this also happening behind the scenes? Was this how Cinder managed to infiltrate Beacon so… easily? They do have Leonardo on their side but still… this is a lot to process.

"So that's the situation, but how do I fit in? And well who's that?" I asked looking at the robed masked guy.

"Well, we do believe that the Seer has had some help." Ozpin said.

"Huh?" Of course there's more. It wouldn't make sense if there wasn't more.

"This, is a member of recently formed group or organization, they are called "The Chorus of Dawn", their "goal" is to bring humanity, both human and faunus, and rest of the world into a "new era of peace", we learned recently they also believe that includes living in coexistence with the Grimm, more that just the current status quo, they obviously don't tell that part to their newer recruits." Glynda said.

"So… they are a cult aren't they?" I said looking again a the hologram of the member.

"A cult which started a few years ago and have no real clue as to who started it, but based on previous actions, and we have been able to gather this last weeks, they are seem to have the idea that "The kingdoms represent all that's wrong with Remnant today and that they should be tear down", however they see fit."

"So probably at the expense of millions of innocents and any sort advancement in society until today. So Cultists and anarchists, de wrong kind of anarchists at that." Of fucking course.

"Precisely, they do seem to have some deals with some criminals groups in order to maintain and sustain themselves, and anyone that asks to many questions or just push their wrong buttons whether from the inside or outside the organization… we have had reports of killings, in an execution style too." Ozpin said, showing me images of various news articles, so a little bit more and maybe I can call them Zealots.

"They have apparently helped the Seer, or the Seer is using them for it's own purposes, however be the case, we have seen them appear in different parts of the city with activities such getting new recruits, getting favors from some criminal groups, doing their own plans and also getting supplies down into the sewers, and possibly into the tunnels." Glynda said, explaining all of that with different photos that appeared on Ozpin's screen, however as she said that, something clicked in my head.

"That means… they know where in the tunnels the Seer is at."

"Precisely." Ozpin said.

"So they are the way we are going to find it, shadow them, interrogate them, and later go into the tunnels with whatever map they have and cut the head of the snake."

"Well deduced, I sense that you are onboard this then?" Ozpin said, looking at me with a grin on his face. Shit, well to be honest this _was_ something that has to be done, it was possibly complicated and it sounds like it is going to take its toll on me… Glynda looked apprehensive, I don't think I can turn my back on this however, for all the people in Vale and Beacon… this could eventually lead to the difference between life or death.

"I don't see much of choice, someone has to help… but why me?" I asked, I was still genuinely curious why they asked me and told me all of this.

"To be perfectly honest we don't have enough people skilled enough to deal with this… delicate situation Mr. Urra, you seem to be discreet enough, smart enough and skilled enough to handle yourself with this." Said Oobleck.

"Really? There's no one else for this?" _What about Qrow?_ I ask myself in my head.

"No one within reach for the pressing matter, and no one in your position." Ozpin said.

"My position?" What was he referring to?

"You, by definition are not a Huntsman, at least not yet, but you are also not a student nor a direct member of any sort of group of Huntsmen or law enforcement, as time has passed these "cultists" have been recognizing the patterns of law enforcement and even of some huntsman that have been sent after them, recognizing even whos is who is that regard, whether they pay attention or have someone telling them when to run, they are adapting to the normal procedures and channels, as such… someone more unaffiliated could possibly surprise them, and help us to also catch them red handed." Ozpin explained. Is he making me an snitch? I'm going to infiltrate them?

"So… I'm a covert operator… I'm not a spy or a double agent though!"

"Come again?"

"Ozpin there's many things I can do, and I can lie, more or less well in fact but making an entire second life is not… something I could maintain." I say a bit more desperate, I honestly couldn't maintain something like that for very long, I don't think I could really.

"Oh, don't worry Mr. Urra, I'm not asking that of you." Ozpin said with a chuckle

"Oh thank goodness." I sigh out of relief as I rub my forehead with the back of my hand.

"I'm just asking you that you act to capture them in their activities, helps us do that too, and maybe even collect evidence as to where the Seer is hidden. Anything related to mapping the tunnels is progress in fact."

"... I can possibly do that."

"Eventually this could mean going into the sewers and tunnels yourself too." Ozpin said, there was a silent pause all around, I looked around, they seemed quite serious about this last part… was I ready for something like that? Maybe? Glynda however looked… concerned.

"Glynda?" I ask her, snapping her out of her stupor.

"I will be honest, this mission will be very dangerous for you if you are not careful. I do not know if you are entirely ready for this." Glynda shares her honest thoughts. "I do not wish for my apprentice to become another name on the Beacon memorial, so please don't allow me to have to put it up there myself."

"I don't plan to go suicidal, in anything, however crazy I might seem sometimes. I don't plan for that to happen." I respond, I would honestly maybe joke about this more but… I can't joke about this.

"That is all I can ask of you. You will have a set amount of time before we assume something went wrong with your mission, we can send search parties throughout the areas we have mapped but… if you aren't in those areas then we cannot guarantee a successful rescue." Glynda explained grimly.

"So I am definitely at some point go deeply into the tunnels…" I say letting that thought get across. Glynda nods for her part.

"If necessary, I'll go with you and help you, across all this mission we'll all work together, you, us, the police, maybe even other huntsmen, you'll have to report what you find and we'll also hand whatever information might be useful, is just the tunnels that really worry me, many people have disappeared there."

"I'll be trying my best to be safe." I assure her.

"I would dare to hope that you do." Glynda said with her arms crossed.

"If you soon get into fight or you get in trouble it might be good for you to finish your own weapon." Ozpin says "Something that can work with your semblance can surely benefit you in this mission."

Right… oh. "Umm… we've made progress." I say pointing between me and Glynda. "The dust chamber still needs adjusting and some tuning so that all works well."

"Semblance fighters are rather uncommon, Mr. Urra. It is difficult to have a weapon that suits them, a proper catalyst, your design is quite particular I must say, Glynda herself is one the only semblance fighters in Vale and has had some difficult times in the past." Ozpin says, pointing at her.

"He has made progress Ozpin, he has more control now than before, and has started using some applications for his semblance in combat, he's proficient, by tomorrow morning we should be able to have his weapon ready."

"I'm quite glad you two are working together on that matter, it is good to see Glynda finally opening up to someone." Ozpin said with a small chuckle.

"Right…" I say a bit embarrassed as I rub the back of my head, Glynda seemed little a bit too, but Ozpin seemed a bit too happy with us which is good.

"Sorry if this seems strange Mr. Urra, but like I said, Semblance fighters are rare, even if you approach to that term is more unorthodox than others, but it is refreshing to see even people so young capable of it."

"Huh…" Really, people that used their semblance more than other things were really not that common? What about Hector? He doesn't really know how to fight but he makes up for it with his semblance, then there's Yang, and then Nora when she gets electrocuted, Ruby, Weiss, Blake… and many others that came to mind. Was there a specific difference? I shouldn't think on it too much.

"But like I said, they are uncommon." Ozpin said in a much more serious tone. "And it would be shame, a waste and loss of needed talent if something happened to you, that's why you need to be careful, and have all your tools at your disposal."

Glynda and I looked to each other, he was right I'll need everything I had if something went bad, and eventually for the tunnels, we both nodded, knowing that my weapon or catalyst we'll need to be ready, possibly another hour tonight, and finish it tomorrow.

"Now it would be wise for the two of you to get some sleep tonight, classes start up again very soon, and it would be very unfortunate if you had to teach combat while under the weather." Ozpin said with a tap of his cane, officially adjourning the meeting for tonight.

"Understood!" Glynda and I both said in unison as we spun around and headed straight toward the elevator without a second look back.

Oobleck quickly followed, only taking the stairs instead of the elevator, with his speed he might even get to ground level before the elevator does.

Now alone in his office, Ozpin looks out of his window and to the kingdom of Vale. He takes a sip from his mug as he thinks of the next step they must take.

* * *

 **The next morning**

It was looking like a beautiful day outside of team RWBY's dorm. Ruby is the first to awaken after a long day of cleaning up the mess her, and her friends caused in the cafeteria the day before, and mess would be an understatement if you asked Robert about it. Ruby sits up in her bed and stretches her arms out with a yawn, despite what happened, she had a great night's sleep. She hops off her bed and stretches upward one more time just for good measure, hearing and feeling the sounds of her bones clicking as built up pressure is released. She is careful to stay quiet so that the rest of their team can enjoy their well needed rest, luckily classes begin again the next day, so she doesn't have to force any of them out like she reluctantly had to do before. It was turning out like a great morning, until…

" _WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU IN MY BED?!"_ She hears what she can only assume to be the all too familiar angry screech of Hector's faunus partner. She nearly jumped out of her socks at the sudden scream.

" _WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN!? THIS IS MY COUCH! Why did YOU fall asleep on ME?!"_ Ruby hears her poor friend yell back, along with the irritated groans of the other members of the team.

At this point the rest of her team is also groaning and covering their heads with their pillows. Team HAMR's antics are something they are more then used to, and are usually always ready for one of their not this time.

" _THAT'S_ _IRRELEVANT! WHY DIDN'T YOU WAKE ME UP!?"_

" _FOR THIS EXACT REASON! NOW WE'RE SCREAMING AT EACHOTHER! AGAIN!"_

" _THAT'S NOT AN EXCUSE YOU PERV!"_

" _HOW AM I BEING A PERV WHEN YOU WERE THE ONE WHO FELL ASLEEP ON ME!?"_

" _S-SHUT UP PERV!"_

The next thing Ruby hears is a crash, and the familiar sounds of wrestling and multiple things being destroyed. She hears glass get shattered, and for some reason growling, but instead of going to see what is going on like she did the first time. She decides it would be better if she just let them release some steam.

"Why haven't we moved yet?" Blake's question was muffled by her pillow, but was still relatively understandable.

"Because Hector is our friend, and you know how Ruby is with her friends." Yang answered for her, voice also muffled but easier to understand.

"I have half a mind to tell a professor about this…" Weiss grumbles.

"No, no, no, we don't need to!" Ruby quickly protests before the rest of her team can make a choice. "Im sure they can handle this on their own, if it makes you all feel better, I'll go talk to Hector about this later on. Sound fair?"

"You just want to tell him about your new upgrade for Crescent Rose." Yang accuses, lazily pointing a finger at her younger sister.

"Well, yeah! That, and other things!" Ruby doesn't even think about denying it. Hector is one of the few people who actually listens to her rambling about literally every weapon she sees. "Like how I managed to think of a weapon for him, want me to tell you all about it?"

"NO!" Yang, Blake, and Weiss exclaim in unison. But then Yang takes a moment to consider this.

"Alright just tell us what weapon it is without all of the long details." Yang said, now more intrigued in the idea of her hand to hand rival having a weapon to fight with. Even though Hector is literally the only other person who uses their body to fight Grimm rather than a weapon, and even then the leader of team HAMR doesn't even have a weapon yet.

Weiss, and Blake mutter something about betrayal, before Weiss gets up, grabs some clothes, and scurries off into the built in bathroom before Ruby begins her rant. Poor Blake is left in her bed as she attempts to muffle out the iminent non stop rambling of her team leader.

"Yes! I'm so glad you asked." Ruby said as she jumped up into her sisters bed in a blur of red rose petals. "It goes a bit like this..."

* * *

"Tell me again why I am banned from my own room for the rest of the day?" Hector asks as he brushes his teeth and attempts to fix his messed up hair after yet another scuffle with his ashen haired partner.

"Because I said so, and Mike, and Reggie are too lazy to try and stop me." Ashley answered as she combed her hair.

Mike and Reggie both shrug their shoulders, and nod, silently agreeing with her statement. Reggier muttered something about being sorry. While Mike just buried his face in the next installment of Ninjas Of Love.

 _He never did tell me if he talked to Blake about that book… Gonna have to ask him or Blake about that later._ "Wow, thanks for the support guys." Hector said after his spit out the toothpaste and washed his mouth. "Since I am banned from my own room, I am going shopping. Clothes shopping to be specific."

"Pfft, about time, your current outfit was beginning to hurt my eyes." Ashley joked as she began to tie her hair in it's usual ponytail.

"Yeah, green combat pants or whatever the fuck you call it doesn't look good on me, neither does the long sleeved shirt, I get it." Hector gestures to his clothes as he says this, while it does look cool when he uses his semblance, since the dragon design on his shirt glows red along with his aura. The rest is just meh at best. "Which is why I am getting a new look, hint hint, it's gonna have short sleeves instead."

"If you manage to find anything that looks good on you, I'll actually be impressed." Ashley said with a chuckle.

"I would recommend more red in your attire, it would match your aura, and your tendency to go past your limits when you know your body won't be able to handle it." Mike adds, one hand on his chin as he thinks of more things for my new look to consist of.

"Ooo, how 'bout you get it custom made? Get the team name on your chest or something." Reggie gasps as he thinks of the greatest idea ever in his mind. "Lets _all_ get something like that!"

"No." Ashley said right away.

"You're probably going to force me into it if I say no so whatever." Mike said as he flipped a page in his book.

"I think it would be cool." Hector said with a shrug. "It would make us look more like a team in the Vytal Festival tournament, I know for a fact that it would make us stand out."

"Three to one! Sorry Ashley, but you are going to have to get HAMR on your pants." Reggie said with a victorious thrust of his fist into the air.

Ashley sighs exasperatedly, but doesn't bother to protest it any further, knowing her teammate he would just keep bothering her about it until she accepted the terms. So might as well just give in to the inevitable.

"Alrighty then, sounds like a plan, I'll leave it up to you guys when and where you're getting that special design. Make sure the H is red, the A blue, M green, and the R orange. Since that is the color of all of our auras." The team leader said as he stepped backward toward the door.

"Yes! As creative as ever Boss!" Reggie exclaimed, making sure everyone knows that he agrees with this idea. Even the ones who aren't in the room with them.

"Great! See you all later!" Hector said as he bowed and walked out the door.

Now that the leader is gone, the rest of the team seems to be lost on what to do. Hector was the one that always came up with the ideas after all…

"So guys… wanna go play that board game with RWBY and JNPR?" Reggie suggest with an awkward smile.

"Sure." Mike said as he shut his book. It would give him a chance to speak with Blake about said book after all, it may be able to lift her spirits. He has noticed that she has been quieter than usual, well, _more_ quiet than usual.

"Whatever." Ashley said as she finishes tying up her hair.

* * *

"Jaune why are you sitting outside your dorm?" Hector asked as soon as he left the room. He walked out only to see his blonde guy-friend sitting on the floor outside his own dorm, looking down to for whatever reason. _Wait a second… didn't this happen later in the show? Or earlier? Shit I lost track._ Hector thinks to himself as he walks up to Jaune and crouches down in front of him. "Yo, you there?"

Jaune finally perks up as he notices one of his first friends besides his own team and Ruby crouched down in front of him waving his hand in his face. "Hector? Yeah i'm fine, just thinking about my life choices and all that." Jaune said in a downcast tone.

"The look on your face says it all Jaune." Hector said as he sat down next to him. Making his friend feel better is worth the wait on his clothes by about ten minutes right? "Tell me, what ails your spirit young warrior?" Hector asks as he attempts to copy Professor Ports voice, he gets the tone up to a T. But the pitch is all wrong and sounds like it is cracking with every word.

Jaune laughs and nudges his friend in the side. "No, not that kind of sad. More like… confused…" Jaune said as his face turned red.

 _Wait a second, this never happened before._ "What kind of confused are we talking about here?" The leader of HAMR asked, even leaning in a bit to hear his blonde friend better.

"The girl kind…" Jaune hesitantly answered as he looked away to hide the new color on his face.

Hectors eyes seem to light up as he hears those words. It means something both good and bad. Good because he has a pretty good feeling about who exactly the girl is and bad because this never happened in the original story. "Oh…" Hector pasues to make sure what he is thinking is actually what is going on. " _Oh_ , _that_ kind, okay Jaune, I'm here to help. Hector the love inspector is here to assist!" Hector exclaimed excitedly.

Jaune hide is face in his hands and resisted the urge to laugh at that. "Please don't call yourself that."

"I dunno man, I like the ring to it, it rolls off the tongue yeah?" Hector asked with a little glimmer in his eyes. Using Jaune's own line against him.

Jaune just sighs, and shakes his head. "I regret letting my sister convince me to use that line."

"So who's the lucky girl?" Hector asked with a nudge of his elbow. "Wait don't answer that, I think I already know already." He cut the blonde off before he could begin to stammer anything out.

"There's no way you could guess it." Jaune was willing to bet.

"Green eyes, red hair, gold spartan armour, member of team JNPR, name starts with a P?" Hector listed off, pointing a finger into the air with each part of a certain not so mysterious girl.

Jaune regretted he ever made that mental bet…

"Yeah, you two aren't as inconspicuous as you thought." Hector points out with a shug, amused by the embarrassed expression Jaune now has on his face.

"You forgot _way_ out of my league." Jaune added with a mostly sad voice.

"Dude, you can't be serious."

"I am totally serious! She's a championship fighter, while I am just… Jaune, the lovable idiot."

"Have you ever taken a moment to think _maybe_ that's what she likes about you?"

"..." Jaune doesn't look too convinced yet, thinking that Hector is just trying to spark hope into him. Man, he really was stupid when it came to reading girls.

"Alright obviously beating around the bush isn't going to work with you." Hector said as he looks Jaune dead in the eyes. "Listen, Pyrrha likes you, romantically, everyone can see it, everyone knows it." Hector stated bluntly, leaving Jaune speechless as he finally realizes all those time Pyrrha was trying to get his attention. "Everyone also knows that you are the most dense guy on the fucking planet, either that or they're just really envious of you." Hector said next, clapping a hand on his friends shoulder and pushing himself up.

He stretches his arms above his head one more time before reaching down to offer Jaune a hand up, "The look on your face says it all. I'll leave you to think about how dumb you are since you're not grabbing my hand." Hector takes his hand away and scratches an itch that has been bothering him ever since he sat down next to his friend.

"I know Ruby and her team has been begging us to hang out with them in the library today, but you can just tell them that my team has banned me from Beacon for the because of something that is definitely _not_ my fault, and I headed out into Vale." Hector said as he walked away. Knowing damn well that he wasn't actually banned from Beacon itself but rather his own dorm.

Jaune is left to his thoughts, just as the leader of HAMR intended. It there was something Hector just felt like he _had_ to change, it was Jaune, and Pyrrha's relationship. He just couldn't help it, he knows the upcoming Vytal Festival had a possibility for Pyrrha's death, but that's just more motivation to make sure none of that fucked shit happens.

Hector had a victorious smirk on his face as he began to search for just the right person to help him out with his new look.

After a an hour of Hector searching the school, literally almost every room that didn't have an employees only sign on it, he finally found a certain second year, beret wearing, mostly brown clothing on, and an assortment of jewelry on her body. The leader of team CFVY has finally been found.

"Yo! Coco!" Hector greets her with a friendly smile. The two of them talked a few times before, first time was her team thanking him for stepping in and helping Velvet out with her 'bird' problem. The next few times were casual conversations about whatever came up when he couldn't find anyone else to talk to. But he would never let that information actually reach her.

"Oh look who it is! The leader of HAMR coming to say hi to little old me again?" Coco teases with a smirk, but is happy to see him nonetheless.

Combined with all the teasing he has had to live with, from Yang and Coco mainly, he managed to build up a decent resistance to it.

"Yup, just for you." Hector played along with a wink, making Coco giggle for a few seconds. "I actually need a favor."

"Oh? What kind of favor? I can help with a _lot_ of things." Coco very obviously flirts, but that is just how she is. Nothing serious behind it.

"The kind that actually involves us with our clothes on sadly." Hector said with fake sadness.

"Darn, thought that one would have gotten to ya. Alright, what do you need kiddo?" Coco asked, letting her sunglasses rest on the bridge of her nose so that he could see her eyes.

"Well, I couldn't help but notice that you are pretty good with clothes." Hector began, taking a seat across from her.

"Oh my god are you asking me to help you with getting a new look?" Coco asked with boisterous laughter. "And pretty good? If you want me to help you you're gonna have to do better than that sweetie."

"Alright fine then, _oh wonderful god of fashion, may this humble poor child request for thine assistance in picking out clothing_?" Hector's voice was laced with sarcasm, but somehow managed to get the humble servant accent perfectly.

Coco couldn't help but burst out laughing. "Oh you're too much kid." Coco complimented. "Alright, it's a date then, when are we going?"

"About nowish if that's okay. My team kind of kicked me out of my own room for something that is not my fault."

"Are you and your totally-not-soon-to-be-girlfriend fighting again?"

"When do we not fight? And please don't call her that, like, ever again."

"Psh, you were a lot more fun when we first met."

"When we first met you grabbed my butt and spanked me."

"Exactly! Those were the best reactions I've ever got from a guy."

"You mean me screaming and accidentally breaking the door?"

"Do you want my help or not?"

"Yes! Okay we're leaving now."

Hector stood up and offered a hand to help the 'lady' up.

"Such a gentlemen, if only you were a year older." Coco teased as she gracefully accepts his offer.

"If I was a year older I don't think I would have many options if you were after me."

"Smart to." Coco complimented as the two of them started making their way to the Bullheads. "So what kind of look are you going for?" She asks as she eyes him up and down for 'research' purposes.

"Well, I don't really like the long sleeves, but I like the dragon design since it glows when I use my semblance so that can stay, so basically almost everything needs to change, which is why I needed an experts opinion." Hector explained as he rolls the sleeves up to behind his elbows.

"Yeah, I think short sleeves would look good on you," Coco said as she circled him, totally not checking him out or anything, only thinking about what clothes would be best for Hector. "I'm glad you asked me for help now, because I've just learned that I really don't like your fashion taste."

"Hey! Ozpin was the one who picked this out for me." Hector swiftly defends himself.

"And it is your fault for wearing this atrocity for the past two months."

"Would you rather me walk around in just my boxers? Wait don't answer that-"

"Yes."

Hector sighs and slaps a hand against his forehead.

* * *

"So _fashion master_ , where are we going?" Hector asked the leader of CFVY as they walked down the sidewalks of Vale. They arrived to Vale a short amount of time ago, with Coco almost throwing him out of the Bullhead as soon as they landed.

"You'll see, I have just the right place in mind." Coco replied as they took a sharp right turn.

"Does this place happen to be a good place for hunters to be seen in?" Hector asked in a half-concerned half-playful way.

"Eh." Is all he gets as a response.

"I have regrets."

"The only regret you should have are those clothes, and that hairstyle is going to be needing fixing to so i'm glad I also know _just_ the guy to look for."

"What? What's wrong with my hair?" Hector didn't really care about doing his hair in the mornings, just let it flow wherever it wanted to, it's not even that long either, it's actually shorter than Jaune's. It just kinda stops growing there, for whatever reason.

"It's too… out there. And not in a sexy way." Coco said honestly, even reaching a hand up to his head a trying to fix it the best she can. Luckily she is taller than most girls at the school so she can reach up there pretty easily.

"I am going to be judged every step of this little field trip aren't I?" Hector asked with a roll of his eyes as he gently slaps away her hand.

"Yup. You should have already known that." Coco answered with a smirk on her face.

"Ignoring the insults, what color do you think should be my thing? I like red, but we kinda have a lot of that already, I mean Ruby is basically all red, and then there's Pyrrha which is again all red, and then my aura is literally just red fire." Hector said as he crossed his arms and tilted his head up as he thought.

"It's trendy, go for it, don't let others influence how you want to look." Coco said with a nudge as she flicked her hair to the side.

 _Yeah, I think you got that trick down perfectly._ "Alright, fair enough, so what I have in mind so far is-"

"Wait don't tell me yet, I wanna be surprised." Coco said as she shushed him with a finger on his lips.

"Aren't you supposed to be helping me?" Hector asked as he leaned back from the finger.

"Yeah… but I also want to opportunity to laugh at you." Coco admitted shamelessly.

"You are such a great friend, I can rely on you for anything." Hector said sarcastically.

"Awe~ thanks boo." Coco somehow made that sound so believable and sarcastic at the same time. So much so that Hector just laughed and shook his head.

* * *

"So… 'The WearHouse' huh?" Hector asked as the two of them finally find the place that Coco was looking for after about an hour of walking

"Yup, what you think I got all this beauty from a generic clothing store?" Coco asked, a little offended from the presumption she assumed was made.

"I just thought you got it just from blessing the ground with your every footstep." Hector resorts to flattery to calm her down.

"Thing is, I know you're playing me, but you're right." Coco said with a very feint flush on her cheeks. "C'mon lover boy, let's see what this place has today." She said as she sauntered her way across the unusually empty street.

"Am I going to be happy at the end of this walk?" Hector asked as he followed.

"Possibly, only one way to find out really." Coco said as she held the door open for him. "After you." She politely said with a mock bow.

"Cute." Hector said as he walked into the store, only to immediately be met by a blast of thick warm air that somehow managed to smell pretty nice actually. "Wow… this place is a lot bigger on then I thought." He said as he looked around the seemingly endless aisles of clothing of all different kinds, but there was a specific area of the store that caught his eye, one with a sign over it saying "Clothing for hunters".

"Go, lose yourself in the fashion." Coco whispered almost seductively into his ear. "Do it." She pushes him forward and disappears into a different part of the store.

"What they? How did you do that?" Hector asked as he watches his companion for the day fade away. "Geez, what is this place?" Hector asked himself as he gave up on finding his friend and went into the area that caught his eye. As soon as he stepped into the aisle his nostrils were assaulted by an even greater smell, this time cooler air with a strange but not unpleasant smell to it. "I swear if I walk out and it's the next day I'm going to be pissed."

"Do you need any help?"

"AH!" Hector yelps as he jumps nearly rams into another person. "Where did you come from?"

"I work here, I am here to help those who seem hesitant." The strange person responds.

Hector can't say it out loud, but he honestly can't tell if this new person is a girl or not.

"I uh…" Hector hesitates, pondering in his head on whether or not he should accept help from the stranger, despite he/she claiming that they work here. "Okay… I uh, got any short sleeved black shirts with this dragon design on it?" He manages to ask.

"Right here." The person takes their hands from behind their backs and presents the exact shirt that Hector has just described.

"Wha- do I even want to ask?"

"Store policy states that we are not allowed to share out secrets." The person said with an emotionless voice.

"Uh… huh. Okay then, i'm not even going to ask if you got the right size out of fear for my sanity. Do you guys do custom designs here?" Hector asked as he remembers the earlier conversation with his team.

"Yes." The person nods.

"Great, because I am the leader of team HAMR- don't know if you heard of us or not - and we are thinking about getting similar designs so we can all stand out in the tournament." Hector explained.

"Details." The person requests, no, demanded.

"Uh… make the H red, A blue, M green, and the R orange." Hector said right away, honestly a little afraid of the strange person.

Said strange person turns the shirt around, to reveal the exact same design that Hector had just described. Leaving the leader of HAMR actually a little afraid for his life now.

"Done, that would be eight hundred Lien." The person tosses the shirt to Hector, who catches it with his shoulder and face.

He doesn't hesitate even for a second to take out his card and quickly swipe it on the device that was held out for him. He doesn't know how much money he has left, or even if he has money and has just been driving himself more and more into debt, but something is telling him that he doesn't have a choice but to pay right now.

"Thank you, anything else you need sir?" The stranger asks as politely as they can despite the emotionless voice.

"Uh… any idea where… the comfortable combat pants are?" Hector asks with a fearful voice.

"Yes, in the next aisle to the left." The stranger leaves as suddenly as they appeared, leaving Hector awestruck and afraid as he quickly ran to the aisle he was directed to.

"Oh God… that was easily scarier than any Grimm Salem can come up with." Hector said to himself.

"Need any help sir?"

Hector screamed.

* * *

Meanwhile Coco is in a different part of the store, looking at jewelry that she could potentially add to her look.

That is until she hears Hector scream.

"Huh, looks like him and Daisy are getting along well." She said to herself nonchalantly as she decided that she should probably go look for him.

* * *

"Where did you come from!?" Hector asked the same stranger that had just appeared out of nowhere for the second time.

"I was here the whole time sir." A different more feminine voice answers him. "My name is Daisy, I am the co-owner of this establishment. Do you need any assistance?" Daisy asked with the same emotionless voice as the one before.

Hector backs up one step, just to make sure he isn't about to get abducted or anything crazy like that, even though the word crazy may be a bit too light to describe the owners of this place.

"Yeah…" Hector said before he could stop himself. He mentally curses himself for it to.

"How may I assist you then?" Daisy asked with a very small but noticeable smile.

"Uh… Hunter pants." Is all Hector could respond with.

"Certainly, wait just a second." Daisy literally fades away into the wall a second later, leaving Hector wondering if that girl actually existed in the first place.

"That was… weird-"

"Which one do you like better?"

Hector nearly jumped out of his shoes as soon as he heard the soft emotionless voice.

"I apologize if I frightened you Mister Rivers."

Hector whimpered as the monster said his name without him telling her it beforehand.

"I-it's okay… I just… wasn't expecting it." Hector said as he straightened himself up.

"Understandable, now please, choose." 'Daisy' said as she held both her hands out, one having a different more appealing shade of green for different but better looking combat pants, and the other being of the same brand but a blue color that makes it look like jeans.

Hector actually calms down and thinks for a moment on the choices that has been presented to him, he would be getting a straight upgrade with either of the choices he has here, the green actually looks good with the shirt he has draped over his shoulder, and it would make himself easier to recognize should he choose it. But the blue one looks just as good, and even looks very comfortable to wear. He thinks for a couple moments as the diminutive woman waits patiently for him to decide.

After about a minute of thinking, he rests his hand on the green pants. "This'll do."

"Good choice." Daisy said with a bigger smile then before. The blue pants seems to disappear from existence, and in place of it is much better looking combat boots that are already twenty times more appealing then his brown ones he is currently wearing. "I presume you would also be looking for these as well?" Dasy asked as she tilted her head.

Hector didn't even try to think about the logic behind this and just passes it off as a semblance of sort.

"Perfect, you were a real help, five stars." Hector complimented as he took both of the pieces of clothing in one hand.

"Wonderful, I am grateful to have been able to assist you." Daisy said with a small bow, and raised her right hand at the same time to show the same device the other person had. "That would be one thousand five hundred Lien."

Hector again, without hesitation, slides his card down the machine, as soon as it beeps, Daisy looks up at him, smiles, and then disappears from sight.

"Please tell me that she doesn't have some crush on me already…"

"Hey killer!"

Hector screamed again.

* * *

"Oh. My. God. I didn't know your voice could go that high!" Coco said through her laughter as they stopped at the changing room, which is just a square spray painted into the floor in a more open part of the store.

"You scared me! I was already on edge the whole time before and then you just pop out of nowhere." Hector defends with a beet red face.

"It was adorable, I don't think I care that you are a year younger than me anymore, now strip and show me what you got." Coco said with a flirty grin.

"Please tell me you mean the clothes…"

"I mean the clothes." Coco said with the same grin.

"I am afraid for my innocence." Hector said as he began to take off his shirt. He wears nothing underneath it and ignored the wolf whistle as he threw his old shirt to the ground with a soft thud.

"Damn, a lot can happen in just two months huh." Coco said as she didn't even try to hide the fact that she was looking at his exposed upper body. "Well, are you going to take off your pants?"

"I don't think I should…"

"Oh stop being a pansy, this can't be the first time you are going to be half naked in front of a girl is it?"

"..." Hector refuses to answer that question.

"Oh my God it is!" Coco exclaimed excitedly.

"Am I witnessing the beginnings some sort of rape here?" Someone asks from behind them.

Hector and Coco both widen their eyes at the all too familiar voice. Coco out of shock and a decent amount of fear. Hector out of just pure surprise mixed in with a little awkwardness.

"Yes." Hector answered, seeing an opportunity to get back at the girl that has been torturing him with teases and judgements all day today. "She is into kinky stuff like that."

"Shut up!" Coco shouts, now red faced for the first time in front of Hector.

"Please, save my virginity Mr Urra! I shan't have it stolen away by this fiend-... oh wow!" Hector cuts himself off as he notices his Earth friend's new look. "- I mean, please save me!"

"Ugh… Adel please don't rape this one, okay?... Adel?" Robert said as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

Coco eyes the young professor up and down, and seems impressed with his new look. But the smile on her face fades away as quickly as it came, and she tackled Hector to the ground faster than either of them could keep track of.

"Ugh- Coco it was a joke please!" Hector said as the two of them wrestled on the ground.

"NO! How dare you make me blush! In front of the new guy no less! That is MY THING. MINE." Coco said as she scratched at him. Luckily their auras are protecting them from any real damage.

Hector manages to pin her down, but unfortunately not in a good enough position since she still has a very good reach of his face with her free hand.

"I might have been excited for this if you weren't such a dick right now!" She said as she slapped his face.

"How can you possibly say that to me, do you know who you are?" Hector asked as the two of them pushed against each other.

"Ahem, please get up and stop making a scene." Robert said, he wasn't pinching the bridge of his nose now, he was holding it alongside all of his face in some sort of next level nose bridge pinch.

They both hear this and calm down a decent amount, Hector slowly releases the grip he has on his fellow leader, and slowly stands up.

Coco has other plans, while she is willing to let this go, she isn't about to let Hector have the last laugh. Thus, she kicks him right in the hammer, making him lose all the air in his lungs and fall to his side to a wheeze.

"There, problem solved." Coco said as she fixed her clothes as Hector writhed in pain on the floor. "So what're you doing here teach?"

"Looking at what I'm wearing on right now, it's should be pretty obvious." Robert said as he presented himself.

"Ow…" Hector whimpered, but ends up being ignored for now.

"Huh, gotta say, didn't think any of the teachers would know anything about fashion." Coco said as she eyes him up and down.

"Well there are exceptions for everything." Robert said as he looked a bit at himself, he had a sleeveless vest that was dark blue in color and black accents on the shoulders and at his sides, they were more regions with just black leather, on the neck it had grey fur making a small yet fancy fur collar, beneath that there was a combat sweater of the same blue with its sleeves rolled up to the elbows, he had combat pants now, black more loose combat pants with his calf length boots and a strapped bag at the side of one his legs, one loose strap from his belt was hanging from his middle section and at his right side he had somewhat of half skirt, pretty similar to what Coco had at her right side, only a bit bigger and of the dark blue color. He also had some gauntlets with square slick design with black fingerless gloves and metal knuckles, the gauntlets had some sort golden highlights with a centerpiece and beneath them you could see some black arm bandages.

"Well you did a good job teach, be careful because you might attract the young girls." Coco complimented with a wink that she made sure was visible by moving her glasses down.

"Hmm, well thanks, so what are you two doing here?" Robert asked, unaffected by the tease. At least not visibly to the others.

"I was helping get this hopeless idiot get a new look for himself, which reminds me…" Coco flips Hector onto his back. "Get back up and show me what you got."

"I can't feel my dick…"

"The feeling will come back, just don't use the bathroom for the next few hours." Coco said like she had experience with this as she helped the leader of HAMR up from the ground, well, help is a strong word.

"Oh gosh, I am ignoring what you just said." Hector said as he shakingly stood back up on his own.

"Relax Hector, that's not much worse than what I do other people in sparring matches, it was one kick for example." Robert said with a smirk.

"Or a knee." Coco said backing that up.

"Or a shield" Robert said.

"Damn right" Both of them said in unison with a high five.

Hector groans as he reaches for his new shirt. Shivering at the mere thought of receiving more than one of those kicks to his groin. "Ignoring that. All of that." He said with a pained voice as he slipped the shirt over his head, this shirt being much tighter to his body yet much more comfortable, almost like he is wearing nothing at all. With the same red dragon design except much more detailed and generally just looks alot better than the one before. "Okay, I hope you like this one because I am _not_ going through all of the again." Hector said as he rolled his shoulders and looked about his own body.

"Better, much better than before." Coco said with a approving nod.

"Looks good, much better… yeah it will do." Robert said with a small shrug.

"Great! Now take those pants off." Coco demands.

" _This place doesn't have dressing rooms?"_ Robert whispers to Coco

" _It does but this is way too entertaining for me, also kinda let curiosity get the better of me if you know what I mean."_ Coco whispered back.

Hector sighs, and starts zipping down his pants, turning his back to the two in an effort to give himself at least some privacy. As soon as the unusually heavy pants hit the floor, Coco whistles the same tune from before.

"Damn kid, got an ass on ya." Coco compliments, luckily Robert doesn't have the same over-the-top curiosity that Coco has. So he respectfully keeps his gaze on the word HAMR on his back, and not daring to go any lower.

"Please stop and give me my pants." Hector pleads.

"Nah, maybe if you turn around I will." Coco teases.

"Rob, please help, you're my only hope." Hector pleads with the professor.

"I mean… eh it's decent if you ask me, I think that doesn't leave much room for imagination, think you can give him his pants?" Robert ask Coco with a smirk, he also having fun in some way, just by how embarrassed Hector looked.

"Im just having a hard time believing Mr ladies man over here is too embarrassed to let his lower half out in front of a girl. I mean he still has underwear on at least. Bummer." Coco said as she blew hair out of her nose.

"Yeah… Bummer. Alright Rob unless you want to see my bulge I'd like that pants now."

"Just toss him his pants." Robert said to Coco, she incredibly obliged, apparently she had her fun, "Okay, but seriously how many people does he have in the train of ladies already, I swear is more than just six or four… or, wow I lost count." He said back to Coco.

"It's not like I did it all willingly!" Hector exclaimed as he caught his pants with his free hand. "Finally! Protection."

"I've never seen a guy say the word protection with such a happy expression on their face." Coco said with a barely stifled laugh.

"Haha yeah go fuck yourself." Hector said as he slipped his new pants on. This one easily being ten times more comfortable then his old ones. If a little tight in the crotch area but he can manage. "Alright, thoughts?" He asked as he turned around while zipping up.

"Much better, _much_ better." Coco said with a glowing expression.

"Okay why did she say it like that, what's peeking out?" Hector asked as he looked back down to his legs.

"Your ass looks pretty defined now." Robert said shamelessly with snort.

"Oh god dam- whatever, this'll do." Hector said with whispered curse and a slightly red face as he tied his new boots back on. Only then does Coco decide to ask his foot size. Honestly it surprises Hector for the sole reason that she hasn't asked him this before, like at all.

"Say, Hec's, how big is that foot of yours?"

"What?"

"I said how big is that-"

"No I know what you said, it's just that I thought you would have asked me that sooner." Hector said as he began to tie the other shoe.

"So…"

"Fifteen." Hector answered simply as he stood back up, feeling out how the foots feel on his feet, again, like the other pieces of clothing he has on at the moment, it feels amazing.

"Oooo. Did you know-"

"Yes, yes I do know what the whole legend is." Hector cut her off, trying his best to keep a straight face as he does so.

"But is it true!? I haven't found anyone willing to tell me the truth."

"... I refuse to answer." _Yes..._

"Oh c'mon, you owe me a favor." Coco said, stepping up to him and stabbing him in the chest with the tip of her finger. "Spill the beans."

"I uh… look at the time I should get back to Beacon." Hector said as he grabbed Robert by the hand and pulled him along with him. "Hey Rob, remember that _thing_ we were supposed to work on together?" Hector asked with a slightly panicked voice. Between men this is a cry for help to get them out of a shitty situation.

"Yeah, about that here are going to be some change of plans, I need to tell you some things but after that you'll be slightly on your own" Robert said seriously

"Hey! Get back here you!" Coco shouted as she stomped toward them, before realizing she hasn't paid for her own things yet. "Argh! You're lucky I need to pay for this still!" She said as she turned around and headed the other way.

"Ooo, ominous." Hector said as they made it to the exit, only to stop in their tracks as Hector sees the same girl and other… thing, at the door, one on each side of it.

"Thank you for visting,"

"The WearHouse."

"Please,"

"Come again."

They fade away just as fast as they appeared.

"I do wonder what they do in their free time… if they have any…" Robert pondered for a second.

"I don't ever want to come back here again, you have no idea what I just went through. Just for a new set of clothes." Hector shivered as they left the store, to see that it is now night time. "HOW!" Hector exclaimed as soon as he realizes the sun is down.

"Time flies, huh." Robert checked his scroll. "It's almost time then, we'll talk about this in the morning at Beacon, in Spanish just so you remember the language."

"Yeah yeah, whatever." Hector said as he stretched his arms above his head. "But I couldn't help but notice that you seemed to enjoy being around Coco… want a wingman? Hector the love Inspector is here to help!"

Robert looked back at him with blank stare. "Please tell me you haven't been saying the same thing to the likes of Jaune... because if that's the case love lives are doomed."

"Hey! I'll have you know that I helped Jaune a lot with his girl problems, and you'll never guess who the girl is."

"By pushing him in a specific direction instead of letting him make his own choices?"

"Close, I tried to be gentle about it but he just couldn't get it, so I just had to let him know what literally everyone in the school sees when Pyrrha talks to him." Hector said with a guilty shrug. "Don't give me that look."

"I'll give you that look, you should worry more about your own love life, like I said before, I lost count, and that's just counting the ones you know personally."

"Oh God, please don't remind me of the ice cream girl that I feel has been thinking about me a little _too_ much recently."

Robert blinked. "I was talking of the ones inside the school."

"Oh… I probably shouldn't have said that huh… Well if it makes you feel better I'm not as dense as Jaune…"

"You sure? What about that girl in the cafeteria that shared some desert with you, or the ones that cheer for you in sparring, or the ones that look your directions sometimes… or the ones that-"

"Stop! I get it! I mean, come on already, It's not like I'm intentionally trying to win every girl in Beacon's hearts. Literally all I've done is exist and fight on par with Yang, have an awesome semblance, maybe stopped a few White Fang assassinations, fought multiple criminals and saved lives- Okay I can see where you're getting at." Hector surrendered himself as he listed off almost every reason he might be attractive to a girl.

"Explains why I received some death threats when I beat you… oh well, go back to Beacon I still have things to take of here. And also be careful... you might bring the attention of other less noble women… or men who knows these days."

"Yeah, I see what you mean…" Hector said in a more serious voice, ignoring that last part almost entirely. "Glassy might have an eye on me already."

"Doubt it, if anything it would be as a target, listen, one of the main reasons why you are popular at Beacon right now is because you are tall, for her that doesn't matter, she'll just see you as an obstacle or a problem to be dealt with, either way, try to lay low a bit, you don't want to draw too much attention to yourself." Robert warns.

"I'll see what I can do, she should be arriving in Beacon any day now." Hector said in a much quieter voice. "What do you wanna do about that?" His voice is barely above that of a whisper.

"Keep an eye on her, I'll tell you what to do during the dance since now I know my idea is possible… but I also have other matters on my hands."

"Yeah, we'll talk about that in the morning, I'll hold down the fort in the meantime." Hector said as he made it to the Bullheads that will take him up to Beacon. He made it in record time but he didn't really noticed. Why Coco decided to take Hector around the entire city looking at almost everything is beyond him. Since the store is literally about a block away from the Bullheads as he just learned.

Just as Hector waves goodbye and steps into the Bullhead, Coco bursts out of the store with about a half dozen bags in her arms.

"Where is he!?" She asks Rob in an almost demonic voice.

"Gone, he escaped." Robert said unfazed.

"Damn it! I'll get those measurements Hector… just you wait." Coco said as she plans something, before realizing that she just said that out loud in front of one of the teachers. "Keep a secret? I might reward you for it."

Robert raised an eyebrow "You know the myth is usually bullshit right?"

"Then why didn't he just say that? Or are you just trying to steer me on to a different path." She accused with a smirk on her face, looking down to the professors feet. "You are a teacher but you're only a year older then I am by the way." She said with a wink.

"Two years."

"Huh?"

"Reached twenty in July during the break, I sang happy birthday to myself while fixing a flamethrower, yeah the flamethrower was the candle."

"That just makes it even better!" She looked at him again measuring them size to size, they were practically the same height, thanks to her massive heels that is. "Yep, New target acquired!" Coco said with a grin.

"Uh… Okay whatever… Do you need help with the bags?"

"Such a gentleman too." Coco said as she handed him every single bag.

* * *

Hector made it to Beacon very quickly, luckily he got away just before Coco bursted out of the store, and only now does he realize just how tired he really is. He yawns as he walks through Beacon and toward the dorms.

Ignorant of the fact that a girl with Black hair tied up into pigtails and mismatched eyes was watching him with a smile on her face. She disappears before anyone can see her however.

A few minutes later, and he makes it back to his own room. He knocks first of course to see if he is allowed in his own room yet.

"Yo, can I come in now?" He says through the wood, hoping to get a response from any of his teammates.

The door is opened and he is pulled in by the collar a second later.

"Dipshit! Explain to me how _Reggie_ of all people is good at strategizing!" Ashley said loudly as she pointed a finger at the metal man who is hiding behind his own bed.

"I am way too tired for this shit right now…" Hector said as he wrenches Ashleys grip off of his brand new shirt.

"Boss…" Reggie whispers loudly. "Please help."

"Look, whatever I missed, it can't be that serious, what even happened anyway?"

"Reggie won every game of Remnant in the library today." Michael answered right away. "And your partner has not been very happy about it."

Hector pinches the bridge of his nose, his dramatic entrance plan now completely thrown out the window.

"I like the new look by the way, looks a lot better now." Mike added.

Hector gets less irritated after hearing this. "Glad someone noticed. Okay, this is what we're going to do." Hector picks up Ashley and tosses her onto her bed, ignoring her indignant wailing, and protests. "Go to sleep Ash, and Reggie you can stop hiding, if it makes you more comfortable you can sleep in JNPR's room tonight.

Reggie was out the door before anyone can even attempt to stop him.

"There problem solved." Hector said with a shrug.

Reggie peaks his head back into the room real quick. "Love the new look by the way, looks badass- AH!" He slams the door shut when a plastic fork is someone thrown into the wall just beside his head.

"Yeah…I think I'm done for today, unless you have anything to say about my new look Ash?" Hector asked with a yawn as he sat down on his couch.

"Meh. Fuck you by the way." Ashley said as she let her head fall on the pillow.

"Cute, goodnight guys." Hector said as he laid down on his couch, which now has white and black strands of hair stuck on it. "Love you all." He added as he felt sleep overcome his body.

"He fell asleep fast." Mike notes as he shuts his book and leans back himself.

"Must've been tired." Ashley said as she draped her forearm over her eyes.

"Ask him to the dance."

"No."

"Why not?"

"'Cause I don't want to."

"You're waiting for him to ask you aren't you."

"Goodnight Michael."

"Alright alright, just a word of advice however, claim him before any of the other girls does."

"How is that advice?"

"Because I said so."

"... I hate you."

 _That ass though..._ Ashley was what thought to herself as soon as she dragged him into the room.

* * *

As soon as Robert reached the front door of Beacon he left the bags there and bid Coco goodbye, much to her chagrin, but he actually had something to take care of before going to sleep, and that included going back to Vale, besides he wasn't the kind of guy to be a servant either. Once back in Vale he went several blocks down various neighborhood until he reached an alley and climbed to the roof of the buildings to get a good view, there, he sat and double checked the coordinates Ozpin sent him… soon enough from door appeared someone in a black mask an orange robes, not noticing Robert spying on him.

"Gotcha." Robert said to himself.

* * *

 **AN- Pretty sure this is the longest chapter so far, I think, haven't really checked. But I know I had way too much fun than I think I should have writing this one. And what's this? Rob getting friendly with our resident Coco? Interesting... -Genatools**

 **That's rich coming from you harem god. - CrowSkull.**

 **Hey! that was an accident I swear. - Genatools**

 **Sorry for the late update, school started back up and I get less and less time to write every day, and Im sorry to say, that isn't going to change for about two- three months. I'll do my best to get back on track but with everything going on I can't guarantee I'll be updating as fast as I did before anytime soon, especially this story since me and my co-writer need a day to ourselves to write. - Genatools**

 **We'll figure it out don't worry, and for next chapter I promise some action, finally! And soon I'll upload a crappy drawing of my current design and outfit to deviantart, I'll tell what to look for eventually.- CrowSkull.**

 **In the future we will have more drawings of the OC's in this story, if you feel like helping us out, feel free! God knows I need the help at least… Love you guys! - Genatools**

 **Please review and let us know what you think! The plot thickens! Action on the way!**

 **Disclaimer- We do not own RWBY in any way shape or form.**


	16. Rwby: Team HAMR chapter 16

**AN- Thank you reviewers!**

 **Zeldawolffang- Me too, it was my idea after all! -Genatools**

 **You are a fucking liar tools, a fucking liar! -CrowSkull**

 **Astra- I didn't mean it like that actually, I mean Michael's hair is blonde, and you can guess that his name doesn't actually mean blonde or yellow. Reggies is brown, and well, same goes with him. What I meant by that was that not every character in RWBY has their name corresponding with their hair/favorite color. That whole second paragraph is something the other guy should respond to instead of me. - Genatools.**

 **...Thanks… Well anyways, technically it does make sense, sometimes it does not, it's the effect of having something really incredible and mysterious be out of your reach so you stop thinking about it… or some other bullshit reason I can come up with. Regarding Latin… you know I'm gonna have to explain that in the future, I already think I have ways to save myself from whatever other blunders like that happen, I'm sure you are gonna spot them before me if they happen, you are making it hard, for that I thank you, you are making my brain work here… well at least it's not like other stuff Tools has done (Jurassic Park incident *cough* *cough*).**

 **You know, I pulled the Chorus of Dawn out of my ass, any resemblance with any other cult is pure coincidence, please contact the industry that generally depicts similar cults for more questions on the matter of making cults or to forward a complaint… but seriously, I just made it in the blink of an eye, and yeah "Semblance fighters" will be explained later. -CrowSkull.**

 **But the third one I can, dude, of course that is going to happen one day. With how thin those walls are, and the location of Hector's couch being right up against that wall. Something is bound to go down. Poor RWBY though… they have to listen to every argument. The weapon I have in mind for Hector is still in the works, but I have a feeling it will be good. Hector is basically a burst damage glass cannon, if that makes sense. This version of him isn't fully prepared for the force of Kaioken, so he has to use it in short bursts, unless he is up against an opponent that is way too strong for him even with the short bursts, he can go full body Kaioken times whatever at the cost of damaging his body and draining his stamina. That is his absolute last resort though, because if that doesn't work, then he's basically beaten at that point. The Neo and Rob fights are prime examples of this. He doesn't have Ozpin in his head this time to basically give him a freebie into being the best fighter in the world, so he needs to push for it himself this time around. Coco would be offended if she wasn't asked for fashion advice, and would you really say that to her face? Hector made the right decision, even if it costed him ball pain in the end. Like I said, I had way too much fun writing that scary clothes shopping arc, the ideas just kept coming and coming. -Genatools.**

 **He's not kidding, he pulled all that straight out of his ass while I just sat there perplexed. -CrowSkull.**

 **They will return of course. You'll see what I have in mind for Neo being in the school already. Vagueness is annoying I know but I gotta do it. About 12.6 words give or take this chapter was. Great now I'm thinking about a butt slam, fear for the future Astra… Thanks for the review and for your continued support! -Genatools.**

 **Seriously we are reaching like half a thousand words just answering you, if more people start leaving reviews like you we are gonna have to do an entire chapter of just answering! Still thanks for the support, we love you, and I still wonder sometimes who you are (Don't think to much about it, that's just my paranoia), I doubt I described my outfit that well to be actually picturable, the guest name and and intricate reviews lead me to believe you were Tools's sister… which he confirmed you are not… yeah… Sorry… One day I'll make those drawings. Thanks for the reviews remember you are in a way making this fic better in quality little by little. -CrowSkull.**

 **Moving on straight into the next chapter!**

* * *

RWBY: Team HAMR

Chapter 16- Courage

 **Robert's POV**

The shattered moon shined above, and the cultist moved along the alleys of the Kingdom of Vale, ignorant of the fact that he is being followed by me on the rooftops. I've heard it many times before, and now I know that it is true, people don't look up, well that's good for me. This chorus member was moving at a calmed pace, he was going along the alleyways going further south in the neighbourhoods that I haven't been in before. He was going in the direction of areas of construction I could see in the distance, buildings… maybe apartment complexes or something else.

Me personally, I jumped through the roofs, moving alongside him but not making much noise, It wasn't like I was right above him or anything, I was actually some distance behind, and always crouched down as I keep peeking my head over the edge just in case he happened to look up. Jumping between buildings felt… nice, the sense of flying short distances with short bursts of power, it was both calming an accelerating, adrenaline inducing, Hector would say that I am being like a ninja, I felt like Spiderman, but following this guy in this manner was even more adrenaline inducing, just like… hunting him. I jumped between roofs while in the alleys and used lamp posts and such when crossing streets, that or more powerful jumps, the movements felt natural, I have climbed up building and houses before, but this was different, the added strength, the agility, the flexibility, the endurance, all the boons of aura combined with what I previously had (Which wasn't bad mind you), the experience I had plus anything I learn from acrobatics and pirouettes while evading and fighting the students… the moves and jumps I was doing now... they were just instinctual, the adrenaline certainly helped… adrenaline… riiiight.

The cultist at this point was a couple a of streets away from the construction sites, the alley ways were pretty much the, only recognizable difference between them was their shape and how much litter they had on them, he looked around the area, not stopping but certainly more nervous, he started looking around, did he even know where he was supposed to go? Was I following some new recruit? Did he even know what he was doing? Well it didn't matter, it appears he reached his destination soon enough, and stood there, waiting it seemed, well let's add that to the list, an hour waiting a top the roof, and half an hour of following him, wonder for how long I'll have to stay awake. Not for very long it seems, soon several figures with similar robes started to appear, there were in total about thirteen more figures, some of them looked more armed than others, however one of them looked more, decorated or ornate, with more detailed robes and mask, in short, he looked the boss. The one in charge. I used my scroll, and started both recording and augmenting sound, I could hear them now through my ear buds, thank you Oobleck for this crazy and interesting tech.

"...-lad you could make it young one." The "young one" looked apprehensive, but the leader softly grabbed him by the chin and softly made him look at him again.

"Something bothering you?" The leader inquired rather threateningly.

"Y-Yes, the one we are meeting… is he really a-"

"Yes, he might not be the most... noble of people out there but he is helping us, we need all the help we can get for our purpose." The leader said with a hand on the shoulder of this guy I've been following.

"So, can he be trusted?" The young one asked, hope in his voice.

The leader chuckled at this.

"I said he's helping us, we can trust him to do that, but we cannot trust _in_ him for anything else." The leader sounded like he said that before many times. "In fact we shouldn't, that's why our brothers and sisters here are ready to protect you and all of us should anything happen." He said showing the other cultists, they responded with various nods and bows, it most certainly must have felt like he had made a new family, well I could respect the fact that they were prepared. Soon enough you could hear the sound of a car pulling over and later step coming into the alleyway, there was a guy in some cargo pants and a jacket. Guess this was a meeting with multiple groups then.

"Glad to see you came like you agreed. I see you brought along quite a few of your friends." The man said, he might not want to show it, but it appeared he didn't like his odds should something go wrong. My hands are twitching slightly, I prepare myself just in case I have to jump in.

"Never hurts to be prepared." The leader said, the new guy let out a chuckle.

"True, well if that's the case I assume you have what we asked for?" The leader beckoned the new guy, he pulled out something from his pocket, not a scroll but something similar, ah… a parchment, basically a storage device similar to an USB, just made to interact with scrolls and terminals. For what exactly in this case… I could only guess. The guy in the jacket took the parchment and looked it over with his scroll, I can not say he looked happy or pleased, he looked more relaxed however, he still looked nervous, whether because of the armed robed figures were still outnumbering him, or because of something else I couldn't tell. He took something out of his pocket and handed over to the new guy who quickly handed over to the leader. It looked like a keycard.

"Storage room 456, that's where all it's stored for now, cannot say it was pleasure to do business with you, but you guys keep your word, that's good enough for me, you know how to contact me or any other of my associates."

"Duly noted." The leader spoked… hmm, it was favors for favors then. The man in jacket went off, getting away in his car, the members of the chorus however, they were still there, the leader was talking directly to the young one.

"You did well Shane, I'm very proud of you." The leader said with a small grin on his face.

"Does that mean… I can come with you now?" Shane sounded hopeful, but also somewhat afraid.

"All in due time, but not yet." The leader said placing a hand in his shoulder. "Maybe next time, but always remember why we are doing this."

"For a new Dawn." All the figures, Shane included, chanted in unison.

"For now you will still work here, in the surface, but we'll ask for your help again pretty soon, you've been doing well, soon you'll be able to join us fully." Shane nodded, whether he was signaled or because he had done this before he started going back the way he came from, seems this lead will still be open for a time, we had to just keep an eye on Shane. However I can still spy on this bunch of upstanding society members. The leader started walking in another direction, not towards the construction site but deeper into the city, seems I could be able to stalk them back to their entrance maybe…

 _ **Clank, Thank, Clung.**_

 _What the hell?_

Just from the corner of the alleway behind a massive dumpster there was a kid, shocked apparently as much as I and the cult were, was he spying on them? Child curiosity? This late at night? From the dumpster appeared some… drunk hobo making more noises, not the worst hobo I've ever saw, definitely looked that he was still moderately kept, no massive beard and no deformities in his face. I've never damned human curiosity more than I have now however.

"Whaderya all doing, whad at making this racket?! Who are you… kid wha- whad are you doing, I'm sleeping here."

The kid looked terrified, I don't know if it was more from the hobo or the armed robed figures… eh, I don't know, the leader of the bunch was looking at them, analysing them, I still had the my earbuds on to listen to them. But my concern for the well being of those civilians sky rockets with every passing second, and I tense myself up as I get ready to jump in if necessary.

"Deal with them, no witnesses, remember." The other cultists nodded, a lack of emotion or expression in the action, the kid was petrified and soon he was grabbed and dragged, he was trying to shake escape, but he couldn't.

"Oi… what are you doing to that boy you freaggin-creepers." The hobo slurred, he tried to get out of the dumpster to do… something I guess. "Whad you doing, hey, let him go!" the hobo tried to tussle with one of the cultists but he brought down with a swift punch, and they began dragging him to to a more out of view alley, I had already called the police, and I was ready myself to jump in, but the leader was walking away with two of the members escorting him, he was getting away… if the police reached here soon I could follow them…

"Sir say again the street this happening in."

"Uh… is in Morokei passage, along with Silvan way, in one of the alleyways please hurry up!" I say in whispers to my scroll.

"We'll be there on a minute sir." A minute… the leader was walking away, and they have already dragged both the kid and the drunk to a more secluded area… the kid was crying for help… _shit, shit, shit, shit!_

The cultists were ready, they were going to silence the kid first, one of the pulled out a blade… a very sharp and long looking blade with serrations near the hilt, apparently a kid wasn't worth a bullet, the cultist was ready to slash his throat. But then without giving it a second thought I jumped in… the robed man gasped but was cut off when I fired a lightning bolt out of my hand that impacted him in the back while I was in the air, sending him flying into another. I landed on all fours on the ground and charged at them.

"What the-" She was cut off as I decked her across the face, and send her spralling to the ground, I threw multiple roundhouse kicks at the ones that were next to her, next to me now, kicks to the legs and their heads while evading their strikes and shots, for the last one I kneed him on the stomach, kicked his leg, and ended him with a flying spinning kick. That was five down, five more to go. I had secured the kid and the hobo, they weren't directly next to the clutists now, but the other ones scrambled, separating… they started to shoot at me, I evaded the the first bullets jumping to the side and in an instant… lightning surge through my body, and in a swift dash of speed, I was next to them again.

 _FlashBack_

" _I don't really know if this is working, I mean I'm trying to do it the way you do it but, I don't know."_

" _Why are you trying to do it like me? I understand that's my best example and how I explained it yo you, but that's where the difference between my semblance and yours start, I require more concentration, and movements "In spellcasting fashion" as you put it." Glynda explained to me._

" _Yeah...sorry."_

" _Point is, your semblance is unique to you, it draws from a different strength and focus than my own, you cannot try to do it like me without the core of your semblance." It took us time, but we figured it out._

" _Adrenaline, excitement, movement."_

" _It's what drives your strength, it's when fighting or doing other actions similar that you really shine, when there are risks involved, when you enjoy it, when you become this determined, when you need lash back at whatever you are facing, that's when you charge up." As she said that I reached deep again, thought just the idea of… moving free, and then my hands were surrounded with lightning and parts of my body left behind some smoke._

" _You don't need to do it like me, eventually you can use your semblance for very similar actions, but in your way, and not some unnecessary incantation, or deep concentration of other dust users, you can find your own way to do them."_

 _FlashBack_

I was behind them, I did a flying kick to the back of the head of the one I dashed behind, the other didn't understand immediately, one second I was a few meters away, then I was behind them, I became a blur of lightning and some particles of ash.

Another one delivered an elbow to the face, some kicks, and grabbed him by the legs and threw him into a wall, the last remaining three shot at me, I dashed again, becoming a blur of blue lightning and sliding to kick his leg, it bent the other way with the sheer force.

"Aggaahh-!" I elbowed him in the chest, cutting his screams and knocking the air out of him and with palm of lightning energy, I sent him flying to a wall, the palm carried it's own little explosion of lightning, some bullets came my way, but they were deflected a by a blade of lightning that came from my gauntlet, a blade long as the blade of a broadsword came from the tip of the gauntlet of my right arm. A blade entirely made of lightning and energy, one would think it was the gauntlet… but it was merely help, the energy came from my semblance. The two remaining cultists seemed surprised regardless if they figured that out or not.

 _FlashBack_

" _\- And you are fast, hard hitting, unrelenting, you hit and run in brutal and unforgiving ways, you come in hard with brutal and unpredictable force."_

 _Present_

With a flick of my left arm, the the blade of the other gauntlet came alive as I faced them directly

" _That's your way."_ Echoed the voice of Glynda in the background of my head, they tried shooting me again, I dashed forward again dodging and deflecting any bullet that came close with my blades, I slashed the leg of one of them as I came close, leaving a nasty cuterized scar, he screamed in agony, in a second I slashed at the gun of the other one, she herself gasped in surprise as her gun was cut in half, I went back and used the still screaming one's head as a springboard with both feet, knocking him out, and swiftly delivered a spinning kick in the air to the last one… that was it, they were all down… and that whole fight, it took like… less than a minute… decent time, could have been better, it need to get better.

"You… are you…" The kid was rambling, okay,

"Uh… here to save the day...? Or night? yes."

"Wha… what happened,." The drunk hobo was up again, and soon I heard sirens, they must have reached and heard the shots, the police came around the corner and soon I had gun pointed at me, that was until I showed them my "Huntsman license" that Ozpin provided to me… they relented.

"Are you the one that made the call?" One of the officers asked.

"Yeah that was me." I responded.

"Okay… wow, well it's a good thing you were here then, and thanks for calling, not many huntmen or huntresses call the police to actually help them, it's also nice that you sticked around unlike other of yours."

"Yeah… I did call and hoped you could handle it but… they didn't have a minute." I said pointing at the kid and the hobo, the police was already helping them, the hobo looked more sober, maybe that punch did something for him, and the kid… he looking at me with some sort of… admiration, oh no.

"I still don't know what's a kid doing this late at night here. He doesn't look homeless."

"We'll try and find his parents. I'm sure he'll tell us where they are" The officer said

"Good. Oh and these suspects, you need to forward them with Captain Howler, they are related with case he is working on."

"So… are you helping him?" He asked.

"Yes I am." Captain Howler could maybe help finding who this specific cultists were, besides that, well today was not a bust, we got more than what we started with, which was Shane's leaving a specific building in an unknown direction, now we knew who he was, we had an idea of where the leader or lieutenant was going to move next, he wasn't the ultimate leader of the cult… just high ranking, storage room 456 then… we had an idea of who he was working with, and now we also had Shane's name… and we knew we could follow him again… all of that, and prevented more executions, seems like progress to me.

* * *

 **Hector's POV**

 _ **Knock knock knock**_

"Ugh…" I groan as I squish the couch cushion further into my face. Somehow my team isn't even reacting to the loud knocking that sounds like it is echoing throughout the room.

 _ **Knock knock knock**_

"WHAT!" I snap, finally getting sick of the knocking and running up to the door. My team all groan in their sleep at the loud sound, but fall right back as soon as it subsides.

"Hey Hec's!" Oh god… that voice is so recognizable I don't even know if it should be worrying or a good thing.

I crack the door open to see who it is anyway, and lo and behold, the whole damn team is there.

"Uh… Im sorry for whatever I did wrong." I say as I slowly open the door. I fell asleep in my new clothes, so it makes things easier since I don't have to get dressed or anything. But with the way Blake is scrunching up her nose suggest to me that I have that morning stench I like to call natural musk.

"Nah, not this time. Except for the fact you still owe me a date." Yang teased with a wink.

"I'm sure whatever it is you four want me to do with you will cover for that." I step out and stretch my arms out above my head. I feel the clicks and popping sounds that to me are satisfying, but RWBY all flinch at each sound.

"I do not believe that is healthy for the body." Weiss spoke up.

"Meh, still feels good." I yawn and lean on the door frame, my hair is messy and I know that, but I am not known for my fashion sense. "So, why did you wake me up?"

"Well you missed class with Mr Port this morning so there's one reason." Ruby answered with a shrug.

I pinch the bridge of my nose and curse myself mentally for that, I mean, I knew I had class with him this morning. But I was just so tired… and I kept getting the feeling I was being watched as I slept so that didn't help anything at all.

"He also told us to tell you that he would like to see you sometime today." Blake added to my pain.

"Okay, I'll let my team know that I am going to be gone for… whenever I get around to it." I lazily and lethargically wave off.

"I can't believe you're one of the best students in Beacon…" Weiss said with a shake of her head.

"I ask myself that every day." I'm being honest there. Pretty sure the only reason I am still here is not because of my grades, but because of the wizard that is Ozpin.

"Maybe because of how you've been going all vigilante and stopping White Fang activity?" Yang asked rhetorically.

"In my defence." I raise my hands up in front of me. "No one was really supposed to know about that."

"I think subtly was out the window when your partner found out."

"I think subtly was out the window when _I_ found out." Blake snapped. Glaring at Hector with a mix of emotions.

Before the next semester started. I went on a little rampage in Vale, stopping robberies and giving some tips to police to raid some of their small outposts. It was supposed to be really low key, but when Blake caught me coming back to Beacon covered in soot, there was really no explanation I could have given and lying to friends was never one of my strongest traits.

I explained to her what I was doing, why I was doing it, which was because of how concerned everyone has been with the increasing rate of activity with the faction. Also, I felt the honest need to tell her I did it partly for her to, telling her I noticed how she kept looking to the news, and kept doing research on them in the library, I wanted to prevent her from getting sleep deprivation and all that. She seemed thankful, but the slap that struck my cheek still kinda stings to this day. But she did end up thanking me and asking me to calm down a decent bit, and at least bring my team into it so I don't end up getting in trouble with no backup.

But when Ash found out…

Let's just say that there was more then one reason why I had to get a new outfit.

"Hey, I was just being a nice guy."

"You could have gotten yourself killed." Blake pressed on.

"Yeah, I can see how that could have been a bad thing."

"Do you have any concern for your own life?" Blake is getting a little heated here.

"Somewhat." I level my hand out and tilt it from side to side, if I wasn't so tired I definitely wouldn't have been this rude. Poor Ruby doesn't know what to do in this situation. Hell, even Yang looks a little awkward. Weiss seems like she doesn't know what to say either.

"You have people who care for you. If you ran into the wrong people…" Blake trailed off and looked away.

I have no doubt that she was referring to Adam, if I saw him, I would have noped out of there immediately. I don't a chance against him as I am now, especially since I don't have anything to block his sword with. Going up against him would be suicide. I would have called Rob and the police to come, along with other huntsman who might have been in the area.

"I get it. I've been calming down now, sorry for worrying you." I wake up a little and realize I have been choosing the wrong words this whole conversation. "Is that why you are all here?"

"Nah, that was just part of Blakes reason." Yang answered for the group, who all nod in agreement much to Blakes dismay. "Like the new outfit by the way, the one you had before kinda made you look like a tree in a way."

"Thanks, and im ignoring that last part." _Wait a second, I recognize those clothes._

Ruby leaned in and gestured for me to lean down and whisper something into my ear. Seeing nothing wrong with it, I shrug and lean down, offering her my ear by turning my head to her.

"Come with us." Is all she said before leaning back away.

"Do I have a choice in this?" I whisper back loud enough for everyone to hear me.

"Let me at least clean myself up." I sigh as I head back into my room before they could stop me.

* * *

"Okay, so let me get this straight…" I have been sat down on Blakes bed and given little to no escape routes. "You want me - specifically me - to help you find the White Fang, and then bust their compound?"

"Yup." Yang and Ruby confirm at the same time.

"And then what?"

"..."

"Why do you need me again? Blake should know where to look."

"It was mostly Yang's idea." Weiss pointed out.

"I think I already knew that, i'm just a little confused about all of this. Weiss and Ruby are going to the CCT, Yang has already claimed me into going to Juniors place with her,," _He owes me a lot of explanations after the last time I went to him…_ "And Blake is going to be the only one actually looking for the place?"

"That's the plan!" Ruby exclaimed happily.

"Oh yeah, I know that already. Anything else I should know?" I glance over to the window for the third time, waiting to see if the blonde faunus is going to make himself know. God I hope he is there.

"Well, we were going to leave now. But for some reason some girl keeps coming to us and asking for you." Yang said with a smirk. "You've been hiding a girlfriend from us?"

 _What?_

"Uh… what are you talking about?"

"Black hair, pigtails, green eyes. Pretty cute, ring any bells? Now that I mention it she never actually spoke…" Yang trailed off, trying to think of anything else she can use to describe this girl.

 _No… this is way too early…_

"Was she also really short?" I ask the last question that needs to be answered. On the off chance that she isn't actually describing who I think she is describing.

"Yeah! So do you know her?"

 _FUUUUUUUUU-_

I sighed, and groaned into my hands.

"I do…" I answer honestly. No wonder I have been feeling like someone has been watching me, it's because someone _has_ been watching me this whole time. "She… is someone from my past." It's not a full lie, but also not the truth. I barely know her as it is.

"Ooo, crazy ex?"

"You could say that…" I say in a downcast tone. "Where is she?" Might as well get my death over with.

"She said to meet her at 'You know where'. Whatever that means." Yang shrugged, before looking at me and noticing just how serious my demeanor has shifted to. "Hey… you okay?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, yeah… I'm fine." I stand up and run a hand through my hair with a exasperated sigh. "I'll come by again later, do the beginning parts of your plan. Yang wait for me down in Vale with your motorcycle. I'll be there when I'm there." Without another word, I head out, swallowing my fear and disdain as I start walking through the halls.

"How did he know I had a motorcycle?"

* * *

I feel my scroll vibrate in my pocket as I head to a dark and mostly secluded spot on the outside of Beacon, it is mostly dark, and I have no idea if this is actually the spot she was referring to. But I am sure Neo can find me anyway.

I take out my scroll, and read the message on the home screen.

' _Glad you could make it :D'_

I sigh and turn around, to not meet to black haired girl like I was expecting, but the pink and brown mismatched eyes that match the hair of the girl or woman or whatever the fuck she is that almost killed me. I tense up as she saunters her way to me, with a smile on her face and a lustful look in her eyes, but I know that there is much more behind that pretty face. The pain from the cuts and stabs she gave me just barely a month or two ago flaring up again. But I put on a fearless look and demeanor as I get ready for a fight.

"What do you want?" I ask sternly.

Neo pouts and waves her finger side to side.

I take this as a message saying, " _You don't get to ask questions right now."_

She points to me, and tilts her head with a confused look on her face.

"Who am I?" I ask, somehow understanding her body language.

She smiled and nodded, leaning on one hip as she awaits my answer.

"Well, pretty sure you would know that already but my name is Hector." I wonder why she would ask me that, i'm pretty sure Roman or someone could just hack in and figure out every little detail about me that are on my records.

She shook her head and frowned at me, throwing down a White Fang mask and sliding it toward me.

"What about the White Fang?" I ask with an arch of my eyebrow.

She then points to me, and then down at the White Fang mask.

"Yeah, not about to tell you how I know about them. What? Is Someone worried they might get found out?" I taunt, swallowing even more fear in an attempt to sound bold.

To my surprise, she actually nodded her head. Shocking me even with her blatant honest answer.

I wonder if I should mention Cinder at all. If I did, then Neo would get much more suspicious of me, and even paint an even larger target on my back. I know a lot of things that I would rather not let the enemy know I know.

Neo teleports in front of me, and I feel sharp cold steel press up against my neck. I freeze in place, afraid to move even the slightest inch so I don't provoke her any more then I apparently already did, the facade I put on is all but gone now.

Neo was much faster then before, no doubt taking me seriously after before, I now know just how lucky I got that she was playing around with me back at Juniors club. She could kill me right now, and get away before anyone would even start looking for me.

She knows this, and smiles up at me. Dragging the blade down my neck and to the side, resting it on my collarbone. She mouths something to me, something that I barely was able to understand given the circumstances.

"W-warning?" I stammer out.

Neo nods and the blade pushes up under my chin. The message I am getting here is to not mess with them anymore, and if I do. Well… I'll get killed. I must have drawn more attention to me then I realized if I am being threatened where I am now. With Neo being a large factor, she could kill me wherever I was, since somehow she had a knack for finding me whenever she wants.

I thought we were done there, but I was very wrong. Neo dragged the blade down my shirt, hard enough so that it hurt, but not enough that it would cut into me. She seems to be enjoying my groan of pain while she drags it back up to my neck if her manic smile was of any indication. She grabs the collar of my shirt, and stared into my eyes, licking her lips as she started to pull me down.

"Finally found you! Where were yo-... oh I see where you were." Robert came around the corner, with his other outfit, the one with the vest and blue shirt.

Neo takes one look at the new comer, and sighed silently with a shake of her head, she looked up at me and gave me one more wink. Robert on the other hand had another question.

 _Wait, was she about to kiss me!? The fuck did I even do?_ Hector thought to himself as Neo sheathed her sword.

"Wait… you are not going at it with an alternate version of my sister right? I mean you are the same size." He said pointing at Neo. "And she's twenty eight I think, how old are you, could you be like lost sisters or something? I'm just asking genuinely curious it would interesting to have another sibling." Robert rambles, describing more bits and pieces of his sister and her height.

Neo just glares at him, the blade that is now an umbrella being put down to her side. But she keeps her hand on my collar.

I look to Robert, and the look in my eyes is all he needs to see. I mean, she did have a blade right underneath my chin as he said that.

"I take it that was offensive in some way… sorry, anyway, umm I'll take this as some forced making out, not that is uncommon in this building, but I need that guy alive, he stills owe me something, and no it's not a kiss, he genuinely owes me money… can take away so he can pay me and well… you two finish this later?" Robert ask in a joyful voice, as if everything happening was normal or a joke.

Neo arches her eyebrow, a little bewildered by Rob's easygoing words. She looks back up at me, and I look back down at her, still mere inches away from her face. She sighed again, the mood being ruined for her. She is disappointed that her fun was interrupted, but that doesn't mean she is about to stop trying. She had me right where she wanted me.

She let go of my collar finally, and let me stand back up straight. I rub my neck where the blade was pressed up against my skin, but I don't make any movements to back away. Just in case Neo had a sudden change of heart and decided to kill me anyway I didn't make any sudden movements.

She eyes me up and down, gives me a thumbs up, smirks, and then disappears from sight.

As soon as she leaves, I let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding. My mind and heart are pounding after the near death experience.

"I didn't know if I was about to die, or worse, being trapped in her little games she likes to play with me." I said as I turned to face my savior.

"I think you already are trapped in those games."

"Oh, I know that. Why do I attract all the crazy chicks? First Yang, Blake, Ash, Oh god do you think that store owner from last night is into me too!?"

"... I wouldn't know, but it's true I don't know what's so special about you."

"I know right!" I agree with him without a second thought, but then I decide that we should get back to business. "She warn-"

"Nah Nah! Gente! Oídos!, Lenguaje!" (People! Ears! Language!)

Hector sighed and switched languages.

"Me advirtió que no me metiera con ellos mas, si lo hago, me matan."

(She warned me to not get involved with them anymore, if I do, I get killed.)

"Okay, lo normal, pero vas denuevo a meterte con ellos igual."

(Okay, usual, but you are gonna get involved with them anyways.)

"Si, pero siento que sabes quien tiene sus ojos en mi. AKA Glassy."

(Yeah, but I have a feeling you know who has their eye on me. AKA Glassy.)

"Tal vez, es posible que sea la que quería hacer el amor contigo, pero quien sabe, te advertí que trataras de tener más cuidado, entre ello, no caminar directo a donde están ellos, SOLO!"

(Maybe, it's possible that is the one that wanted to make love to you, but who knows, I warned you to be more careful, that includes, not walk directly where they are, ALONE!)

"Por lo menos estoy haciendo algo! No quería involucrar a nadie más por esto mismo Que has estado haciendo tú todo este tiempo?"  
(At least I was doing something! I didn't want to get anyone else involved because of this. What have you been up to this entire time?)

"Trabajando en salvar a Vale de una invasion the Grimms subterráneos, y un culto."

(Working in saving Vale from an invasion of underground Grimm, and a cult.)

"¿No estamos todos? RWBY me reclutó para ayudarlas con la investigación del White Fang, así que sabes que pasará esta noche.)

(Aren't we all? RWBY recruited me to help them out with the White Fang investigation, so you know what's about to go down tonight.)

I sighed after saying that, immediately remembering the warning I just got from Neo, if I got through with this, I am going to be an assassination target. If I don't, then I possibly lose friends that I am going to need.

"Si termino muerto, capturado, o algo. Asegurate de este lugar se salve, y no trates nada estúpido."

(If I end up getting killed, captured, or whatever. Make sure this place gets saved, and don't try anything stupid.)

"Wow. De verdad te logró intimidar."

(Wow. She really managed to intimidate you.)

"Sí, supongo que si. Pero mi punto sigue, está bien si me atrapan, ellos no saben sobre ti aparte de ser un asistente en mal lugar en momento equivocado."

(Yeah, guess she did. But my point still stands, it's actually a good thing if they get me, they don't know about you except for you being an assistant at the wrong place at the wrong time.)

"Para esa mierda de sacrificio!" Robert said in a commanding voice.

(Stop that self sacrificing shit!)

"Eso solo el peor escenario, calmate." I say calmly.

(That's only the worst case scenario, calm down.)

"No, no me calmo, tu ya vas en esa dirección sin pedir ayuda, ya estas con la idea que vas a morir, y si si vas solo vas a morir, necesitas gente que te cuide la espalda, por razones no puedo ser esa persona, no siempre, pero tu equipo, JNPR, RWBY ellos, si, ni siquiera Neo puede con todos ustedes, la última vez escapó por que tu mas alguien mas la hicieron correr, no es tan fuerte. La puede vencer"

(No I won't calm down, you already go in a direction without help, you are already thinking you are gonna die, you need people that can watch your back, for reasons I cannot be that person, not always, but your team, JNPR, RWBY they can, not even Neo can beat all of you, last time she escaped because you plus someone else made her run, she's not that strong. She's beatable.)

"Heh, alright I get it." I say with a laugh. "No more of that talk."

"I do have to ask you to guard something for me if I go missing though, I know that might be hypocritical, but I'm going to be fighting something and I don't really know what it is."

"What is it then?"

Robert handed him something, it was a parchment, however there was also similar to a grenade or a mine.

"Esto es importante, ahi tambien hay instrucciones de como usarlo y donde ponerlo, colocas eso durante la gala, en el sótano de la torre, y habrá un apagón que incluirá a todo Beacon y a la torre misma, ¿por que? Bueno… no puedes hackear algo que no tiene poder, me costo hacerla para cumpliera su objetivo, ni siquiera tendrás que pelear con Glassy."

(This is important, in there there's also instructions on how to use it and where to place it, you place it during the dance, in the basement of the tower, and there'll be a blackout that will encompass all of Beacon and the tower itself, why? Well… you can't hack something that doesn't have power, it was hard for me to make it so it did it's objective, you won't even have to fight Glassy.)

Hector quickly pocketed the item. "Lo mantendré a salvo. Buena idea, Yo solo pense en distraerla lo más que pudiera en el salón de baile."

(I'll keep it safe. Smart thinking, I was just thinking about distracting her as long as I could in the ballroom.)

"I've been working on that ever since the day I sent you to the infirmary, had the idea all the way back then, the instructions can go more into detail, just keep it safe, or with someone you think it would be safe. Okay?" He said in whispers, he was still talking in english but wanted to whisper just in case.

"Yeah, I can do that." I nodded, promising to keep the device safe.

"Good"

"So what now? I would think the others are looking for me right about now."

"Well go to them. Don't keep them waiting" Robert waved me off, and not really leaving any room for argument. I nod to him, bump fists, and we go our separate ways.

 **Robert's POV**

And there he goes, the idiot,... I really don't know what to do with him, not when he seems this scared… maybe I should teach him how to lie too, worked well enough with Penny.

"Oh, I heard a conversation here but I could not distinguish part of it, was friend Hector here?"

Speaking of which.

"Hello Penny." I greet her

"Oh, hello Mr. Urra, he was here? Where did he go?" Penny says while looking around for Hector.

"Him and team RWBY are discussing some private mission." I answer honestly.

"Like last time friend Hector and his team when to a club?"

"Exactly like that time." In fact, he still hasn't told me exactly what happened that day.

"Oh, should we help him?"

" _ **Sigh**_ I don't know, on the one hand I think he'll do the right thing in the end, he cannot help himself to do so, but on the other… he's afraid."

"Afraid? What could possibly be friend Hector afraid of?" Penny asked with a hint of amusement in her voice. "By my observations and calculations, his semblance has the capabilities to make him very powerful."

"Someone that has threatened him. Someone very dangerous. Multiple people in fact."

"Who would do such a thing?!" Penny asked with an angry expression, even then she looked really cute, the adorable little cinnamon roll.

"People that are not very nice," I sigh to myself as I rub my own face. "Look Penny, I know you are worried about him, I am too, and for that I need to ask you a favor."

"Hmm?" Penny hummed and took a step closer, indicating to me that she is all ears.

"Keep an eye on him, please, he could be against dangerous people, and he needs people to watch out for him, I have a feeling that if he saw it to be the right thing to do, he'd push himself too far and end up in a bad spot. So, please look out for him, even more than you have before, can you do this for me?"

"... I can!" Penny seemed excited at the prospect of being around Hector more, while also determined to keep him safe no matter what.

"Good." I smile to the android that seems to be more human than actual humans at times.

"Should I tell him about this?" Penny just had to ask...

"Well… if you want, it's not necessary, but if you want to catch these bad guys red handed, then they shouldn't know you are near, and that's easier when Hector doesn't know you are there."

"Oh, that seems like an interesting tactic." She said with a hand on her chin. "What if Friend Hector asks me what I'm doing?"

"Well, you can lie."

"Umm…Mr. Urra you know I can't lie." She said with a more apprehensive look.

"I did teach how to lie however." I said with a grin.

"That's… technically not true." She managed to say back, also with a grin of her own.

"But technically not false." I say, we share a fist bump and laugh, it took some time but, I thought it was interesting to teach her this.

"Very well done, I'm proud of you, truly." I say ruffling her hair, it did feel very real, her expression morphed all of the sudden however. It looked more worried.

"What about you Mr. Urra?"

"Mmm?"

"You seemed to be way more serious than previously, you are in a way always working, I asked and Professor Ozpin did tell me that you were on a dangerous investigation."

"Oh."

"An investigation that, not many professional huntsman come back from…"

There was a heavy feeling in the air.

"Penny, I have every intention of coming back from that mission, you don't have to worry… too much about me."

"Are you sure Mr. Urra?"

"I know that they told you to follow me around Penny… but you don't need to worry, I have more people helping me too, I'm not alone doing this, I cannot bring you with me, and don't want you to in fact, it's really dangerous, but me and the others, we can manage it." _I hope._

"... They didn't tell me to follow you…" _Wait what… wait what?_

"Uh… what?"

"When you brought me back the other time, Professor Ozpin gave me a choice, he said I couldn't keep escaping like that, but this was the first time he saw me come back more willingly, so he proposed that, if I stayed around a professor or someone also in authority, I'll be able to walk around… I said I wanted to follow you."

"... Why?"

"You are among the first have been more lenient with me, the first of the people with authority to treat me more… like a real person, besides my father of course." Penny looked down at the ground and twiddle her thumbs.

The first besides… really?

"So please, be careful Mr. Urra." Penny pleaded with a sad smile. I brought my pinky up in an offering.

"I promise you I'll try my best." She looked more happy now, and so we pinky sweared, just then my scroll started buzzing,

"Excuse me, Hello?"

" _Ah Mr. Urra, It's Captain Howler, Headmaster Ozpin forwarded me your number."_

"Oh, have you gotten anything out the bastards?"

" _Actually yeah, one of these freaks talked, he said the man they were dealing with was called Lionel, we do know of him, he's a messenger, he actually spilled out in his rambling that according to him "this meeting was before meeting some associates in the White Fang in some kind of reunion." We don't know what kind of reunion however."_

"Some kind of reunion… is he a Faunas? How did you even get him to ramble?"

" _He's a kid, a young dumb rebellious one at that, his parents came in furious, and among all the family drama, he started spewing everything. And yes Lionel is a Faunus."_

"Hmm… seems he's dumb and rebellious enough to be willing to execute a kid...hmm reunion… thanks… now wait for a moment.." I put the scroll away from my ear. "Hey Penny!"

"Hmm?"

"I think we might just be able to help Hector in his next secret mission after all." Just as I was looking her direction I spotted someone else in the distance.

"Hey there, teacher hot pants!" Coco shouted with a massive gleam on her face.

"Oh no."

* * *

 **Hector's POV**

Throughout the whole walk back. I think about the choices that I have, which are pretty simple for me to understand.

Option A: Refuse to help RWBY, and leave them to fend for themselves, keeping myself alive but possibly losing them as friends and losing their respect. While as well giving the enemy an advantage and basically letting Beacon fall in the long run.

Option B: Help them, take down the Mech that I _know_ is going to be there at the end of the night. But paint a target on my back. Definitely making an enemy of Cinder, and all those bad guys, and then there's Neo... But at least I'd be putting up a fight.

It's a hard choice to make, one that has to made right _now_ of course.

Then of course I got a second message from the ice cream girl that I apparently have the attention of now.

 _"You managed to get my attention, be careful what you decide to do next. Next time I might decide to have some fun with you ;). Please do give me a reason to give you another visit~."_ \- Ice cream girl.

"Tch, that could mean a hundred different things with you." I say to the scroll before I put it back.

Step by step, I get closer to RWBY's room, until I am standing right in front of the door. I take a glance to my right, and see the word HAMR carved into the wood on the door of my own dorm, where my teammates must still be. It's still early so they are probably just getting up right now.

It would be so easy… to just give up and return to my team. Live out and last until the shit goes down, and get out before anything could happen. But I'd have to live with that the rest of my life. If I can even call this my life. I'm not even on my home planet anymore.

I even turn my body toward my own door slightly, almost giving into the fear I know I hold within myself, the fear I know Neo must have sniffed off of me. Probably Rob to if the way I was talking was any indication.

I think long and hard to myself for what felt like half an hour when in reality it was just a few seconds. Before I spin back around, and knock on RWBY's door.

There was an option I haven't considered yet…

Option C: Fuck their threats, and do everything I can to save Beacon despite what it may cost me.

I smile to myself as I enter the room, and the faces of RWBY, and two members of team SSSN, Sun and Neptune, all look at me with a questioning expression.

"That was fast, what happened?" Yang asked with a nod in my direction.

"Nothing important, just an old friend." I shrug it off and lean on the door frame.

"Are… you still with us?" Ruby asked, giving me her best puppy eyes face. If that wasn't enough, the rest of RWBY also wore hopeful expressions on my face. Not for any bullshit teenage crush, but because they actually want me help with this investigation.

 _Last chance Hector, do you really want to go through with this?_ I mentally ask myself.

But my decision has already been made.

"Lets go kick some ass."

* * *

 **AN- So many things went wrong while writing this chapter… Stress. But things are going to be heating up very soon. This chapter set up a lot of things for next chapter, so look forward to it! Next update from me will be for The Blind Huntsman in case any of you are wondering. -Genatools**

 **In case you want to know, yes those blades made out of lightning are Robert's weapons, like the weapon unique for him that he built and designed for a more visual comparison, check "Xcom 2: The templars." Just search it on google or on youtube, and yeah thing are gonna be getting more intense from here on out. -CrowSkull**

 **Please review and let us know what you think so far!**

 **Disclaimer- We do not own RWBY in any way shape or form.**


	17. Rwby: Team HAMR chapter 17

**AN- Thank you to the reviewers of last chapter!**

 **Astra- Sorry about that hair color thing, I forget a lot of things. Crowskull is getting out of his shell a bit more, I just have to tell him when to actually say something in bulk for him to actually do it so far. -Genatools.**

 **You don't tell me me shit regarding that and you know it. -Croskull.**

 **Jurassic park incident is an inside thing, not for any outsiders… -Genatools.**

 **It's back just before I started to be a part of this fic, it's minor but it's pretty much at the end of chapter 8, there you go people ;) -CrowSkull.**

 **HAMR shenanigans will not go unmentioned in the future you can count on that. You are lucky that Coco doesn't actually exist, because I am sure she would not be so happy about that, and she has a mini gun purse so y'know. Plenty of holes can be made. Maybe we are related, and we're just keeping it a secret from Crowskull and decided to mess with him a bit *WINK* *WINK*. So 'Sister', when** _ **are**_ **you going to make an account? I remember I tried PM'ing you once but then it said that you were just a guest. You can make your names 'Genatools little sister' or something, or you can just stick with the Astra that I have become accustomed with. The next bit with all the names can be Crowskulls thing. Go for it! -Genatools.**

 **Just so you know I do have some skill in Parkour… some, I'll call it more my own version of freerunning, I'm more of an Urban explorer in that regard, so think some fluid movements but with more superpower jumps and agility, but with not so many of the typical parkour fanciness… Dying light 2 style would be appropriate description… only with, superhuman abilities, and faster…**

 **Now giving that fact away, try to outrun that, in all seriousness, I don't think there are many criminals that can outrun a Huntsman with some sort of transport or plan, and Robert still has much more to show, I'm not easy to out run, irl robbers of a grab and run steal that happened to me some years ago can attest to that… they managed to get… no, not even half a block, lol. -CrowSkull.**

 **Astra2- ;), Well well well here we are with another one! Didn't know Astra1 had an identical twin. Neo does what she want's, and in this fic I may be painting her as the crazed murderer RT tried to make her appear as, im just trying to go with the original design of her, and while I do admit that going to RWBY was probably a bad idea, it was better than going to Ash, or Mike, or Reggie, because they might have recognized her. Also keep in mind that she is in there early… Moving on, as the story goes on there re probably going to be more slip ups being caught, and by probably I mean probably most definitely. Bro, I can't believe I didn't think of that for Neo to say to Hector in a text, I honestly might edit last chapter to add that it, as in I am going to do that right now! There, just did it, you're welcome. It is near the end of the chapter. Remember in Unlikely Hero I said I like to keep things somewhat realistic? Well, imagine having a crazy person stick a sword up to your neck and almost kill you, then try not to be traumatized by it. Exactly. But yeah this is Hector we're talking about, he isn't exactly used to be scared to death like that. Rob's weapon and semblance can be covered by Crowskull once again! -Genatools.**

 **I already gave some clues, but in the future, I'll explain more, just remember what makes Robert charge up, but creating the blades is just part of it, you are right, as well as dashing in Ruby fashion only in a blur of lightning and also shooting lightning bolts and other stuff, only scratching the surface, there's a reason I wanted to use pata energy swords as my weapon, one of the main ones is the combination of strength of using more th arm than the wrist, and full body movements, basically it can combine the dexterity of swords (in the form of body movement) with the power of an axe if used correctly… thought it was interesting, and someone that fights in this fashion or with this weapon is not something you usually see in RWBY, not even Fanfiction, me and G like to do things people haven't done before, or change things to make them different while also still using all general cliches and tropes as guidelines (which for the record exist for a reason, cliches and tropes aren't bad), we are that kind of people that like to play around with those rules. :) -CrowSkull**

 **As for Juniors and Hector little reunion, you shall see what I have in store for them ;). That about covers it Astra number two/little sister/ Astra number one. Thank you for the review!- Genatools**

 **Zeldawolffang- He shall be more careful, give him some time to adjust. Thank you for the review.**

 **Now let's get straight into the story!**

* * *

RWBY: Team HAMR

Chapter 17- Investigations and Complications

"Lets go kick some ass."

"Hell yeah! Sounds like a good start already." Yang agreed with Hector one hundred percent.

"All right!" Ruby exclaimed excitedly, and then she realized she left a certain board game in the library for the _second_ night in the row. "I left my game in the library again!" Ruby made to dash out the door but was caught by her hood.

"I'll tell Reggie to go grab it," Hector said as he looked both ways in the hallway.

 _I haven't seen Cinder yet… she should be here by now_

"Lets focus on the task at hand yeah?" Hector said as he let go of the silver eyed girl.

"Oh, okay." Ruby pouted adorably.

"Why did you look both ways before you let her go?" Weiss caught his little slip up.

"Er, just checking to see if my team is around, but now I realize I know have the task of waking them up." Hector faked a shudder.

"I feel like we should buy those things that go on the wall to muffle the sound." Yang suggested as she looked toward the wall she slept next to.

"You mean soundproofing?" Weiss corrects.

"Yeah whatever." Yang waved her off. "You guys sure can get loud, I remember yesterday Ashley caught you sleeping with her if I remember correctly."

"I don't even want to begin explaining that." Hector said as he made to walk out of the room. But before he did a voice called out to him in an attempt to stop him.

"Perhaps we _shouldn't_ let your team know that you are going on _another_ secret mission." Blake suggested.

"Why not?" Hector arched his eyebrow and waited for a response.

"I think they should know," Sun argued. "I was there when Ashley found out you were going after the White Fang on your own," Sun spoke up, at the very memory of it he shivers. "I think you're lucky she can't literally kill you at this point."

"And that is why I am bringing them along, I promised to be a better leader to them and I will, if you don't let them come, then I won't come." Hector stood his ground and offered an ultimatum.

"No, no, no it's fine!" Ruby stopped anyone else from saying anything they might regret. "They can come, er… you figure out where they should go."

"Mike will go with you and Weiss to the CCT." Hector began right away.

"Actually I think Neptune should-"

"Reggie will go with Sun and Blake, he is a Faunus by the way." Hector ignored the shocked look on all of their faces and continued. "And Ash can come with me, Yang, and Neptune. There, problem solved, be right back." Hector left no room for argument and left the room.

"Meet us at the Bullheads!" Ruby said as the door closed.

"Sure, whatever, if I manage to leave my own room alive then sure." Hector said as he walked to his door and opened it with a swipe of his scroll.

He enters to room, only to see Ashley, and Michael, both kneeling on his sleeping couch with their ears up against the thin wall. When they notice him they act like nothing is wrong and don't even bother to remove their ears from the wall.

Hector sighs and rubs a hand down his face.

"I'm not going to stand here and ignore the giant ass Elephant in the room."

"It was his idea." Ashley instantly throws her teammate under the bus.

"I won't deny it." Mike knew it was coming.

"I think I am out of shits to give. Where is Reggie?" Hector asked as he noticed the large boy not present in the room with them.

"He is still hiding from me in JNPR's room." Ashley answered with a shrug, leaning away from the wall and getting comfortable in the bed.

"Oh great, let me just call Jaune real quick- you know what no i'm calling Pyrrha, she won't open up with a question." Hector said as he remembered he actually had her number.

" _Hello Hector. How are you?"_

 _Ugh._

"Yo, is Reggie still in there?"

Through the scroll sounds of something made of glass breaks,

" _That would be a yes… may I ask why he came to sleep with us at night?"_

"Ashley scared him." That's all she needed to hear.

" _Ah, I understand."_

More sounds of metal clanging against each other is heard through the scroll.

"What is going on in there?" Hector finally asked.

" _... Did you think Reggie and Nora staying in the same room together was a good idea?"_ Even Pyrrha managed to sound distressed over this, and she is way too nice to sound anything but friendly. But now she sounded out of breath, and even a little exhausted. Poor Pyrrha...

"I'm on my way. And I am sorry for any damages that probably happened." Hector said as he hung up the phone.

Without a word to his other two teammates, he left the room again and knocked on JNPR's door. "Yo, your savior has arrived."

Right away the door is swung open, Reggie in his metallic form is seen with a grin on his face and the remnants of his shirt stuck to his body.

"Hey boss! Thanks for the offer to let me stay here, I had a blast!"

"Yeah! I never knew he was good at the game 'Make a mess so messy it can't be considered a mess game'." Nora chirped up from the ruined bed.

"... Where is Jaune and Ren?"

"Here…" Jaune groaned from underneath a pile of blankets, books, and broken pieces of wood.

"Ren was… thrown out the window just now." Pyrrha answered next.

 _So that was that glass breaking sound…_

"I am so sorry, I'll make it up to you somehow I promise." Hector is going to regret that in the future, major foreshadowing there.

"Oh, you will. You will…" Pyrrha fell backwards and onto her bed, falling asleep instantly.

"Reggie you're never sleeping over again." Hector reprimanded as he pulled his teammate out of the room by the wrist. "I left you alone for _one_ night and this is what happens."

"Agh! Boss, you're a lot stronger than you look you know that?" Reggie tried sucking up his way to getting himself out of trouble.

Hector responded by throwing him through the door, breaking the top half down and somehow perfectly aiming it right onto the makeshift double bed.

"Explain to him what is going on, I got someone to talk to real quick." Hector said as he disappeared from sight before his team could argue.

"He seems off today… actually he has been off a lot recently." Mike remarks.

"Yeah," Reggie groaned in pain as he let his body return to normal. "He isn't normally aggressive to his friends like that. Like, at all."

"This happened too fast, it was an overnight thing." Ashley points out. "One day he was all cheery and obnoxious like he usually is, but now he is gloomy and a little lethargic even."

"Looks like you've been paying attention." Reggie lightly teases.

"He's my partner, it's kind of my job to pay attention to him." Ashley said with a shrug. "Anyone could see it if they paid attention."

"After this mission we'll confront him about it," Mike said, and everyone nodded their head in agreement.

"Maybe all those secret missions he went on his own are finally getting to him."

* * *

 _Flashback_

 _ **Hector's POV**_

 _It is just after one of my successful missions, but I didn't exactly get away unscathed this time._

 _I limped my way around the corner and into an alley, I slide down against the wall until my butt hits the cold concrete underneath me. I raise my hand up off of the gash wound I have on my side, and I wince at the blood I see that is visible in the darkness. I place it back there to stop the bleeding and focus my aura in that area._

" _Shit." I sigh quietly. I was barely able to get away that time, they started expecting me. Maybe running in there and causing an explosion wasn't the best idea after all._

" _That is probably going to leave a mark." I got caught by a blade just before I escaped, I managed to bull doze my way through most of the grunts, but that last one got lucky. I've never been more happy to hear sirens in my life, and I've never ran so fast and far in my life, if it weren't for my semblance I might have gotten caught by the police._

" _I gotta… get back to Beacon." I grunt and groan in pain as I force myself back onto my feet. It is already two in the morning, and it would not be good if I was found out right as I got back, it's about another hour's walk, but I'll get there._

 _Luckily my fast aura regeneration finally kicked in as I got onto the Bullhead. I managed to hide the wound by using the darkness and the black shirt I am wearing, and made a makeshift bandage out of one of the sleeves. As far as the pilots know, they think I took a big tumble. They aren't very perceptive when it comes to picking kids up from Vale at two in the morning._

 _As soon as I make it back to Beacon, I think I am safe. I still have a couple of hours to make it back to my room and get some shut eye. But Blake of all people catches me before I get into the dorms building._

" _Uh… Little late to be up now isn't it? Or should I said good morning?" I try to play it off like nothing is wrong and I am not in pain, but the look in Blakes eyes shows otherwise._

" _Why are you bleeding?" Blake asked bitterly, even as she came up to be and pressed a hand up to my wound._

" _Am I bleeding? I honestly didn't even notice- AGH!" I wince and recoil in pain as Blake presses in on a bad spot. When I look back up into her amber colored eyes I can see the shock, worry, and concern. As well as anger, and even a bit of betrayal._

" _You're the one going after the White Fang aren't you?" Blake asked in mix of emotions that I can't decipher like I usually can. "I told you that it wasn't your fight! Why are you doing this for me!?"_

" _I'm not." I look down, but I force myself to look back into her eyes with a serious expression. "I'm not doing this just for you."_

" _Then why are you doing it?"_

" _Because someone has to do something about them. Might as well be someone expendable." Those were the wrong words to say, as did the sudden stinging, burning pain in my cheek suggested._

 _Blake slapped me, with my aura as low as it is, I felt the pain._

" _Don't you dare call yourself that." Blake seethed. "If you died tonight, and we all found out from Professor Ozpin, I wouldn't forgive myself."_

" _Blake…" I whisper, rubbing my cheek with one of my hands as I stand up straight._

" _Even if you say that it wasn't because of me, I'd still think it was partly my fault… because I dragged you along with me to investigate them on our own." Blake bit back tears, she refused to let them fall from her eyes. "And that's just me. You have no idea how the others would feel, Ruby, Yang, Pyrrha, your team, even Weiss would be affected. Everyone would!" Blake shoved him, he only just caught himself before he fell over._

" _So don't go off on these crazy missions anymore, at least not without help. Promise me that." Blake said as she gently hugged him._

 _This is the point where I realized that these people mattered, they weren't just characters from an internet show that I fell in love with anymore. They were real people, with real feelings… and I mattered to them. Of course they mattered to me, everyone did, even Cardin in some way, while a dickhead and a racist, he's actually been coming around ever since I choke slammed him into a table. But it also tears me apart inside, I've been going on these solo missions for a month now almost every day, risking my life every day by just looking for the White Fang and their hideouts, I never really put my life into consideration. And the thought of making everyone so distraught… it hurts to think about it._

" _I promise."_

* * *

 **Neutral POV**

"She probably saved my life that night. I wonder if I would still be around if she didn't catch me there." Hector wondered as he raised his hand to knock on Roberts door.

"Wakey wakey hands off snakey." Hector called out to him to he occupant of the room as he knocked on the door three times.

Robert opened the door to his room, there was some low sounding music, coming from inside, Robert himself had a curious look on his face. "Iss hands off snakey another way to tell someone stop masturbating?"

"Oh, you are so smart, of course ya dingus let me come in." Hector said with a fake smile.

"Why are you here back so soon, didn't we talk already?"

"Eh, just wanted to know some details about your mission before I went a disappeared all night again." Hector shrugged.

"Uh huh… now just wait a second." Robert threw a punch at Hector nose, which hit him.

"Wow, dick, I get it you know how to throw punches." Hector said bitterly as he rubbed his nose of the light pain. "What was that for?"

"Had to check if you were Neo." Robert said as he finally decided to let Hector in.

"Neo doesn't _speak_." Hector pointed out.

"There are voice emulators out there, just being careful, besides I doubt her and Emerald are the only ones that can make Illusions so… eh."

"Okay… ignoring what just happened. So like I just said I am going to be going on a _super top secret mission_ no one is supposed to know about, but being the responsible young man that I am I decided that I should at least let a teacher know." Hector explained. "I know you already knew that by the way."

"... Uh huh, so?" Robert waved his hand signalling him to continue.

"Sooo, after that I may or may not become a target for assasination, leaving big hints here. So while you're gone for your mission wherever the fuck it is supposed to take place, I am going to be wide open, just letting ya know that." Hector nonchalantly explained. His tired eyes looking more prominent as he speaks and paces around the room. "Nice room by the way." The room was still standard for Beacon Professors, it was bigger than a normal team room, Robert's was interesting however, the place looked half like an apartment and half like a workshop, and the walls were painted with stencils of snakes, wolves and crows in black, white and blue colors, it also had another room that was the actual bedroom, with it's own private bathroom.

"Mostly decorated by yours truly…"Robert sighed. "If you really are desperate maybe you can hang here from time to time, I won't be always be gone however, I will just not be always here, I should come back to sleep here for example."

"Desperate huh, is that why a certain ginger android has been following me around thinking she is being all inconspicuous?" Hector pointed a thumb to the door. A surprised squeak was on the other side, followed by rapid footsteps running away. "I'm not an idiot Rob, and Penny isn't exactly what you would call sly."

"... it's been like what… at best two hours, already… ugh."

"Dude, it's Penny, you should have expected this. I wasn't being Batman in Vale for a month just to not learn anything important you know."

"You weren't Batman, you didn't spend that full month being a vigilante, more people know about it than you might think and if that's the case, why are you so worried? And also don't bash Penny to hard please, she's just worried."

"Im not, I understand," Hector rubbed a hand down his face and sighed loudly. "I'm not going to stop her from hanging around me if that's what you're worried about. It's just that I'd prefer not to be followed, I'd rather her just be with me then stalk me."

"Well, you can talk to her about it then, stalking you was optional anyway."

"That's the plan." Hector yawned, and put a thumb up. "Fuck im tired, why do I have to fight a giant robot today."

"Bad timing?, then again why are you so tired, I know possibly dying can be exhausting but uh…" Robert shrugged

"I've just been feeling a little off… I don't know how to explain it, it's like something is just making me tired even when I get a good amount of sleep, sounds confusing I know but do you get it?" Hector explained simply.

"Not really no, my sleep schedule and also eating schedule have always been a mess, so between being tired and active for me personally there's very little difference… then again I'm the one that enjoys certain life or death scenarios just because they can be exciting so… eh I'm not best person to talk about this." Robert said as he was fixing a round object at one of the table of the half workshop side of the room.

"Eh, guess you're right." Hector looked to his imaginary watch. "I should get back to the others, they're waiting for me at the Bullheads."

"Stick your face in the sink over there." Robert suggested, pointing a finger to said sink just a few feet away from them.

"Uh?" Hector made a confused grunt as he inspected the unusual sink with his eyes. "Why does it look like it is about to give birth?"

"It's full of ice water, I used it recently to make… something, that should wake you up, remember to breath in and out after you stick your face in." Robert said while not answering the latter question.

Hector walked toward the sink, stuck his hands in the ice water, took a deep breath, and splashed his face. The water stuck to his hair and face and slid off with ease, he felt his tiredness fade away and with a little shake of his head he looked into a mirror that was nearby, he blinked a couple times and made a satisfied groan.

"Alright, that woke me up a good bit." Hector said with a small smile.

"Feeling alive?" Robert asked still working on his project.

"More alive then before, thanks for the offer." Hector nodded. Suddenly he took the chance to listen, there was new music playing now in the room at quiet tone, and Robert was singing to parts of it in whispers.

"- _Answer the question I've only been fighting fair…"_ Uh, oh you are welcome."

"And that is my cue to leave. Wish me luck." Hector said as he walked toward the door while waving backward.

"Trust me, you have odds in your favor on this one."

"Oh yeah, I know that one for sure." Hector leaned on the doorframe as he said this, with his back turned to Rob, almost as if he is looking for something. "Ah! Penny, get over here we're going on a mission."

A sound of someone falling over is heard from outside the room.

"Yeah she'll be fine. See ya." Hector said with a nervous smile as he closed the door. Robert looked back in the direction of the door.

 **Robert's POV**

"So… there goes the original plan, guess I'll be alone the during the slaughter."

The original plan was that I would go with Penny, we were supposed to shadow the White Fang meeting, maybe teach more stealth to Penny as a matter of fact but… well things could be worse. Things are still looking up, no one is dead yet, things are looking like Hector is just scared and tired, teams are doing okay, I'm okay… and the mask and goggle are ready too now, heh… thank you Oobleck for the help and schematics, I'll have to pay him back somehow. My scroll buzzed and soon I was on a call.

" _Uh Mister Urra, goog, good to reach you, how are things looking on your end if I may ask?"_ Oobleck said in rapid fire.

"Tonight I'll be retrieving Lionel, that's why asked about he mask and goggles also."

" _Ah excellent, then you are ready?"_

"I am, you might want to call the police though, there's guaranteed to be more than few White Fang at this meeting they talked about."

" _Hmm, interesting, may I ask how did you find the location for this meeting."_

"You know how some of our students like to go in their own missions, I have in good faith that a certain group of people is heading to something related to the White Fang, some more digging with police and we can tell it's a big meeting… the location, I have my ways."

" _Hmm Very well, one last thing, Captain Howler said they soon will be ready to lend some assistance on your side of the investigation, there' a group of officers that soon you'll have to work with."_

"Hmm… how's been the other ends?"

" _On my end, we were able to map another area of tunnels as of yesterday, we did find some Grimm and some members of the Chorus, Glynda has taken it upon herself to hunt for Grey Mothum."_

"The Smuggler?"

" _Yes, we have reasons to believe that he's also supplying the Chorus, she might ask for your help in the future, Professor Peach is out in different part of Sanus looking for additional entrances to the tunnels, Ozpin himself, is managing this efforts while working with the Council and Police, The police themselves are still guarding the sewers and raiding recruitment into the Chorus."_

"Any other huntsmen or huntresses?"

" _Well most of them are with me!, We map and search around the tunnels, most nights, there are a couple up top, one is dealing with some informants and Mister Elias is searching for activity outside the walls of Vale, Port is working at Beacon, he's up in comms anytime we face an unusual Grimm and need advice."_

"Port as a guy in the chair? I thought he would like to spend more time down down there adding more tales to his curriculum."

" _Oh he does, he does stop by and it's very helpful, but he's also very determined to keep spend a lot of time on working on his speeches for his classes."_

"Of course, well, we'll keep in touch, and good hunting down there."

" _It's our job, your as well, good luck on your errand."_ Oobleck said hanging up.

"Hmm… you don't have to worry."

* * *

"Ah! Friend Hector, I assure you I was not stalking you in any way, I was merely-"

"It's fine Penny, I get it, Rob told me about it." Hector said before she could hiccup.

"Ah, Mr Urra does have a soft spot for you. It was to be expected I suppose." Penny said with her usual cheery smile.

"Please tell me you meant that metaphorically." Hector groaned.

"Well, he does worry about a fair share of people, in fact all the school, he doesn't say it, but he shows it in a way." Penny elaborated, thank god.

"Oh, that's nice I guess. People worrying about my mental health and what not." Hector muttered.

 _ **SNAP**_

"Penny…"

"Yes, Friend Hector?"

"What did you just do?"

"I've taken a scan of your body to see if there are any abnormalities." Penny said with an ear to ear grin on her face.

"Why? Wait, you can do that!? Since when!?"

"Ever since I was born of course! It is one of my many great perks as one would call it." Penny answered.

Hector laughed shortly before shaking his head, this android girl really was something. They are just about a few minutes away from the Bullheads where RWBY, Sun, Neptune and the rest of his team should be waiting.

"Well, what's the verdict?"

"You have 1,821 abnormalities within your system."

Hector choked on his saliva and nearly fell over. "D-did I hear that correctly?"

"Certainly! This is incredible! Your body is built like it is from another world. You are very special." Penny complimented in her own way.

 _Oh thank god, I thought I was a literally walking time bomb for a second there_ … Hector thought to himself as he sighed in relief.

"Yeah, i'm special alright."

"Indeed!"

"About time you showed up," Ashleys voice is heard first as they get closer. She is on her own with Yang, who was seen well before they got close enough to hear each other without screaming at each other because of her almost glowing blonde hair.

"Yeah, we were wondering if you chickened out on us." Yang leaned on one hip and smirked at him.

"Missed you too, where are the others?" Hector asked as he stopped beside them.

"They went to do their parts of the little activity we're doing." Yang said. "Which brings up an issue me and my new friend Ashley here have discovered as we waited for you to show up."

"Which is?"

"First, you should tell us why Penny is here." Ashley demanded.

"Salutations Girlfriend Ashley!"

"Stop calling me that!"

"I can't bring it within myself to tell her to not come along, since she was just so eager to come with." Hector overdramatically said as he placed a hand on his chest where his heart is located.

"And why is your hair wet?" Yang asked next, but this time with a grin on her face. "Should I be getting jealous?"

"What? No nothing like that is happening." Hector waved his hands no as his face flushed a darker color. "Look, just tell me what the actual problem is so we can fix it."

"Well, I have a motorcycle as you all know by now." Yang began to explain as the group of four boarded a Bullhead. "There's a maximum of three people, and that is only if someone sat on someone else's lap, and now there's four, so someone might have to sit on _my_ lap now."

"Yeah, or you can put that little sidecar on the bike." Ashley suggested. "That way Penny can sit on Hector's lap and I can sit behind you."

"I don't mind sitting on friend Hectors lap! That seems like an exceptional experience for me to become involved in." Penny, of course doesn't see any problem with it.

"Yeah, _or_ , hear me out." Hector interrupted before Yang could begin to tease him. "We can walk."

"Hahaha." Ashley laughed sarcastically. "And miss the chance of seeing you look so awkward? Hell no, we're doing this Yang's way."

"Trying to cop a feel? If you ask nicely I might let you get a couple seconds." Yang teased with a smirk.

"The day I become interested in you is the day the Grimm disappear from the world." Ashley barked back.

"Argh, that's a bit harsh you think?"

"The only harsh thing about this is your oversized chest."

"Hey! You take that back! You're just jealous your babies aren't as big as mine."

"Pfft, as if I'd care about having even worse back aches."

"My life are in great hands, I am so grateful to be here." Hector said sarcastically as the Bullhead began to take off while Yang and Ashley began to argue with each other on who is prettier, he can only hope he doesn't get dragged into this.

"I find you are both equally as desirable!" Penny tried to dilute the tense atmosphere.

Hector sighed as Penny was pulled into the conversation, she doesn't even know what she is getting herself into. Hector just wonders what is going on with Mike and Reggie at the moment. He needs some guy friends with him.

* * *

"Ooo, look i'm Weiss, i'm rich, smart, and know a whole bunch of facts." Ruby held back a laugh, even Mike seemed to be amused by how spot on she was.

"Don't be a pest, and _you_ stop encouraging her!" Weiss snapped.

"Many apologies Weiss." Mike said with a mock bow.

"Hmph, anyway the only reason we are here right now is because _you_." Weiss pointed a finger at Ruby. "Wanted to see the tower so badly, we could have easily gone to the library."

"Actually, I have a call I need to make. So it's good for me that we are here." Mike defended the silver eyed girl.

"Oh, okay I can understand that." Weiss nodded. Mike was more mature then almost everyone else she knew at Beacon, and she can sense the genuinity in his voice. He really needs to make that call.

"Thanks." Ruby whispered to the blonde boy with glasses.

"Of course." Mike rolled his eyes with a smile. But on the inside he is very uncomfortable, he plans to call his father, and tell him where he has been. Now that he is old enough to make his own decisions, even if his father wanted him back. He wouldn't be able to given Mistrals customs. He is considered an adult over there, even if he is only seventeen years old.

"If I may, who are you going to be speaking to?" Weiss asked with curiosity laced in her voice.

"Er," Mike hesitates and gets visibly uncomfortable. "My… father."

Weiss noticed his change of demeanor, and can sense by the way he answered her question that he may not have the best relationship with his father, and that is something they can both relate on.

"I'm sorry for asking." Weiss said sadly, Mike was a bit surprised that he was read so easily, but nods and accepts her apology nonetheless.

"You know, if you want I can be there with you when you make the call." Ruby happily offers.

"You know… I think I'd like that." Mike said with a small smile.

"Yes! Weiss I just made another friend!" Ruby yelled in excitement. Much to the amusement of both Mike and Weiss.

"Due to your friendliness toward my leader, I believe we were already friends." Mike said with a shake of his head as the group opened the door that lead into the tower.

"Really!? That's awesome! Does that mean you can tell me why Ashley always seems to hate and like everyone at the same time?" Ruby asked as they headed toward the elevator.

"That is just how she is, don't tell her I said this. But she likes pretty much everyone at Beacon, she just has her own funny way of showing it." Mike said with a small chuckle, he considered letting Ruby know about the inner team turmoil that is Hector's and Ashleys way of bonding that had a deeper meaning that only he had notices so far. But if Ashley found out about it, then he would lose his head. He doesn't want to lose the trust she has in him.

"You must be close with her." Weiss said.

"Well, every girl needs a gay best friend." Mike shrugged.

"Hey, Yang said that one time!" Ruby pointed out. "She would be so proud."

"Yeah, I bet. How is the Blake situation that my leader has made a knack of getting involved in?" Mike switched topics before he gets cornered with something he doesn't want to answer.

"Blake is actually opening up to us more, even if it did take us cornering her to get her to open up to us." Weiss answered simply.

"Yeah, I think I heard that." Mike cleared his voice. " _So you… tell us what is wrong!"_ Mike copies Weiss' voice to the T, much to her surprise and embarrassment.

"Y-you heard that!?" Weiss asked with a flushed face as the elevator got halfway up the tower.

"The thing walls work both ways, we heard everything." Mike chuckled.

"How were able to make your voice so high?!" Ruby asked between laughs.

"Eh, it's just been one of my hidden talents for a couple years." Mike shrugged, before clearing his voice once more.

" _Hey Weiss, if I study for two hours today can I play some video games?"_ Mike copies Ruby's voice next, using something he overheard a few nights ago from their room.

Ruby gasped and widened her eyes excitedly, and made a high pitched screeching sound. Weiss just shook her head, but couldn't help the amusement from showing on her face.

"Since when did you become such a jest?" Weiss asked as she recovered from the urge to laugh.

"Hector has been rubbing off on me." At that point, the elevator dings and opens up, revealing a series of computers and screens along with some people already speaking to family members or anyone else they may be interested in contacting.

Mike's pit in his stomach returned, and the nervousness of speaking to his father after what happened back in Mistral returns in full force. It's only the presence of his two friends that keep him from walking away right there.

He takes a deep breath, and starts walking toward one of the computers.

Weiss, surprisingly follows him, seeing him as more important than a talk with one of the Schnee secretaries to tell them to give her the information that she needs. They have plenty of time anyway.

"Are you sure you want to be here for this Weiss? We could save time if you go get the information we need while I do this at the same time, I have Ruby with me so I won't be alone."

"I wouldn't be much of a friend if I let you go through this while I had the chance to at least make it easier for you." Weiss said as she pulled up a seat next to him. "Besides, I doubt Ruby wouldn't become a stuttering mess if things get too intense."

Mike nodded in understanding, even when Ruby was protesting indignantly. He types the old number of his father that he could not have forgotten as much as he wanted to before, and types in the credentials required in order to make a cross continental call. The name of his father, Tiberius Cedric, along with a picture of him on the screen. A blonde haired man, hair much shorter than his sons, he has the same light brown eyes, no glasses like his deceased wife and estranged son. Light stubble on his face, but what makes it worse is the smile he has on his face for his profile picture. He would never have smiled like that to his son…

Then, suddenly he picked up.

"Hello- Michael…" Instant recognition. By the wide eyed expression on his face, he was not expecting to hear from his son for a much longer time. "You're calling… for what purpose."

"I thought you might want to know what I have been up to." Michael could only hope that his father still cared, even after he was kicked out and shunned out of Mistral just because of his sexual orientation.

"I can't say that I didn't. But I have a feeling there's more to it then that." Tiberius said as he sat down somewhere. "Who are those two girls?"

"Weiss Schnee and Ruby Rose." Mike answered right away. "They are just two of the friends I have made at Beacon so far."

"I take it that Reggie fellow is there with you at Beacon?" Tiberius' voice became more hostile at the mention of his son's boyfriend. Not even caring that there is a Schnee present with his son.

"Of course, it was only natural." Michael shrugged, not letting his sadness show.

"It's not natural for a man to be in love with another man Michael." Tiberius growled, before composing himself.

"Why are you doing this to your own son?" Ruby spoke up for the first time. "Parents are supposed to love their children no matter what."

"I gave him plenty of chances, he decided to ignore any of them."

"You tried to convince me to go through brain surgery!" Michael seethed. "That was the _day_ I told you about Reggie, what, did you think fucking with my head would suddenly make me like girls?"

"You did what!?" Weiss snapped. "How could you?"

"I offered you a choice Michael." Tiberius ran a hand down his face. "I admit that it probably wasn't a good ultimatum."

Michael scoffed. "That's one way to put it."

"Tch, I suppose so." An awkward silence filled the atmosphere, for a few moments father and son glared at each other, one with disappointment, and the other with anger and a mix of other negative emotions.

"Why does it matter that he likes men?" Weiss asked, keeping her anger under control. "I don't see how that would affect you in any way."

"A Schnee wouldn't understand. It is something only parents can understand."

"What parent would try to alter their own child?"

"One who wants to help them."

Michael scoffed again, but didn't say anything.

"That could barely be considered help, there's nothing wrong with whoever one may me attracted to. If this were a hundred years ago, things might be socially different. But in the time period we are in now. _You_ are the thing that is wrong here." Weiss ranted.

"Tch, typical. Having women fight your battles for you now Mikey?" Mike's father asked with an arch of his eyebrow.

"No, I called you for one thing. To tell you something that seemed to have slipped my mind until now." Mike leaned into the screen, to get as close to his father as he will be for the next couple of years. "I've made friends that will last a lifetime here, friends that don't care who I am I into, friends that are more family to me then you will ever be. But that isn't what I wanted to say." Mike took a deep breath, even as his father narrowed his eyes dangerously at him. "I am going to come back one day, and when I do I am bringing my team with me, and on that day you are either going to accept me for who I am, or I will never give you another chance again. I already gave you two now."

"I guess we'll see then." Is all Tyberius said, even as his face softened ever so slightly.

"Please don't make a mistake that is going to cost you your son… Mother wouldn't want this for us." Michael finally let a tear flow down his face, and his father arched his eyebrows sadly.

"... I can only promise to try." And with that, Tyberius hung up the call. Leaving Michael with some hope that something can be rekindled between the two. That's all Mike asked for.

"I despise him." Weiss said as soon as the call ended.

"I don't like him either." Ruby added as she leaned back in her chair.

"It was progress." Mike said as he rubbed the tears away from his eyes. "That was the best case scenario." He quickly added as he smiled.

" _That_ is what you call progress? I have half a mind to put an arrest warrant on that man for what he tried to do to you." Weiss seethed.

"That… is something I don't want you to do, this is the closest I've been in a very long time for him to accept me, it's how we talk to each other, we give each other hints and hope the other can catch on to them."

"That's a weird father-son relationship." Ruby said.

"It's the best I've got for now, come on." Mike stood up and tapped Weiss' shoulder.

"It's your turn to make a call."

* * *

"I don't like the position I am in." Hector said as Penny sat down right on his crotch.

"This is my first time, please be gentle." Penny said.

"Penny move!" Hector said as he adjusted where Penny sat on his lap. "I can't believe I agreed to this."

Yang and Ashley stifled a laugh as they got onto the motorcycle, Yang revs up the bike as Ashley holds onto the seat. Still holding in a laugh.

"Don't forget your seatbelt fearless leader." She mocked as the machine began to warm up.

"Hate you, hate you both." Penny made a sad groaning sound. "Not you Penny you're fine." Hector said as he finally found a way to be more comfortable while making sure Penny wouldn't go flying out.

"You guys ready?" Yang asked as she put on her helmet. Her hair is so long that most of it is still flowing around her back.

"Against my better judgment, yes."

"This has to be the best form of judgement you've ever made." Ashley said with a chuckle.

"Uh huh, just remember Ash, we live in the same room." Hector threatens her by just filling her head with all the possibilities that Hector could think up.

"Do anything and I'll kill you."

"Please don't do anything, I would like to be able to go to sleep tonight." Yang pleaded.

"Only if- WAAAAA-" Hector gets cut off as Yang goes from 0 to 80 miles per hour in just a few seconds, he nearly fell out of the side car if it wasn't for the weight of Penny holding him still.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO THIS THING?" Hector screamed as he held on for dear life.

Even Ashley wasn't expecting this, and is holding onto Yang for dear life.

"Hey! You know what I just remembered?" Yang looked down to Hector. "We are finally going to that club I offered you guys a few weeks ago!"

"I have regrets!" Ashley screamed into Yang's back. "This is one of them!"

"This is most sensational!" Penny spoke over the sounds of the wind ripping past them, not moving an inch from the pressure.

"AAAAGH!"

* * *

The motorcycle finally comes to a stop in front of Juniors club, the same club where Hector was almost killed on one of his secret missions that he actually brought his team on with him, as well as Blake. He would have taken on Neo any day then have to go on that Bike with Yang again.

"I'm never getting on that bike with you again." Hector said as he pushed Penny off him and fell out of the sidecar, almost kissing the ground if it wasn't for how bad it smelled he might have.

"Oh stop being a baby, my friend is in here." Yang said as she took off the helmet and place in on the headlight of Bumblebee.

Ashley blinks a couple of times, her hands still wrapped around the bike itself as Yang drove. She looks toward the place they had just stopped at, and instantly recognizes the club.

"Isn't this this place you got your ass kicked by ice cream girl?" She asked as she slid off Bumblebee and stood up, albeit a little shakily.

"I wish I would have been killed that day all of a sudden."

"That would have been most unfortunate." Penny said as she held a hand out to help the young man up. "You are my very first friend, and I most certainly would have missed you."

Hector makes a note to make sure for sure that Penny doesn't get ripped apart. The umpteenth time he has done so.

"You're my friend to Penny." He said as he accepted her offer to help him up. "The owner of this place actually owes me a favor or two, so it's good that I came here with you Yang."

"Really? You know Junior?"

"Oho, you could say that." Hector cracked his knuckles. "It sucks Ruby hasn't finished making that thing she promised me she would make for me."

"You mean those wrist things that she has been working on the past few weeks?" Yang asked.

"Yuppers. She said she had the perfect idea for me, so I am waiting for my surprise still."

"I suggest we get this over with as quickly as possible, the sun has already been going down for the past couple of hours." Penny spoke up.

"Wait, it's been a couple hours already?"

"It's 7pm Friend Hector."

"How!? You know what, don't answer that." He quickly added when he saw Penny about to open her mouth again, and walked with Yang toward the door.

"Wait a sec, I thought Neptune was supposed to be here with us." Hector said as he stopped in his tracks. "Oh my god did he fall off?"

"Nah, we just made a last second adjustment and now he is acting as a support unit to Blakes group." Ashley explained.

"Oh, alrighty then." Hector shrugs and knocks on the door.

"Who is it- oh god its you two." A man with red circular glasses said as he recognized both Hector and Yang.

"Yup, now are you going to open the door or do we have to let ourselves in?" Yang asked with a dangerous wink.

"I… uh." The scared man stammered.

"Good choice." Hector brought up one leg and kicked the flimsy door off of it's hinges, knocking the grunt away and and making the door fly into the middle of the dance floor.

"Ooo, I knew I liked you for a good reason." Yang flirted as she entered the club.

Only to be met by a dozen different guns.

Even the music seemed to cut off just a bit as the DJ hid behind his desk.

"Guess who's back!?" Yang asked even as more grunts pointed their guns in her direction.

"I was going to say that to but now I can't." Hector said as he walked up beside her.

Now some more guns are pointed at him, and then some of them divert their firearms to the other two girls that walk in behind them. Now they don't know who to aim at and one of them is about to fire.

Yang and Hector's narrow dangerously as they get ready to fight through all the grunts in front of them and get to Junior.

"I do not believe this 'Junior' has the mutual feelings of friendship for you." Penny perked up from behind Yang.

"Stop! Stop! Don't shoot!" Junior ordered as he pushed his way through the crowd. When he breaks through he widens his eyes at the dangerous pair that have become known for trashing the place. "Blondie… and you… are here. What do you want?"

" _We,_ need to have a talk Junior." Yang said as she pushed by the grunts and grabbed Junior by the wrist and pulled him along with her. Hector followed, and kept fixing his glare to the back of Juniors head as they made their way to the bar.

"Yeah, I don't think they are friends." Ashley said with a shake of her head, before looking to her left and seeing a pair of twins, one in a white dress and the other in an identical but red dress. "Sup."

"Hmph." The twins look away and turn their backs toward the Faunus.

"Oh okay, so this is how it's going to be." Ashley wrapped and arm around Penny's shoulder and pointed her toward the twins. "See those two Penny?" The twins perked up a little bit as they are addressed. "They want to be your friends, you should go talk to them!"

Penny gasped, and never ran toward and hugged people faster then she had ever done before. The twins are caught before they can react and get caught in a bone crushing hug.

"Hey!"

"Hands off!"

"Hehehe." Ashley laughed quietly and maniacally as she witnessed her nefarious plan working out fantastically.

Back to Yang and Hector. Junior has been cornered on the other side of the bar, he keeps looking toward Hector only to keep being met with the same glare he has been giving him ever since he showed himself through the crowd.

"So… what do you need this time?"

* * *

Reggie has been having the time of his life asserting himself as a fake member of the White Fang.

"Glory to the White Fang!" He brushed his hair back so that the scar where his horn was once attached to is visible, the whole time Blake and Sun have been desperately trying to calm him down before they were found out.

"Reggie, we have to be sneaky about this man!" Sun said with a fake smile as he chanted along with him.

"How are you being so inspiring to them?" Blake said through her teeth.

The plan was to blend in with the crowd, listen to what Torchwick had to say, and then get out before they were found out. They have Neptune on the roof of the building, ready to overload the electrical generators of the building with his weapon just in case they were caught. It would cause a chain reaction that would shut the lights off and cause sparks to fly all over the place.

But then _Reggie_ decided that he had to take his role a little too seriously.

"Woohoo! White Fang for life!" Reggie cheered, the other new recruits of the Faunus faction had formed a ring around the three. Sun and Blake were forced to cheer along with him as his sidekicks or something. Blake wasn't very amused, but Sun has been holding in his laughter and cringing at the way Blake was glaring at him through her mask.

"Yes, yes, I know you animals love your White Fang and all that." Roman Torchwicks voice amplified by a microphone speaks over the crowd. The voice of a human brings them into an uproar, and the attention that was once on Reggie and his sidekicks have been shifted to the orange haired man with makeup on.

"I get it, truly I do. Humans are _the worst!_ They are all pests that need to be dealt with lest you let your own kind dwindle away." His agreement with their opinions were unexpected, and the commotion dies down ever so slightly. "I understand that working with a human to achieve your goals _may_ be a bit counter productive, but I assure it will be very worth it."

"I understand that for the past month you have been running into a little… big red problem recently." Reggie, Blake, and Sun are the only ones that take that differently than all the other recruits, knowing that Roman meant Hector. The one who has been giving them all sorts of trouble with his vigilante schemes he was pulling behind their backs. "Fortunately for you, I am the best exterminator around, no offence to any rodents in the room, and I have dealt with that little problem myself."

The three from Beacon know that this is a lie, since they just saw him that morning and now he is with Yang, Ashley and Penny, there's no way they would have managed to beat them all without causing a huge commotion among Vale itself.

But they can't help but worry…

"So, as a little side gift to you all I present a gift to you all this," One of the members pull down one of the curtains to reveal the latest version of an Atlesian Paladin. "This, is a gift from Atlas to you, delivered by yours truly. The newest line of defence against all of the scary things of the world." Roman let the White Fang cheer their approval for a few moments.

"This is bad." Sun whispered to Blake. "That's a really big robot."

"Thank you Captain Obvious." Reggie said sarcastically.

"We have what we need, let's get out of here." Blake whispered back as she began to pull both of the male Faunus toward the exit.

"And we have plenty more where that came from!" Roman yelled, raising his arms into the air and then to the side to point to an assortment have advanced weaponry and power armour. "Go on! Try them on!"

The crowd began to push back against Sun, Reggie and Blake. And Reggie was expected to show the same enthusiasm as he did before, luckily that wasn't a problem however.

"Woohoo! Death to all humans!"

"Wait a second…" Roman narrowed his eyes on a certain black haired cat Faunus, who looked back at him through the White Fang mask she has on. "Ohoho! Kitty-cat is here…" He pointed Melodic Cudgel in her direction, but before he could even place his finger on the trigger,

The lights went out and sparks began to fly combined with arcs blue lightning… there was some distant screaming too.

"Plan B has... commenced I think..." Neptune yelled through his Mic.

"Nice job Neptune!" Sun said quickly as he, Blake and Reggie began to make a run for it.

"Umm… it wasn't me." Neptune pointed out as he prepared to jump off the roof.

"What?!" Blake and Sun said in unison. They had run to a section of the warehouse and mad turn, however soon, a wall in front of them exploded with dust and lightning coming out of it, revealing a figure with mask with blue night vision goggles and holding hostage a White fang member, they didn't recognize the figure, but the voice, demeanor and laugh, that they did recognize.

"Hands in the air, whoever wants spread your legs!… aha hah ha ha ha!"

"Oh… it's him." Blake said with a sigh as they sprinted away.

"Good to see you too, don't worry I'll hold them off!" Robert said with a wave of his hand the member of the white fang still struggling in his other arm.

Before anyone could stop him, Roman got into the paladin. Then proceeded to break through the wall and went after Blake and the others.

"Neptune! Help!" Sun yelled to the sky.

"HAAAH!" Neptune screamed as he jumped off the roof and onto the back of the very large combat robot. "I MADE A MISTAKE!" He yelled out next as his weapon is stuck inside of its back, and he quickly found himself holding on for dear life.

 **Robert's POV**

Back in the wearhouse Robert was dealing with the massive amount of white fang that were surrounding him.

"Well then seems everyone is here, I recommend all the new people to wearing those masks to surrender immediately, seriously is for the best."

"How did a human get in here."

"Uh well… business." I said as I remembered how I got in.

* * *

 **A few minutes earlier.**

 **Neutral POV.**

A hatch opened and soon Robert was inside the warehouse just some minutes before the speech started, he was wearing once again his newest outfit along with a face mask and some goggle that made him look like a Splinter Cell agent, only his night vision goggle didn't exactly glow, they had however a soft dark blue color to them.

He had shadowed Blake, Sun, Neptune and Reggie to the warehouse, he wasn't spotted as far as he was concerned, they were already there, so it would be convenient not to start anything just yet.

He dropped silently into the scaffolding of the warehouse without anyone seeing him, he started looking from there he spotted thank to his goggles different members of the White Fang, there was a certain group however that caught his attention, most of them had the White Fang uniform, but only one was in civilian clothes and just wearing a mask, that person was Lionel.

" _Hello you."_ Robert said in a whisper, eventually they started moving to a different part of the warehouse, into a separate room.

" _Now or never."_ Robert said to himself as he followed them, he descended without being seen, taking cover against whatever he could find as to not be seen, there was someone watching the door they just went in… it wasn't really a problem.

Inside the room, the different members were having a chat

"Since when do any you work with a human?" Lionel asked his contacts on the White Fang.

"Ever since things started getting complicated. And you? When did you start working with cultists?"

"Well same deal, so you had something you wanted me to look at?"

"Yeah, with the whole red herring we are dealing with, we need another way to transport weapons and dust."

"I see."

"We thought you could-" "Aaagh" He was caught off as they heard a sound coming from the other sound of the door, it sounded like the one that was near the door.

"Fae?" Someone asked towards the door, when no one respond they started drawing their weapons approaching the door slowly, soon however the door opened and Fae was tossed literally thrown at them with such a force that Fae took down to people with him. Soon the door closed and inside the room a whirlwind lightning appeared.

"What the- uugh" one person was lightning palmed towards the wall, knocked out instantly just from the impact, soon Robert roundhoused kicked someone several times into the ground and reverse kicking someone in the head, he tripped Lionel who was trying to escape. Then someone came at him with a knife, he evaded the cut and elbowed him in the back of his head, roundhouse kicked him in the stomach and took him down with a final punch. He lightning dashed backwards, behind the last guy that tried to get the drop on him, he was surprised when Robert disappeared, but didn't have time to look around as Robert kicked the back of his knee, he grabbed him put him in a sleeper hold until the air leaved him and went unconscious.

Everyone was down, except for Lionel, and people didn't seem to have notice from the rest of the warehouse and the time for that one… 15 seconds.

"Getting better." Robert said content. Lionel tried to step up, but soon a boot pressed him down to the floor.

"I wouldn't try that, at least not without a plan." Lionel still struggled.

"Who are you?" He asked Robert.

"Someone that's concerned with your affiliation to the "Chorus of Dawn"." Robert said

"Those freaks, what do you want with them?"

"Information… but most importantly if you know where they are exactly in the tunnels."

"Even if I knew what makes you think I'll tell you. Wha-" Lionel exclaimed as he was grabbed by the throat, and soon pushed into a wall.

"You really you don't have much of a choice, the police will soon come here, in about ten to fifteen minutes, and you alongside as many white fang as we can arrest will be going to the nearest precinct, and weapon dealing plus evidence of you working with them directly it's not looking exactly good for you, you might need to talk to save some time behind bars."

"You think I haven't been already there? You can't scar-" Soon Robert head butted him, before he could raise his voice more."

"Careful Lionel, police isn't here yet, you aren't exactly subdued yet, and if you cause things to get worse, I can still be pretty unmerciful, soon Robert extended two fingers, sparks of lightning at the end of them, and started to pressure Lionel's eye.

"Diagghh, what aghh... ah." It was over in 5 seconds, there was a scorched mark on the skin that covered Lionel's eye and his eye was swollen, but soon Robert was getting his fingers close again.

"Wait, look, I don't like those guys okay, I can talk I just-"

"Glory to the White Fang!" sounded in the distance, apparently the speech had started.

"Hmm, seems we are running out of time, we'll continue this later."

"Wha-" Robert immediately knocked out Lionel with another headbutt, now it was just a matter of waiting for the right moment, he dragged every single unconscious person to a corner and tied them up, once his job was done he already could hear Roman's speech.

"Now just gotta-"

"Hey you guys where there a long time what's going o-" two white fang members opened the door and stared at Robert for a second, next to their unconscious comrades, they stood there for a bit, soon Robert unsheathed his electric blades from his gauntlets, the white fang cowered, they were close to some electrical boxes and generators…

"Here's go nothing then." Robert said as he was about to start a light show.

"Stop right-" Soon Robert became a mass of lightning before they could say more.

* * *

 **Back to the Present.**

"...business." I said as I remembered how I got in.

"Put him down!" A chick in a white fang uniform said to me.

"Oh this guy... if you insist." I soon tossed the guy I was holding at them, I jumped high in the air, extended my hand out as in to strike them and a missile made out pure lightning came out of my hand, it impacted and now a big group of the members of the white fang were now taken out and convulsing in the ground after the explosion. I wasted no time and after I landed I ran rushed into another guy with a dropkick, sending him across the warehouse, the ones next to him, one tried to strike at me with his gun, I blocked the the gun, slashed his leg and back handed him into the ground, there were two people behind me, I jumped and threw flying roundhouse kick at his head that left him cold, the other one I kneed him twice while from the side and axe kicked him into the ground, other people we coming, no time to lose, another group of White fang soldiers were already shooting at me… shit, shit, shit, I diverolled to the side and created a screen of lightning in front of, it acted as a shield and deflected the bullets, thank you Glynda for defensive techniques training.

I dashed in next to them, my blades at the ready, I cut and struck at their sheen and their shoulders, cutting them, immobilizing them, I sheathed and unsheathed the blades for all that was happening, one person was coming at my right and I roundhouse kicked him and uppercutted him, two from the left, I slashed one's sheen while elbowing the other, roundhouse one to the ground, the other one the same but with an axe kick, the more that came the faster I went, I threw punches and kicks at the first five White fang that came close to me in this disorganized pandemonium I was creating, some of them were in uniform, others in civilian clothing, all of them went down. Another came from behind and was put down with a backwards punch, I run and slid under the legs of a big one, he looks behind him as I sent him a ray of lightning that sent him flying, I step up, keeping momentum and going against a line of another seven faunas, I became engulfed in sparks of lightning as I charge them blades drawn, in a series of spins I cut through all of them, going again for their arms, legs and shoulders, even if some of the cuts would only make them bleed, the benefit of energy blades is instant cutterizing, they'll be fine, they are still alive by the sound of their moans of agony.

There weren't that many remaining, final push, come on. I dashed and slashed another's ones kneecaps, I threw punches, kicks and slashes around me, they were more disorganized now, some were trying to fight, some to run away, some a mix of both, I did a spinning hook kick in a wide arc that manages to take out three people in one go, I punched and kneed another faunas in the face, for both things, I keep going for slashes and punches, roundhouse kicks to the head, punches followed by elbows, strikes followed by slashes, four, six, eight, 10 people in quick succession, last two I slash the leg of one and break her other one with quick and use her as wall to propel to the next guy, I pounce him grabbing him by the face and electrocuting his face.

Some of them were trying to shoot me from the scaffolding. I back flip avoiding some bullets and I rolled then to the side before sending their way a massive thunderbolt that strikes the scaffolding making the whole area and part of the warehouse sparkling with more lightning that catches them and more White Fang wildly, I send more thunderbolts around, making the warehouse a literal sparkling light show, another guy come behind me, he tries to hit me with a massive sword, I drop to my back and use my feet to catch him and kick him into the air, sending two lightning bolts at him.

More come, I spin my body to step up again, one comes at me and bring him down with a three punch combo, another comes with two sword and I dispatch him with a roundhouse kick and a spinning hook kick, Another comes from the side, I siccor slash his sheen with my blades, step on his knee and deliver a flying knee to his face, a final one was coming with an axe, I grab his arm and judo throw him to the ground where I grab the back of his head and electrocute him before smashing his face into the ground.

That's them dealt with, now we just had… actually not much, I could hear the sirens of the police, I could hear them shouting things related to surrender, I could see some of the White Fang surrendering, most White Fang were scared out of their minds, from all the lightning, from the police, from their fallen friends… of me, I spot a group of stragglers that are conflicted between fighting and running, I gather my strength, lightning goes around my hand, I drive it to ground and an electromagnetic wave comes from it towards them, it picks them up and sends them to the wall while electrocuting them.

"Done and done, that most of them." I say as I see police star to enter the building, among them Captain Howler, he nods towards me and I respond in kind, I see the spot where the paladin went through the wall, next to another paladin that got hit by one of thunderbolts, it actually got knocked down from it's pedestal and now it was down shooting blue lightning from time to time.

" _Maybe I could still help Hector and the others…"_ I think to myself, I went for it, as I jumped through the wall and start running through the rooftops, lightning enveloping me, making me faster.

I jump several building in the direction that could only be described as a path of destruction, however as I jump towards one building I see something, an umbrella comes close to my face as I jump from building to building, I raise my hands and my gauntlets project something different than blades, they project a shield. The umbrella hits the electric shields, I come to full stop as I sprawl on the roof of the building, I bounce once and then land my feet as I skidded across the roof and catch myself before I end up falling.

I looked back from where the attack came and right there in flash Neo appear before me, not smiling in her usual murderous smile, she wasn't frowning either, her lips were a thin line and her eyes were curious, she was analyzing me. I stood up from my crouched position and regard her, I look back to where the trail was, and soon she flashed and came close, her blade in hand going for my face, I unsheathed my blades quickly and parried her own blade, we switched places, now she was between me and where I wanted to go.

There were no words between us, we both just got ready, waiting to see who would make the first move, both us assumed a combat stance, me drawing my blades, she pointing her umbrella at me, I inhaled and exhaled deeply, she did the same with only her nose.

" _This is going to be interesting."_

* * *

 **Ruby's group**

"Oh, Blake is calling." Weiss spoke up, stopping the other two in their tracks. "Blake? Whats-"

" _Weiss! Hurry we're being-"_

" _HEEEEELLPP!"_

" _I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE!"_

" _-attacked by one of the stole paladins!"_

"What!? What happened!?" Ruby asked the scroll in a panic.

" _LIGHTNING GUY, LIGHTS OUT."_

" _ONE OF OUR PSYCHO TEACHERS."_

" _What they said!"_

"I should've known better then to think Reggie wouldn't get into any trouble on his own." Michael groans.

"Where are you!?" Ruby asked.

An explosion is seen in the distance, and burning car is seen thrown into the sky.

"Nevermind! We're on our way!"

* * *

 **Junior's club.**

"I don't know…" Junior said as he took a large gulp from his alcoholic drink, as far as he knows this could very well be his last day alive with the pair of kids that he currently has in his presence.

"Bullshit, did Neo just _happen_ to be here to almost kill me?" Hector spat as he drank his own drink. One that Junior was happy to provide if it mean not being attacked right away. "Or how about how Roman knew exactly who to send her after?"

"Wait, who's Neo?" Yang asked, confused by hearing an unfamiliar name. She doesn't know about what happened in this club before, and just assumes Hector is in the same situation with Junior that she is in.

"Ice cream girl, very good at fighting, hired to kill me." Hector explained right away between slurs. "And this _fucker_ , sent her after me."

"Did he now?" Yang's eyes turned red as she glared at Junior even more intensely.

"Look, I'm sorry about that," Junior rose his hands in surrender, hoping that would dissuade them from making any aggressive movements. "But you were asking for information that could have gotten _me_ killed if I spilled any of it."

"Yeah yeah, the ol' can't talk or I'll be killed thing, I get it." Hector crushed the glass cup in his hand. His aura being the only thing keeping his hand from getting bloodied up. "I get it, really I do. But right now, its either you tell me where the White Fang are tonight, or I give into this sudden murderous feeling I feel boiling up from inside me. Your choice." Hector said with a friendly, creepy smile.

"Ugh… for the last time, I don't know, the last time I saw him was a couple days before you came here." Junior answered as honestly as he could.

Yang and Hector narrow their eyes at him, but Yang is the first to give in. "He's telling the truth this time, I can tell."

"I know, but for some reason I really want him to shave that beard." Hector said as he continued to look at his face rather then his eyes.

"I'll shave it if it means you two leaving my club." Junior pleaded, he didn't even really care about his beard, it just kind of grew that way and he could always grow it back.

"Deal!" Hector slammed his hand on the table and offered a handshake.

Junior reluctantly took it, and winced at how hard Hector crushed his hand. His arm even flamed up just a tiny bit as he shook and crushed his hand. Then he let him go and stood up with a burp.

"I'm not paying for any of this by the way. You did sort of give it to me." Hector said as he walked toward Ashley and Penny, who is still crushing the Malachite twins in a hug while they shout and curse at her.

Junior sighs in relief and sits back in his chair, relieved that the more immediate threat has been thwarted for now.

"Wow, you must be more afraid of him then you are of me." Yang pointed out with a wink.

"You really know how to pick 'em blondie."

"We're not- yeah, I think I do, he is a real catch." Yang said with a laugh. She gave him one last boop on the nose, and sauntered after Hector, who was mistaken for being her boyfriend just now.

"Penny let them go, we're about to get into a fight." Hector said as he grabbed Penny by the back of her collar and pulled her along with him. Penny let the twins go and waved goodbye to them. While they flipped her off and stomped the ground. The twins aren't exactly fond of Penny right now. Nor will they ever be if the words they said meant anything.

"Ash, stop laughing and come on." Hector said as he passed her, flicking his head to tell her to follow him.

"Pah… I just… Oh my gosh, that was just _golden_." Ashley said as she followed her leader. As Hector passed her however, she could smell the alcohol coming off is breath. "Have you been drinking?"

"We need water to survive Ash." Hector jokes.

"No Dipshit, I can smell the booze in your breath." Ashley stopped Hector and made him look at her. "Why were you drinking?"

To be fair, Yang did kind of let it happen, so it's everyone's fault.

"He did kind of just offer me a drink, and I thought why not? So I had a couple drinks." Hector held back a burp, he didn't feel like getting his nose broken by burping in his partners face.

"Tch, just hope that it doesn't affect the mission."

"Come on Ash, you know me!" Hector puffed out his chest. "I am reliable!"

...

Later, after convincing Yang to not punch the goons she overheard talking about her hair, they all finally made it out side, and the doors were immediately barricaded as soon as they left.

"That was fun." Yang said with a smirk.

"Yeah, I'm just wondering what the others are up to now." Hector felt his scroll ring, and brought it up to his ear when he sees that it was Reggie who was calling him.

" _Hey Boss! How are you?"_ sounds of stuff blowing up and thunderous footsteps are heard through the scroll.

"What's happening?" Hector asked, even though he knows what is going on. He puts it on speaker so the others can hear what is going on.

" _BIG ROBOT THING, CHASING US, HELP!"_ Sun screamed into the scroll, sounding like he is running for dear life. Which he is mind you.

"Where-" Hector stuck a finger up to Yang's lips and pointed behind himself. A few seconds later Sun, Blake, and Reggie are seen sprinting away from a very large robot, with Neptune flailing like a flag attached to the back of it. He hung up the scroll after seeing that.

"How did you-" Yang began but was cut off.

"We should go help them." Hector cut her off as he sat on the back of the motorcycle. "Ash can sit in the sidecar this time. Since she goofed off and made Penny hug the Malachite twins." Hector shuddered as he remembered the way Penny hugged him like that not too long ago.

"How do you know-" Ashley began until she was also cut off by the same person.

"We should go, like _now_." Hector gestured toward the potholes made in the ground by the paladin as it ran by. Not letting them get the time to process the slip ups he's been making recently

"Right!" Nobody decided to question him and took their respective seats.

Ashley, the bitch, found a way for Penny and her to sit in the side car without being on top of one another. Actually sitting side by side and shoulder to shoulder.

"Okay, now lets- GOD DAMMIT YANG." Hector screamed as Yang floored it while he was in mid sentence. For the second and hopefully last time that night.

Hopefully they wouldn't need a third after all this is over...

* * *

 **AN- Alright, would you guys believe us if we said we wrote over ten thousand words in a day? I wrote the first 3k to get a headstart on it, but wow I never wrote that many words in a single sitting. -Genatools**

 **We are amazing. -CrowSkull**

 **That we are my friend. Next chapter is going to bring even more action! Robert vs Neo. Hector and friends vs Roman and his Atlesian Paladin! And it's all happening next chapter! Woo! Also Penny is easily my favorite to write in terms of shameless humor. -Genatools**

 **Do tell us what you think so far, what you think of the action and… well everything else that might come to your head. -CrowSkull**

 **As a hint for my long time loyal readers, you might recognize a little something that is coming in the near future, enjoy that little hint ;) -Genatools**

 **Hey… should we reference music in the future friend, it did help me write that action sequence… sounds like a bad idea what you think? -CrowSkull**

 **I listen to music while writing all the time, so I don't think it's a bad idea. -Genatools**

 **A lot of interesting fics have done it, we could do it too, one of the largest ones I read has a ton, tell us what you think. -CrowSkull**

 **And as always, thank you for reading this story!**

 **Please review and tell us what you think of the story so far! Anything we should improve on, please let us know.**

 **Disclaimer- We do not own RWBY in any way shape or form.**


	18. Rwby: Team HAMR chapter 18

**AN- Mysterious Astra twins it is then, I can dig it. I'll introduce you two to Daisy one day. Do you two take turns typing? One of you does the first half and the other does the second half, or are you two just the same person like the Ozpin/Oscar thing going on. Eh, one of these days they'll figure it out. When they do it is certainly going to be a chapter to remember let me tell ya. So you have those light grey colored eyes? Or they're blue but really light colored so it looks grey. Or we can be anime and say they're silver. We have a real life Silver eyed warrior in our world! It's better then my eyes that are a very very dark brown but they look black from a distance, so it just looks like I have no pupil and sometimes people are freaked out by it. You would be correct to believe that JNPR's room looks worse than the cafeteria, Reggie and Nora together isn't exactly a good combination if you're looking for a full nights sleep. Hector has actually been in Remnant for about two months canonically if my headcanon is correct, but the reason for him not seeing that yet is for a different reason that will be shown in the future, if I remember. You know, that is a good question, what would Rob have done if it really was Neo CrowSkull? -Genatools.**

… **No comment, let's just say a fight would have broke out. -CrowSkull.**

 **Can Penny project movies out of her eyes…? Well that is an idea I will keep in my head for a bit. The number of abnormalities in Hector's body are something to remember in the future. Mike's call was something I had to handle carefully, it is something people have to go through in real life, so I decided that jokes would definitely NOT be welcome in a situation like that. It was also something that I was surprisingly able to write pretty quickly, like within ten minutes. Hector's weapon is going to hopefully unique in its own right, the idea I have for it seemed alright in my head. I actually don't know, Hector has never used Kaioken while drunk before, guess we'll find out! Oh yeah Roman is fucked, he could barely do much against RWBY, now he is up against HAMR, RWBY, and two members of SSSN, but who knows? Surprises may happen. Thank you for the reviews that you always write for my stories! I look forward to your next ones!**

 **Guest: I love you for that, thank you! -Genatools**

 **At this rate we are gonna hit the double of that pretty soon… -CrowSkull.**

 **There we go, this story has broken 40 follows! Finally this story has been getting more and more back on its feet with every chapter. Thank you for reading this story!**

 **Now lets get right into the story!**

* * *

RWBY: Team HAMR

Chapter 18- A Night To Remember

Roman Mech-wick kicks cars aside as he chases the three faunus ahead of him. Miraculously all the cars he kicks aside all land in a position that doesn't kill the driver or their passengers. Somehow Blake, Sun, and Reggie are able to outrun the giant machine by jumping from car to car. Neptune is still screaming like a banshee as he flaps in the wind like a flag, holding on for dear life with his hands on the staff of his weapon which is currently stabbed into his armour. He tries shocking the machine but it does nothing but irritate the pilot.

"Neppy! Just hold on a bit longer! I think I see the end of the highway!" Reggie called back as he landed on the top of another car. Of course the end of the highway is nowhere in sight, he was just trying to be supportive.

"Argh, get off you brat!" Roman makes the mech rotate it's upper half at crazy speeds, barely allowing Neptune to hold on properly.

"I think i'm going to be sick." Neptune said as his face begun to turn green.

"Tch, looks like blue balls needs some help." Ashley said as she stood up on top of the side car of Bumblebee.

"Pfft." Hector almost wants to tell her what would happen if she did decide to go help the poor guy. Almost. "Go for it, just be careful."

Ashley nods and smiles as she bends her knees, pouring aura into her legs and gets ready to launch herself at the mech with each of her blades in hand.

"We are currently going at a speed of one hundred and ten miles per hour, I do not suggest jumping from the side of a vehicle at this speed." Penny advised. Damn her and her automatic responses.

"Damn, you're right." Ashley said as she stepped back from the front of the sidecar.

Hector muttered something about how funny something would have been to watched, but no one heard him over the sounds of speeding cars behind him.

"Neptune! I got you man." Sun stopped jumping and created two clones, his hair and tale glowing a blonde color as two golden copies of himself are created.

Then they suicide bomb into the Mech right away, doing little to no damage.

"Sun! The hell was that!?" Neptune asked as he managed to steady himself.

"Hey man, that usually works!" Sun responded. Blake groaned in annoyance from beside them and transformed her weapon into its gun form, while it would do minimal damage, it would at least be better than doing nothing.

"Don't worry Neptune, Im coming!" Sun said as he took out his staff and prepared to jump.

"Wait-"

"No, just watch, this'll be hilarious." Hector cut Yang off with a grab of her shoulder, not only to get her attention but also to steady himself from falling off the speeding motorcycle.

Before she is able to say anything back, Sun jumps high into the air and prepares himself to slam the end of his staff into the cockpit, but before he could even get close, Neptunes staff finally comes loose, and Neptune goes flying right into Sun, knocking them both off of the bridge.

Hector was barely able to contain himself, but still let out a snicker.

"Hector! They could be hurt!" Yang scolded even as she held back her own laughter.

Ashley did find it mildly amusing, but couldn't help but notice the sudden change in Hector's emotions as he said this, it went from serious and quiet as he was thinking of some sort of plan, and then straight into something comical, like he _knew_ something was going to happen like this. She makes a note to ask him about this, since this is not the first time she has sensed this from him with their aura connection.

But now is not the time to be thinking about her leaders recent changes in behavior, now is the time to focus and bring down this Atlesian Mech that has been terrorizing the streets of Vale for some time now. Honestly it's a wonder how no policeman are around. Is there even _any_ other huntsman except for students around? Logical questions for later.

"Alright, Penny, remember what we talked about on the way here?" Hector finally spoke up after recovering and patted Penny on the shoulder.

"Yes! I am ready to unleash the new name of my energy attack!" Penny cheerfully responded.

"Awesome! Cause I am going to need you to do that when I give the signal." Hector pointed ahead of them just as Weiss and Mike jumped into the street.

Mike bubbles Weiss and pulled her out of the way of a speeding car. A new trick he has showed off for the first time. It takes intense concentration but it is possible, he then keeps the green shield up long enough to defend against rockets that Roman fired at the Schnee heiress after noticing that she was blocking his path.

Blake jumped to the side to avoid being trampled by the machine, and is promptly picked up by Hector as he grabs her by the back of her shirt and pulls her onto the motorcycle behind him, sandwiching himself, but keeping her in the fight. The poor Bumblebee has so much weight on it now.

Weiss nods to Mike, and he nods back and burst the shield, then hops down to the level below where Ruby is waiting for them.

"How's it going up there?" Ruby asked as she loaded Crescent Rose with armour piercing rounds.

"So far so good, we just need Reggie to do his part." Mike said as he got his own weapon ready. Letting the chain fall to the ground as he wraps some of the slack around his right forearm.

"You _did_ tell him what he needed to do right?"

"..." Mikes eyes widened.

"Right?"

"I'm sure he'll figure it out…"

Reggie is now sprinting as fast as his body will let him toward Weiss, he is closing in fast, and he mutters an apology to the heiress because he does not plan to slow down because she is in front of him.

That is until Weiss twirls elegantly twice, and stabs Myrtenaster into the ground, creating a path of ice in front of her.

"Oh you've _gotta_ be kidding me!" Reggie goes colossus mode, turns around, and skids to a stop, he roars a battle cry as the Mech charges straight into him. The sound of metal clanging against metal is so loud and intense that it shatters the energy barriers around the two. The irresistible force vs the immovable object. But Reggie's metal form can only take so much. He grits his teeth and flips the Mech over his body, and onto the ice, but his hand gets caught between the toes of the machine, and he is promptly slingshotted into the city.

"AAAAAAHHH - HEY BOSS - AAAAAAAAHHH!" Reggie screams as he flies over Hector's head and over the bridge before disappearing out of sight, and out of the fight.

"Wow, that just happened." Hector said as the metal man flew away.

Roman slips, and slides across the ice on his side. He breaks through one of the still functioning energy blockades and falls over the edge, but still manages to land on his feet. Right in front of a now assembled RWBY as soon as Blake and Weiss touch down on the ground, followed by Hector, Yang, and Penny.

"Nice parking job." Hector sarcastically complimented as he cracking his neck and rolled his shoulders.

"Hey, no one was in that car, and Bumblebee is fine!" Yang exclaimed cheerfully as if nothing went wrong.

"Where did Ashley go? Wasn't she with you?" Mike asked as soon as he noticed his her the dog faunus' absence.

"Err." Yang trails off as she remembers the last word Ashley said to them.

" _YOU MOTHER FUCKEEEERRRS!" Ashley screamed as the Bike kicks up and sends her flying over the bridge and out of sight_.

"Like I said, great parking job." Hector said as he entered a newly reformed fighting stance. Much better now thanks to Rob's and Miss Goodwitches training. The stance itself was much more of a boxer or MMA fighter, Robert had told him that with his long legs he could really take advantage of the small jumps from side to side or forward or backwards in that stance, so there he was, left side of his body at the front left fist low, right arm high with his feet in line with his shoulders, you could see the tip of his toes ready to jump from side to side if need be.

"I'm guessing Reggie also went the way of the bird?" Mike asked as he prepared a shield for anyone who may need it, just as Roman finally turned to face them in his giant mech.

"Something like that… right Weiss?"

"Oh don't you _dare_ pin that on me Rivers!" Weiss shrieked.

"Alright! Focus time please!" Ruby's high pitched voice brought everyone back into the reality that is the giant Atlesian paladin aiming it's weapons at them.

"I am combat ready!" Penny yelled as she levitated her swords above her shoulders.

"Freezerburn!" Ruby shouts as she dashes backward, leaving Yang and Weiss to do their part.

"What does that mean!?" Mike asked, he didn't get time to process anything as Hector pulled him along with him and before he knew it, a thick mist covered the surrounding area, along with a thunderous sound of Yang's fist colliding with the ground with a roar.

"Ugh, Hector how did you know that was going to happen?" Mike asked as the two remaining members of Team HAMR maneuver their way through the mist, carefully avoiding the obvious red laser sights that mean danger.

"When Weiss made a pocket of ice and Yang jumped into the air with her fist pointed toward the ground?" Hector said, making it sound like it was going to be obvious.

"Yeah… thanks." Mike said with a nod. Deciding that it would be better not to argue with the guy that had just saved him from an ice explosion.

Quickly, and quietly, Hector, Michael, and all of RWBY, scurry their way through the mist, appearing for a split second on every side of Roman's mech. Not letting Roman know when exactly they are going to attack nor where they are. That is until Yang and Weiss stray a bit too close to each other, and Roman gets a perfect missile launch off that lands right in between them, luckily Michael was able to bubble the two before the rocket could land a direct hit, but couldn't stop the bubble from flying away further into the mist.

Just as they get blasted away, both Hector and Ruby in a flurry of red rose petals and flames burst out of the mist, and collide with the cockpit at the same time. Ruby slashing away at it, while Hector punches it as hard as his body will let him at his current state. The force of the attack sends both of the red wearing hunters backward, and they skid along the ground to a stop, and order their respective teams at the same time.

"Checkmate!" Ruby shouts to her Blake and Weiss as they land beside her.

"Mike! Help them! Penny now!" Hector shouts to his teammate and robotic friend.

"Main cannon charging!" Penny shouts as she forms her blades in a circle, and a small ball of green energy takes place in the center.

Hector smiles to himself as his plan begins to take action.

Weiss and Blake struggle to dodge the missiles as they are launched at them, one even manages to hit Weiss and blow her away, knocking her concentration off of her time dilation, as she flies through the air she looks for Blake so she can get it off before she hits the ground and loses the charged up technique, she sees her, but doubts herself in being able to land the buff, so she goes for the next best thing.

"Hector!" She yells as she shoots out a curved golden beam that lands right beside him.

"What the?" Hector looks beneath him as spectral cogs begin to turn, and time begins to slow down only for him. "Woah, this is crazy." He said as he redirected a missle using just his index finger. "Weiss must've used her time dilation thing on me instead of Blake… Which means I have no time to lose!" Hector powered up, realizing that he is on borrowed time. "Kaioken times five!" Usually, his body would struggle, and most of the time would give out under the strain, but that is only if he uses it for more than a few minutes, here, a second could be a minute for anyone unaffected by the time dilation, so he has a _lot_ of time to play with. Time works weird like that.

Hector moves faster then he ever has before, to RWBY, he looks like a red blur, kicking and punching missiles out of the sky, leaving a red trail and burning footsteps behind him as he dashes around. After slapping away another missle, Hector spins around and punches one of the paladins legs, forcing it to kneel down.

"Argh! Damn, Big Red got fast!" Roman said as he struggled to keep up with the leader of team HAMR. So fast in fact, that with Kaioken times five _plus_ the time dilation, even Ruby has trouble keeping up with him with her eyes. Usually she could see him just fine even when he is at his fastest.

"Wow, good choice Weiss." Yang said with a wolf whistle, and cocks up her Ember Celica to join into the fray.

"Yeah… I meant to do that." Weiss didn't sound so sure about that.

Hector continued these driveby attacks until he was finally given an opening to attack the cockpit itself, so he kneels down and prepares for a horizontal leap. He places his hands on the floor, and shoots himself toward the Mech with his fist stretched outright. But right as Hector was about to deliver a devastating blow to the Mech, the time dilation gave out, and he felt the burning muscle pain as soon as time began to flow normally for him. He was forced to downgrade to times two with a painful wince, and his punch did a lot less damage then he was intending to do, but it did managed to leave a large dent in the armour at least. He kicked off the mech as soon as he landed, and back flips in the air right as Yang charges in, latching herself onto the Paladins face and delivering shot after shotgun enhanced shot.

"Halfway there!" Penny updates on her current status, which is still charging up her beam attack.

"Wow, that is taking a long time…" Hector said between raspy breaths despite knowing that time was slowed down for him throughout all of that. He is a bit tuckered out now, but he is able to continue the fight. The fatigue of moving that fast and delivering punches stronger then he was used to now catching up to him, but he can't stop now.

"Ladybug! Hector come with!" Ruby shouted as she waved him over before running with Blake toward the Atlesian Paladin.

"Comin' in with the HAMR!" Hector has waited this whole time to be able to say that.

"Nice one!" Yang complimented between punches.

"Ugh…" Both Weiss and Mike groaned in unison.

Ruby and Blake both take the opposite sides of the Mech, then faster than the naked eye can see they trade places, sparks appear on the mechs groin and joint areas as they attacked the machine. Until Hector comes in for the final strike alongside Ruby. Together in a cyclone of red flames and rose petals, they hit the Paladin so hard that one of its arms comes flying off of the machine. Bringing it's weapon with it.

"Tch." Roman groans, annoyed with the fact that he is losing this fight so far, just too many enemies, and they are all working together very well. Too well. "I'll be damned if I don't at least knock one of these kids out!" He shouts to himself as he suddenly begins to run backwards.

"Yang! Jump off!" Hector tried to warn Yang, but it was too late.

Yang was slammed into several of the stone pillars that held up the bridge above them. Before finally stopping against the last one. Everyone thought it was over, until Roman lifted up one of his mechanical arms and thrusted it toward Yang. Mike tried to bubble her to minimize the damage at least, but was a millisecond too late. It takes approximately 57 milliseconds for the bubble shield to get to full strength, but anything beneath that and a simple punch can break it, maybe stop a bullet if you're lucky. The green shield shattered upon impact, and Yang was punched right through the last stone pillar, heavily damaging her body.

"Yang!" Blake screamed, worried about her partner.

"Blake." Hector called to her, making her look at him. "Did you forget about her semblance?"

"Yeah, don't worry, with each hit she takes it makes her stronger, and she uses that energy to fight back! That's what makes her special." Ruby explains simply, right as Hector powered up once again.

As if to probe her point, Yang's hair grew brighter, and yellow flames trickled off of the strands of her hair. Roman's cocky smirk faded away when Yang easily blocked the follow up attack, the force of the blow making the concrete shatter beneath her as she blocks.

"Time to kick it up a notch! Kaioken times three!" Hector shouted as he rushed in to join the fray. He'd be damned if he didn't get in on some of that action

"Hector!" Weiss called to him.

"Weiss," Ruby said her name, getting her attention. The only thing they saw was a smirk. "They've got this."

"Almost fully charged!" Meanwhile Penny is at ninety percent of her attack, a large ball of green energy forming between her blades.

"Yeah… I'm just gonna steer away from that one." Mike said as he sheathed the weapons he hasn't even used yet in this fight, and made sure he was _behind_ Penny. Just in case she was attacked from behind of course.

Yang smirked when Hector joined the fight. His fist colliding against the front of the Paladin, while she punched the arm that punched her through several stone pillars. Instantly shattering the arm into several hundred pieces. With their combined force, they throw the Mech back several meters, sparks being seen as the back of the paladin slides across the concrete.

It rolls backward and lands on its feet. Hector and Yang serpentine with each other, slowly picking up speed as they make their way to their target. While also making it slightly more difficult to be able to keep track of them. Roman tries to kick a foot out to catch one of them, but it is easily dodged by the pair. As they fight together, Yang and Hector shine orange. The colors of their auras mixing together as they throw their final punch at the Paladin.

"HAAAH!" They roar in unison as their punches connect. A shotgun blast adding the final touch.

The Mech is punched off it's legs, and gets sent up into the air, and straight toward Penny.

Hector, noticing that him and Yang are in the path of the incoming beam attack. Dives into Yang and drags her down with him with himself on top in an effort to protect her from the blast.

"Firing main cannon!" Penny shouts as she _finally_ releases her stored up energy, a monstrous green beam of energy lighting up the entire battle scene as it closes in on the chassis of the Mech.

"Awe, I just got this thing cleaned." That was the last thing Roman said as the beam completely consumes the entire Paladin, melting away the metal within seconds and breaking Romans aura, before she stops feeding the attack energy so that she wouldn't accidentally kill the crime lord.

Slowly, Hector pushes himself up from the crook of Yang's neck as the dust cloud dissipates away. Only to be met with a flushed, but smirking Yang, who still has her red eyes and flaming yellow hair active. When Hector realizes the position they are in he also flushes red, and gulps nervously.

"You could have at least asked me to dinner first." Yang teased. "You work fast."

Hector forced down a blush and pushed himself up to his feet and offered her a hand. "Maybe next time." He said as he helped her up to her feet.

Back with Roman, he digs himself out of the metallic rubble and back up to his feet. "Ugh, well this sure is a mess." He said as he dusted himself off. "Really could use your help now Neo." He said into the microphone in his ear. His aura was broken after that last attack, so if he tried to fight, he would lose horribly. He looks to Hector, who has just finished helping Yang up, from the ground, they lock eyes for a few seconds. A silent message being passed between them.

"Looks like you've made your decision." Roman says under his breath and with a shake of his head. "Idiot."

"It's over Torchwick." Hector said as he began to walk toward him, with RWBY, Mike, and Penny close behind. "Don't make this harder than it needs to be."

"Ah, but _you're_ the one making it harder than it needs to be. You've really become a thorn in my side do you know that?" Roman asked rhetorically. To which Hector just shrugged in response.

"Meh, sometimes I just like making things difficult."

"Well, heh heh, I know _someone,_ is going to like your choice."

"What does he mean by that?" Mike asked, having enough of this obvious connection between those two.

"I'll explain later." Hector said as he looked over his shoulder and to his teammate.

That one window of distraction was enough for the ice cream girl to come out of her pocket dimension, and kicks Hector away from Torchwick with both legs right as he was about to grab him.

"Impeccable timing, but _woo_ , who managed to do _that_ to you?" Roman teased as he noticed Neo's injuries, she is bruised on the exposed parts of her stomach, and as a distinct scuff mark on her left cheek in the shape of a boot. Her parasol is a little scorched up, like it was held over a fire for a few seconds. She definitely does _not_ look happy either. Her eyes being white instead of their usual mismatched brown and pink, and her outfit also appears to be ruined, splatters of mud and water damage all too apparent to the eye.

She scowled at Roman even as she held out her Parasol, before averting her gaze back to the teens ahead of them.

"Wow, you look like you've seen better days." Hector teased as he rubbed his now sore cheek. "What happened? Got struck by lightning or something?" He said.

Neo scowled, and by showing excellent restraint, doesn't immediately try to impale Hector right then and there.

* * *

 **Robert vs Neo**

Neo and Robert face off against one another. Each with a calm expression on their faces as they circle each other. Neo tilts her head as she observes her opponents movements. She remembers him from the encounter she had with Hector earlier that day, he came just in time to ruin her fun… and those who ruin her fun aren't allowed to get away with more than their lives. She plans not to incapacitate him, not even tomaim him, only to _kill_. As she has done so to many others. He was just another name to be crossed off on her list, and face to be forgotten.

Robert on the other hand, was more cautious, he knew Neo was good. _How_ good he didn't know, possibly could kill him, he could feel that in the air, it was like an ever present warning, a subtle cold metallic scent, of danger, of risk, his heart was pumping fast, really fast… was he personally excited? Maybe. But that didn't distract him, he had to play careful, there were no rules here. She was fast, she could try and evade him and counter hard, he had to not give her a chance, in and out, don't give her what she wants.

Neo blinked her eyes, and the color of brown and pink switched places, every time she blinked they changed colors. Watching his every movement, her rather lazy stance was not one to be underestimated, it left little openings, and a lot of room for offensive maneuvers. She narrowed her eyes dangerously at him, locking onto one of her favorite vital areas to cut open.

The neck.

After her next blink, her eyes turned to red and black, and then she made her move. Trying to end this quickly with a quick slash from her thin sword. Robert for his part, manages to see this coming, he steps back and quickly scissor cuts with his blades to deflect the small sword, he did a front kick to push Neo away, but it was fluidly dodged. Before he knew it, the distance between them was once again obvious. He knew he didn't need to give her time, he started firing lightning bolts at her in rapid succession, making her dodge them, she was able to dodge them pretty well, given that his lightning bolts moves _pretty_ fast. He went on the offensive, he went at her with his blades, trying to slash at her, she masterfully dodges the slashes with pirouettes and some swift side steps. Robert however was catching up with her in terms of speed, and soon started throwing kicks into the mix too..

Neo, seeing that he is able to keep up with her speed. Has to get more serious in order to defend herself from his attacks. Having to use blocks and deflects now rather than her fluid movement. Sparks fly as her blade connects with each of his. Robert keeps pressuring, whatever way she dodged he was soon after her, blades leaving traces of sparks wherever he went, she blocked the blades and soon she was also avoiding kicks and elbows that came immediately after a clash, Rober would slash high and low trying to catch her, she would evade and block the strikes and cuts that came in quick succession, dodging from one side of the roof to the other, the two of them appeared as blurs, soon she sees an opening, after a roundhouse kick and a slash came the elbow that she grabs as she throws one her quick kicks at him, and it connects to his stomach pushing him back, however not as far as she might like, he was still close and after grabbing her leg he shoulder tackled her, returning the favor, it didn't do much, but it managed to catch her and push her away. Robert doesn't stop as he drives his fist to the ground to send a lightning wave that she immediately backflips away from, and so the distance is apparent again. Both of them again staring at each other, recovering their breath a little from the cat and mouse game.

Neo scowls when she sees the electricity dance on her skin, giving her a scorch mark on her beloved parasol when she attempted to block the electric shockwaves final wave. She blinks her eyes once again, and they turn into different colors once more, then she moved at a speed faster then Robert was prepared to keep track of. Her blade already inching closer to his chest where his heart is located when he is finally able to see her again. Luckily his aura was able to defend from the attack, and he twisted his body enough for the blade to drag off his body and miss. He sees more slashes that he also sidestepped, but some of them do manage to barely cut away at his aura, leaving him at about seventy five percent now. He does flip over her to avoid a final back kick from her, he is received when he lands with a roundhouse kick that he's able to block, he tries to catch her with another slash of his blades but she already crouched under the cut, they exchange kicks and some strikes. Neo goes for a flurry of kicks from the left, roundhouses and spinning hook kicks, Robert steps back and blocks the last one, using the move to draw in close, he tries to slash at her with the blades, but Neo blocks the strikes with her parasol, he goes for left spinning elbow that get grabbed and blocked before trying to trip her with a kick, she jumps over his leg with a flip and they start exchanging blows again this time she goes in close but Robert pushes her away blocking her strik with the parasol and striking her with his knee, Robert blocks with his arms and blades while Neo sidesteps and blocks with her damaged parasol, the cat and mouse game begins again, only Neo being faster now and being way more active, they exchange blows here and there, more equal then they have been all night at this point. Much to both their annoyances, not catching the other how they would like, Robert also was using more lightning powers now, dashing in and out in masses of lightning., he comes in with an axe kick followed by a flying kick, both avoided, but they were followed by a lightning ball that exploded.

Neo managed to avoid receiving a direct hit, but the explosion managed to catch her just a bit. Knocking her off of her feet and she slides right through the dust and left over water puddles. Ruining her outfit to an extent. She flipped herself back onto her feet, and dashed straight toward Robert with an angry look on her face, both of her eyes now red with anger. She comes with some streaks of her parasol but Robert was coming for her as well, charging at her, she get ready to side step, however he does something unexpected, he delays it and charges up the attack with lightning, she had already dodged, but it was mistimed, the attack came faster than she expected and hits her, she is still on her feet and plans to retaliate but Robert does something else, he surprisingly slid between her short legs, much to her surprise, and attempts to slash at her legs from behind while he's on the ground, she jumps away, once again the distance comes in.

Neo has had enough of this, she has tried to play around with him like she has done to many others in the past. But this one just won't play along, she is actually _taking_ hits, much more than she likes, which is none. She isn't enjoying this as much as she wanted to be, she likes to be in control of a fight, not be on the ropes at times. Although she is excited, it is for the wrong reasons in her point of view. She suddenly misses messing with Hector more now then she did before, he was always fun, even if they only had about three encounters with each other so far.

As she comes in close to Robert, he got ready to defend and thought of a counter, but as soon as their blades connecting, Neo shattered away into glass, and a foot connected with the back of his head, along with a slash of her thin blade into the back of his knee. Forcing him down to one knee. She then spun around and used that momentum to teleport back in front of Robert and kicks him in the cheek, making it his turn to get dragged through the dust and water puddles.

Robert spun back into his feet, not going down easily, he strikes back with sudden speed, going from several slashes kicks and attempted knees, Neo avaded most of them, the minute she started blocking more attacks she'll shatter and reappear somewhere, suddenly she was teleporting everywhere, Robert was being pushed on the defensive, he blocked and parried several attacks but various kicks and tiny slashes were getting through, he was receiving cut in his legs, shoulders and arms. Neo tried to grapple him to the ground. But Robert managed to maintain himself stable and get in a few hits, the roundhouse kicked twice and headbutted once while they were both struggling, but that only got Neo more angry, he was about to throw a lightning palm but she disappeared once, twice, thrice, and soon she tripped kick him to the ground, and was bring the small sword of her parasol down towards his neck, Robert put the same shield he used when she tried to clothesline him and blocked the blow, and grabbed the sword with his hand, his blue aura flaring around his hand as he gripped the metal. It is here where they were struggling on the ground while Neo was viciously trying to push it farther down to stab him through the eye, both of them holding the little sword.

Neo grits her teeth and forces more aura into her arms. Adding as much strength to her tiny frame as much as it would allow. Trying to pull away the the sword from Roberts grip. She feels her aura drain as it makes her stronger, if she had to guess it would be at about sixty to seventy percent. It makes her angry just to think that she managed to get that low in this fight. Robert winces as the blade begins to cut through the skin on his hand, causing blood to seep out of the thin cut. His aura is below half at this point, and so it won't fully protect him from attacks anymore.

" _This… bitch."_ he thinks to himself, he starts pushing back, even with his hand drawing blood and staining his gloves with red. " _You've had worse cuts than this, come on!"_ He starts drawing his back away from the ground, there was a good chance he could die here, and he had to admit, the will the drive to just not die… really felt powerful. Soon he was engulfed in lightning and from his body he released a massive explosion of lightning with a roar, Neo was close and she couldn't quite teleport away, at least not with her precious weapon. The explosion propelled both of them off the roof and into an alley, she bounced on wall and landed while he rolled on the ground before getting up again.

They stare each other off for a few seconds. They are at it again, both going at each other, Robert goes all or nothing and starts to chase Neo's disappearing form, and starts to throw more lightning explosions, in the alley, Neo didn't have as much room to dodge, Robert was totally using that to his advantage, they exchange more blows, Robert throws kicks, punches, elbows and slashes while she evades some and blocks some, Robert goes for some hooks and a wild kick to her shin, she evades the hooks and block the kick with one her own, she attacks with spinning hook kick Robert bends his back just slightly to avoid, she block another elbow and two more sidekicks before trying to trip him with kick that Robert jumps over, he goes for another scissor cut with his lightning blades pushing her back as she blocked the attack with her parasol, leaving it even more damaged.

Robert soon charges with his blades and misses Neo, but bounces of the wall, going for her again, They lock again and this time Robert manges to grab her wrist and pull her close enough for him to deliver a strike with his blades, Neo recoils from the attack, it leaves another scorch mark in her outfit and damages her aura more, she attacks back, but Robert avoided it with a handstand flip, leaving another ball of lightning on the ground, it explodes, Neo avoids it, but from the cloud of smoke and sparks Robert comes in with a reverse flying kick, it comes so fast it strikes her right on the face and pushes her to the wall, leaving a small crack and mark on her face, there Roberts attacks with his blades, going for her face… but Neo avoids it, the blades pierce right through where her head had been.

Neo blinked her eyes, and they turn white, not because of Robert but rather because she had just heard something from Roman in the microphone in her ear. She jumps away from Roberts next attack after kicking him away, and sheathed her weapon, giving him one last scowl with her now white eyes. The broken moon shines from behind her.

"What's wrong… giving up?" Robert taunts as he takes in deep breaths.

Neo flips her hair over her shoulder, and with a smirk. Promptly flips Robert off.

"Love you too." Robert says sarcastically and charging more lightning in his arms

She then disappeared after that, right as a lighting bolt came to electrify her. Doing nothing but shattering her body when she enters her pocket dimension. The pieces of glass fall to the ground and disappear along with the user.

"Shit! Fucking… ugh. Shit, shit shit!" Roberts starts running despite his injuries towards where he assumed she went. Which was under a certain bridge that had an orange light blazing from underneath it.

* * *

 **Back to the Present.**

Back with Hector's group, Neo has taken one last look at the once scared boy in front of her she saw saw just that morning. The look he gives her is challenging, almost beckoning her to do something about his choice, and she likes that she has that opportunity now. However soon a masked figure came in an explosion of lightning that came near the groups, a figure that had landed in all fours and looked as damaged as Neo and even little more roughed up, parts of his clothes were teared, his hair was messy, he also looked like had gone through water and soot just the same as her, he also clenching his hands, more than pissed because they look like they stinged. He was walking towards Neo and Roman specifically.

"Wow, you got here fast, I literally _just_ texted you." Hector said as he held his scroll out in front of him, but was ignored.

"Now now, sorry honey, but dates not over! Leaving me hanging in an alley?! Who teaches you manners?! Come on, let's do this!" Robert says, drawing his blades again with a furious sizzling sound coming from them, along with some sparks flying. This was the first time any of them besides Neo actually took a look at the weapons.

"Huh, sounds familiar." Hector muttered from underneath his breath. "You know they're just going to teleport away right?" He asked the assistant as he stopped next to him.

"Ah! Blue, how have you been? Looks like you've been through the ringer if you ask me." Roman said with a snicker as he noticed all of Roberts injuries and how dirty he is, he was even more messed up then Neo is.

"Still got enough for both of you!"

"I keep getting ignored…" Hector mumbled to himself with fake sadness.

Neo does a little spinning dance move, then grabs Roman by the wrist, before winking toward the closest person of the group, that being Hector, and also again flipping Robert off. Hector snickered her eyes went back to their usual brown and pink.

"Someone shoot her!" Robert yells as he gets ready to throw another lightning missile.

And then teleports away with Roman just has Yang fired her Ember Celica at them, their forms shattering into glass before seemingly disappearing from existence.

As soon as they leave, A Bullhead flies overhead, much too far to try and take down. The bad guys have gotten away.

"Someone you know?" Yang asked both Hector and Robert after her flames die down and her eyes return to their lilac colors.

"Regrettably, a little too well." Hector groaned. "She was the one who almost killed me before."

"... That little bitch." Robert seethed absentmindedly.

"Looks like you found out what I went through firsthand." Hector said as he patted him on the back. "Don't worry, time heals all wounds. Even the ones dealt to pride."

"Did you manage to put a fight against her in your turn?"

"I mean, I broke her aura. But other then that, shut up."

"Well, it looks like she really made our plans… _fall apart_." Weiss tried making that dastardly joke that Hector completely forgot about.

"Pfft," At least Ruby helped her out just a bit. Only if she laughed out of the pure unexpectedness of Weiss of all people making a joke. A _pun_ no less.

Blake just stared at her with a blank expression, before turning and walking away.

Penny wasn't sure what was going on, so she just begun cheering their victory.

"No, just no." Yang said with a shake of her head, then started to walk away.

"What? But you do it!" Weiss shrieked, turning red out of embarrassment.

"Weiss." Mike called to her. "It was alright, just unexpected of you." He complimented.

"Hmph, thank you Michael, at least _someone_ is willing to give me a chance." Weiss crossed her arms and held her head up high valiantly.

"Don't draw the pun out and it will be about three times better." Robert said looking away towards where Neo had been, he was now dusting himself off and checking his gauntlets for any damage

"I never said that you should do it again however. Like, ever." Mike added, earning a snicker from his leader.

"Wha- Michael! Mr. Urra!" Weiss once again goes red out of embarrassment.

"Haha," Hector laughed from beside them. "Nice weapons by the way, haven't seen you use those yet."

"That's for a reason." Robert said looking back at Hector.

"Ooo, what are they made out of? How did you temper the metal? How did you get the blades to become a conduit for your lightning attacks? By the way those are really cool can I see them?" Ruby asked a dozen more questions as she dashed up to Robert in a flurry of rose petals. Robert stared for a moment before saying anything.

"Well… it's pure lightning, technically there's no actual physical blade here." He said as he drawed the blade once more letting Ruby see it in more detail

"WOAH, how do you do that!?" Ruby's eyes sparkled as she geeked out over the weapons.

"Well, they are a conduit for my semblance, so… technically the blades are my creation… that works with this right here." Robert said showing her the chambers that glowed when the blades were active.

Yang pulled Ruby away from the teacher, causing her to whine indignantly as she tried to ask a dozen more questions. "Sorry about that, she geeks out over _every_ weapon." Yang said with a nervous smile, causing Ruby to pout.

"It's fine…"

"Wait, what happened to the others?" Ruby suddenly asked, making everyone realize that there are four people missing from their group.

"Oh… shit." Hector said under his breath when he suddenly remembered Ashley being sent flying through the air.

* * *

Sun, Neptune, Reggie, and a reluctant Ashley who is sitting with her arms crossed, still mad about what happened to her, and that _no one_ came to check on her. Are all sitting at a late at night open nood stand.

"They're all alright. right?" Neptune asked as he dug into his bowl of noodles.

"Yeah, I believe in them." Reggie said as he massaged his sore muscles. Stopping a many ton Atlesian Paladin turned out to be quite the workout, even if he did get sent flying through the city, it was very convenient that he managed to land almost right next to Sun and Neptune, who were walking on the sidewalk talking about their night on their way to the noodle stand.

"I hope at least _one_ of them loses an eye." Ashley growled out, her faunus ears standing up on the top of her head.

"Hey, I know you're worried to, but since you're not going after them I assume you know they'll be fine." Sun teased his fellow faunus, and she didn't even try to deny it.

"Yeah! Boss and Mike's got team RWBY with them, and Penny! They'll be fine." Reggie said as he stretched his arms and patted his teammate on the shoulder.

"I wonder if they'll be fine in the morning." Neptune muttered under his breath.

"What was that Blue Balls?" Ashley snapped at him after hearing his voice with her naturally enhanced hearing.

"N-nothing!" Neptune stammered, hiding his face and making himself appear less threatening.

"That's what I thought."

* * *

"I'm sure they're all fine. I mean come on, who has ever been hurt from a fall around here?" Hector asked the group, even if he didn't sound too sure about it himself.

"Eh, guess you're right." Yang shrugged, before smirking her trademark smirk. "I noticed that you're able to push yourself even further now, im still waiting for our one on one."

Hector clears his throat, remembering the supposed 'date' they were supposed to go on about a month ago.

"As much as I'd love for your fist to connect with my face, I think I could repay you that favour another time." Hector said as the last of his red flames _finally_ died down, they stuck around a bit longer than usual.

"Maybe you can repay me another way then?" Yang teased. "I wouldn't mind you being on top of me again~"

"EW! Yang I told you to not flirt with guys around me!" Ruby said with a gag at the thought of her sister in the act.

"Thank you, Ruby." Hector said with a chuckle. "If I wasn't about to fall asleep, that might have affected me more."

"Yeah, I was wondering about that." Yang laughed. "But since when do your eyes turn red?"

Hector widened his eyes and reaches a hand up to touch his face. "They're red?" He tried to find a leftover patch of ice that might have been left over from Weiss, but can't find any, so he takes out his scroll. He turns on the camera to face himself, and sees that he does in fact of red eyes. "Woah."

"Congratulations, seems you have managed to join club "Red power up" already more than dozen of those in Beacon already… what's with red anyway." Robert said as he kept dusting himself off.

"Hey! Red is the best color!" Ruby and Hector protested at the same time, then high fived each other at the accidental sync.

"Whatever you say… Hmm." Robert pulled out his scroll suddenly. "Yeah what?"

Hector snapped a picture of himself, keeping the image of his red eyes as a reference for the future. Good timing, because the next time he blinked his eyes returned to their usual dark brown.

"Awe, I looked so cool." Hector complained as he noticed his eyes return to normal and placed his scroll back in his pocket.

"Uh huh… oh you found the group stuck in the closet, nice… yeah I'll be right there." Robert said putting his scroll back in his pocket.

"Duty calls?" Hector asked his friend with an arched eyebrow.

"Yeah… I'll be running."

"Thanks, for the help from earlier." Blake said to the teacher suddenly.

"... It's not a problem, besides, congratulations to all of you. You have been part of maybe the biggest White Fang raid yet."

"Huh?" Most of them said in unison. Hector just kept trying to get his eyes to turn red again, barely paying attention to what is going around him.

"The warehouse… well, it was a massacre, it was awesome, I don't think anybody escaped, except maybe those two… well I gotta go."

"Massacre?" Blake asked worried.

"Well the hundreds of them… didn't really stood a chance, no one's dead." Robert said shrugging.

"Umm, Mr. Urra aren't you… injured from all that?" Weiss said to him as he started run.

"Uh… I'm still at maybe… uh, twenty percent? More than enough it, all will fade in the morning." Robert said, running faster going back to the warehouse, using a lightning powered jump to get way as he was running, leaving a trace of lightning.

"What a swell guy." Hector said with a chuckle.

"He's a scary guy" Blake said.

"He's a weird weird guy." Yang said at the same time. "Alright, i'm starved, wanna go get something to eat?"

"Oh please. My stomach hurts so much im so hungry." Hector said as they group began to walk away back into the city.

"Weiss is paying."

"Hey!"

"Awesome! What a successful mission guys, no one got hurt." Ruby coughed, thinking about what might have happened to Sun, Neptune, Reggie, and Ashley. "And we got a lot of bad guys behind bars."

"Isn't it better that you actually worked with others this time?" Mike remarked, placing a hand on his leaders shoulder.

"Big time, I've made many mistakes. I am sorry for not asking for help sooner." Hector said right away.

"Good, I am glad you finally came to your senses." Blake piped up.

"I'm glad you slapped the shit outta me." Hector jokes. Making Blake look away out of embarrassment. "That was meant as a thank you Blakey."

"Right…"

As the group joked and talked about the fun night they had, Yang couldn't help but think about Hector's red eyes from earlier. It was the same red that she gets when she uses her semblance, but even redder than that. She can't help but suspect something, even if it sounds ridiculous.

' _Could he be my… no that's impossible… but what if? Oh gosh... I might have solicited my half-brother for sex…'_

Yang's face paled at the thought.

* * *

Neo teleported herself and Roman from the Bullhead, and back into their hideout. Where they both slumped down on the couches set up for them tiredly, and with a tired sigh.

"Well, looks like Big Red made his decision." Roman said with a shake of his head.

Neo just put a thumbs up, and in a flash her clothes were cleaned up. Another useful trick she can do with her semblance. She smiled excitedly as she already thinks about all the things she could do to Hector.

"I just don't get it, why all the heroics? He could have easily breezed by the year, overall his life would become _much_ easier with time." Roman sighed. "But nooo, he just _had_ to play the hero. Damn those kids."

Neo teleported beside Roman and patted his back. He looked up to see her happy smile.

"Yes, I know Neo, that means that we have to deal with him." Roman rolled his eyes when Neo jumped into the air excitedly.

"It looks like you two had a fun night." A cocky young man's voice piped up from the other side of the room. Emerald was close by, with earphones plugged in listening to some kind of music as she read a book.

"Ah, the kids are here! Don't tell your mother that I stayed out late." Roman joked as he rolled his eyes once again.

"That Hector guy is still giving you trouble?" Mercury asked with a chuckle. "Looks like we got a job to do Emmy!"

"I said _don't_ call me that!" Emerald yelled as she threw her book at her partner.

"Haha, anyway, Neo, it looked like you had a rough night when you first got here, what happened ice cream?" Neo narrowed her eyes dangerously at Mercury, she never wanted to kill him more the she did right now, but if she did that, then she would no doubt get punished. So instead she flipped him off, with _two_ hands.

"Yeah, that about answers my question." Mercury laughed as he took a seat and did maintenance on his robotic legs.

"Yeah, turns out Blue is not someone to mess with, he would definitely give you a big run for your money if you ever ran into him." Roman piped up, making Neo smile and hug him when he came to her defence.

"Blue? Who's that?" Mercury asked, more interested that a new foe has now entered the fray.

"... I actually never got his name, I think Big Red and Little Red called him 'Mr. Urra' though. Anyway, if he can stand up against Neo, then he is someone I suggest you two stay away from. I'll deal with him myself."

"Like you handled the ex-White Fang Member Roman." A slick, seductive voice asked from behind him. Making Roman pale and freeze in place. He felt a hot hand get placed on his back, and trace it's way to his chest where Cinder showed herself. Angry multicolored eyes glaring at him, even as she smiled. "Tell me Roman, why did I turn on the news to see the headline being "Largest White Fang rally disrupted", stopped by a single huntsman, and just a few huntsman in training?"

"... I didn't expect for any of that too happen, the animals assured me that we were secure." Roman defended, fear welling up inside him. Even Neo stepped away and looked away from the dangerous woman. Mercury and Emerald stood up straight at the presence of Cinder.

"Tch, tch, tch, Roman. You have disappointed me tonight." Roman winced as her finger, with a flame at the tip, dug into his chin. He winced as she burned him and marked him.

"Not only did you fail in stopping Hector Rivers from interfering in our plans, but somehow you managed to get the attention of a fully trained huntsman. I now see that I have to step in myself." Cinder pushed Roman away, a black burn mark on the bottom of his chin.

"Mercury, Emerald. You two think of something to capture the boy, I have a desire to speak to him myself." Cinder said to her underlings, before turning to Neo. "You will help them, if this boy is now strong enough to affect our plans in the way he has done so far, I have a feeling that those two would need the help. Just in case."

Neo nodded to Cinder, not willing to put up an argument for the chance to have some well needed fun with the young man. She smiled at the thought.

"Yes mam!" Mercury and Emerald said at the same time.

"Good, I expect you three will _not_ fail me. Come Roman, we have things to discuss."

"What about the Huntsman?" Emerald asked

"Yeah, what about Mr Thunder?" Roman asked Cinder reatorically

"He will be dealt with in time, I've known about him for quite some time. Do not engage him without consulting me, I have some things to discuss with him myself, now come." Cinder said as she brushed past him.

"Well, it looks like we have a new mission." Mercury remarked as Cinder and Roman left the room. Neo teleported away quickly after to do Neo things.

"It is an easy one, we can do it with just the two of us." Emerald said as she sat back down on her bed.

"We'll see, im itching to see just how good he is myself." Mercury said as he stomped his foot on the ground gently to test the adjustments he's made. "Perfect."

"I'll enjoy watching him beat you down if he ends up being too much for you."

"And I'll do the same to you." Mercury winked, making Emerald gag. "You know you want me."

"I'd rather screw a Grimm."

"I've learned that is how you show your affections."

"... I really hate you."

* * *

 **AN- Well then, this chapter was just FULL of content now was it? A lot of things happened, a lot of things are planned, and Ashley is going to attack Hector again once they get back to Beacon. Ah, the lovebirds those two are. Anyways, what did you guys think of the chapter? What did YOU think of the chapter CrowSkull?- Genatools.**

 **I think we did a solid job, I think… well we shall see the reviews to tell us what was good and what wasn't. -CrowSkull.**

 **I certainly hope that people let us know what we can do to make this story better. That's a sign for you guys to review by the way. ;)- Genatools**

 **Thank you for reading the story! Do you like the direction the story is going? What did you think of this action packed chapter? Please let us know what we can improve on!**

 **Disclaimer- We do not own RWBY in any way, shape, or form.**


	19. Rwby: Team HAMR chapter 19

**AN-**

 **Zeldawolffang: That's great! Glad you enjoyed it!**

 **Astra: Wow, didn't know you had a bit of Flamingo in you. You also seem to be part Neo, that's fun. I actually looked it up, and I was very wrong, it was definitely more than two months, lets just say that little flashback was actually earlier on in the timeline and not cause a scene. It's totally okay that you can't review as often, trust me, I know what it's like to not have a lot of free time. I wondered that too for a time, and I just figured that if Reggie was with them, then he would have joined them after landing nearby, and Ashley would have just stuck around just because she didn't know where to go. I was originally going to have Penny say Kamehameha but SOMEONE, not naming any names *Cough* Crowskull *Cough* convinced me otherwise, main cannon seemed to be a better fit for an android with a laser cannon anyway. It was an RvB reference by the way, Sheila said that right before she killed Church. -Genatools**

 **And many times across the series, killing more than just Church. -CrowSkull**

 **Kaioken times five multiplied by the speed of time seems to be a more accurate equation. So lets say Weiss' time dilation makes you about four times faster, than Hector went Kaioken times five, so that would make it a bootleg Kaioken times twenty, but only the speed part, not the strength and magic shit that Hector has in UH. Oh yeah, aura is always inconsistent like that, I guess aura is just strong when the plot demands it, I didn't feel like killing Roman off like** _ **that**_ **, it would have been** _ **way**_ **too sudden, and no that does not mean Roman is getting killed off early. So I abused my author rights for that one. I totally should have Hector name an attack Dragon Fist. He does have the dragon design on his chest so it would fit. Yeah, I kinda forgot about burning out the alcohol, so let's just say he was still a little bit drunk. Besides, he thinks he is going to get assassinated soon, so he hit the fuck it button. I am glad you enjoyed the fight between Rob and Neo, it was something we had to be careful with. Neo would never expect that, so she was a bit caught off guard when a guy a full foot taller than her slide between her legs like that suddenly. I was the one who wrote out Neo's thoughts and intentions and some of the fight moments, while CS wrote the majority of the fight. I think he did a great job. -Genatools.**

 **:) -CrowSkull.**

 **Or we, however you want to see it. The fist connect with face thing was actually inspired from one line from Claptrap from Borderlands, "As much as I am sure that you want to jam your fist into my face, I think we should leave this to a professional" I think it was like that anyway, I am sure you know what I am talking about. Would I reuse story ideas? Well, I think I already did, Hector is still a character, only this time he doesn't have Ozpin, so that made him much less powerful, and get a personality change that is actually much closer to mine then the UH Hector is. Though, I don't think you know what the red eyes really mean, feel free to take some guesses though. As you say I can be pretty predictably unpredictable. We are going to write plenty of battles of mass proportions, c'mon, I am known for my intense fighting scenes. -Genatools.**

 **Difference you now have me, and I am in another level with that, separated we might have some… problems, but together, we can make a very decent show, I still however write most of the action on this fic ever since I became part of it. -CrowSkull.**

 **Thank you for finding the time to review once again, I hope to see your reviews again soon.**

 **Guest: I'm glad someone caught that! I'm not going to copy his idea though, or at least not in the way he did it. I might do my own way of doing it, I am still thinking about it though so nothing is really confirmed. Thanks for the review! -Genatools.**

 **You don't have to worry, I'll reel him in when necessary so he doesn't make too many references, copy stuff or goes in directions that are just not a good idea… what am I saying I already do that, you guys have no idea how many bad ideas this guy has, then again I have a fair share of my own, and we both have our egos… I guess we have managed to balance each other out. :) -CrowSkull.**

 **Now let's get on to another chapter!**

* * *

RWBY: Team HAMR

Chapter 19- Tail an Assault

"Hey Hecs." Ruby said through a mouthful of strawberries. After destroying the stolen Atlesian Paladin, Team RWBY and the present two members of HAMR took Yang on the offer to use Weiss' money in order to get a well needed dinner after the strenuous activity of fighting a giant mechanized suit. Of course Weiss was not very willing to spend her money at first on five hungry hunters, three of them known for eating so much food in one sitting that people are surprised that they are the size that they are. Though she might have made the assumption that all the food Hector eats goes straight into making him taller, he was already about a foot taller than her, probably even more. But she was convinced when Ruby abused-slash-made an executive decision to order Weiss to pay for the food so the group can get their sustenance for the night. Weiss begrudgingly followed the order, and luckily one of the well known fast food restaurants named 'The Steakout' is a twenty-four-seven open establishment. Sadly, Penny had to leave due to a curfew that has been set for her, so she has sent herself back to Beacon with farewell hugs to everyone. Their backs still hurt.

"Hm?" Hector hummed before he swallowed a blasphemous amount of food. He was enjoying yet another steak, the 'Manliest food alive' as he calls it. "What's up?"

"You wanna help put the finishing touch on your weapons after lessons tomorrow?" Ruby asked with a yawn, the exhaustion of the nights activities catching up to her finally.

"Hell yeah!" Hector answered excitedly, the smell of the alcohol he drank just an hour before still somewhat is still in his breath. "I kept asking for you to let me help you out but you kept saying no."

"Well… you really didn't seem to be very good at building things."

"Ouch, that hurt right in the pride. I'll have you know that I am at least below average when it comes to building things."

"Pfft," Mike snorted "Do you remember the last time you tried to build something?"

"That, is something I strictly believe we agreed to never speak of again." Hector said as he jabbed a finger into his teammates shoulder just left of him.

"You somehow managed to use ice dust to set the table on fire." Blake remarks, the amusement barely hidden from her face.

"You were there!?" Hector asked with panic in his voice, he even looked up from his steak to look the faunus in her yellow eyes.

"I was your partner for the class Hector." The cat faunus pointed out. Making Ruby and Yang snicker and Weiss roll her eyes, that is so something Hector would do.

"Oh _yeah_ , now I remember, Doctor Oobleck just stared at me as I desperately tried to put out the fire." Hector reminisced, he didn't know what was going through the professors head at the time, but he doubts it was anything pleasant.

"You were trying to put it out by rubbing more ice dust into it." Mike snarkily remarked.

"I didn't think ice dust was even flammable! It literally has ice in the name, and it was my first time messing with that stuff anyway." Hector desperately defended himself, even as the blonde brawler just to his right laughed away and banged on the table.

"That must've not been very _ice_." Yang punned, making most of the table groan and slam their foreheads into the table. It was really too late for this, or early, depends on if you think two am is still night or morning. Luckily they have lessons later in the afternoon instead of the morning tomorrow- today.

Instead of rolling his eyes and ignoring the pun, Hector threw some fire back.

"Yang, that was _cold_ of you to say, you're making the table _shiver_ with irritation." Hector punned back, making Yang grin competitively and the rest of the group groan again, Michael excused himself to gro use the bathroom, most likely just to get away from the incoming pun war that he didn't know if his leader could win.

"Whoops, the problem must've _slipped_ my mind."

"Careful, you might give everyone else _cold_ feet."

"I don't _snow_ about that, everyone seems to be giving _you_ the _cold_ shoulder."

"Damn, guess I should let them get out some _steam_."

"Please stop, I already have enough puns with just Yang." Ruby pleaded.

"C'mon sis, I know you're not _Weiss_ cold enough to try and stop us." Yang said as she and Hector wrapped an arm over each other and grinned at the three other girls.

"Stop using my name in puns! It was never even… punny?" Weiss tried so hard.

"And like that, the mood is ruined- Ack!" Hector groaned in pain as he grabbed his head with his free hands, his ears ringing as his headache hurts in the front and side of his skull. "Oh yeah, that's a headache. Yup, that's a good one right there." He said as he massaged one of his temples with his free hand.

"You okay? Your head must have _freezed_ up." Yang quipped even as she begun to feel a little concerned for her punny friend.

Hector's head continued to ache for a few more seconds, until slowly his hearing returned to normal and the pain inside his skull subsided. With a deep breath, all that was left was numbness.

"Im okay, must have happened because of how tired I am, and the few drinks I may have had before the fight earlier." Hector said as he removed his arm from around Yang and massaged his sore wrist, who knew punching something made entirely out of metal would leave some lasting pain.

"When was the last time you _did_ sleep?" Mike asked as he returned to the table, putting his scroll away in his pocket as he took his seat back beside Weiss. "By that way, I told Ashley and Reggie that we're okay, and where we are, they should be here soon."

"Good job, now I have another headache on the way." Hector joked and put a sarcastic thumbs up.

"You didn't answer my question." Mike pointed out, causing everyone else to now look to Hector and wait for him to answer.

Hector sighed as he found himself caught in a trap.

"I've been sleeping, just not well I guess. It's nothing to worry about though." He quickly added when he saw a frown appear on Blakes face, a concerned frown no doubt. The same look was on Weiss and Ruby's faces as well. "Give me a couple days of relaxation, and I should be fine. I look forward to seeing the weapon we came up together Ruby." He changed to subject, taking advantage of Ruby's geekness for weapons, and with the way her face lit up he knew that it worked out well, and crisis was averted.

"Ooo you are going to love it! It's all shiny, and strong looking, and red! Our favourite color!" Ruby added that last part as she thrusted her fist toward her fellow red loving comrade, who happily reciprocated the fist bump. "You've gotta name it though, I can't name it for you."

"Agh, I've never been good with names but I know better then too argue with you." Hector said as he took a sip from a cup of water.

"It's actually pretty easy to win an argument with her." Yang said as she tilted her head. Even Ruby nodded in agreement. "Why don't you?"

"Because if I argued with any of you on anything I disagreed with then I wouldn't be friends with half of you. Take Weiss for example, I argued with her about one problem we had to work on together, and even when I was right she held it over my head for a few days, now I just nod to anything she says and we just kind of became friends." He explained with a grin.

Weiss glared at him for a few seconds, it was a terrible explanation on how they _actually_ became friends, which was when they just sat down and had a conversation with each other about their teams and how they are adjusting when no one else was around. It got surprisingly deep, and he was even able to make her laugh a few times, something very few others are able to do. But the time he argued with her about one _damn_ math problem… she would never forget that.

"That was not what happened, but I will allow you to live in the illusion." Weiss ended up saying, choosing to show mercy rather than tearing into him.

"Thanks, I can do so much in here." Hector joked as he rattled his knuckles against his head, earning himself a giggle from Yang and Ruby and a small smirk from Blake. Though the latter looked like she was holding something in when she let out a loud breath of air through her nose.

"We should get back to Beacon." Mike suggested once everyone calmed down. "We are already passed curfew and the Bullhead pilots are ending transit in an hour." Finally, someone pointed that out. Hector seriously thought he would have had to sleep where he was right now in order to get any sort of shut eye for the night. He already was looking forward to at least seven good hours of sleep if he got back to his dorm on time.

But damn his kindness and concern for last remaining teammates, he can't bring himself to leave them behind. "Let's wait for Ash and Reggie first, I don't want to leave them behind."

"What about Sun and Neptune?" Ruby asked.

"They'll figure something out, Neptune is afraid of Ash so I think those two are going to find their own way back." Hector said with a snicker. "You guys really need to hear the things she says to him, they're hilarious."

"A mature decision." Weiss complimented with a nod.

"Eh, I can be mature when I want to be."

"It must not be a lot then." Blake quipped.

"Hey! I take offense to that, if I wasn't so tired I would make you pay for your actions." Hector sarcastically threatened as he yawned tiredly, he really couldn't sound less threatening if he tried.

"I am _so_ afraid." Blake said sarcastically and with a roll of her eyes.

"You should be." Hector nodded as he lied his head on the table, content with getting a short nap in before having to walk back to Beacon. He felt so good to in that moment, his body had a comfortable warmth, he couldn't really hear his friends chatting about something he wasn't in the mood to care about, and he was totally and utterly relaxed-

"Dipshit!" Ashley yelled his nickname that may or may not be affectionate at this point, he really stopped paying attention and just took that as a second name.

Nothing lasts forever.

Hector groans tiredly and raises his head, Team RWBY just watched as Ashley stomped up to the table and slammed her hands right beside Hector, glaring daggers into the side of his head.

"Hi Ash, glad to see you're alright." Hector said with the best smile he can muster up. "I broke limits tonight."

Ashley rose an eyebrow at how passive he is being, usually he likes to rile her up with something. But that isn't enough for her to start being nice at the moment.

"Pst, we are going to start heading back to Beacon, see ya in the morning." Ruby said as her team stood up, Hector had to move his legs for Yang to get out, but after a brief 'see ya later' and a couple high fives, all that was left was Team HAMR in a fast food restaurant at two in the morning, with the poor cashiers having nothing else to do but watch the spectacle before them.

"Okay they're gone now, you can do the thing where you get angry at me and hit me a few times." Hector said as he stretched his arms to the side.

Ashley's eyes twitched for a bit, but surprisingly didn't get angry with her partner, it technically wasn't his fault for what happened to her, it was Yangs for hitting that can and sending her flying into the city. There was a giant Mech suit terrorizing Vale as well, so it could be excused for Hector to not go after his partner at that very moment in favor of helping take down the mech.

"Just get up, we're heading back to Beacon. And when we get there, you are going to explain some things our team has been noticing about you." Ashley said calmly as she took her hands off of the table.

"Boss," Reggie whispered loudly from behind his leader, getting his attention. "I think she is finally warming up to you."

"Oh shut up, both of you, what happened anyway?" Ashley asked as Hector stood up and the team walked out of the restaurant.

"After you decided to go practice flying," Ashley growled at that, stopping her partner from going any further with the joke. "Mike and I with Team RWBY took down the Mech, it just sucks that Roman still got away. Oh, and Rob was there too, and boy he was _not_ happy let me tell ya."

"I trust that you took care of him?" Ashley asked Mike, who is trailing a few feet behind with Reggie.

"As well as I could, I made that call to my dad like I said I was." He answered with a small smile, amused with his teams way of talking to each other.

"How'd that go?" The leader of HAMR asked as he turned his head to look at his teammate.

"Surprisingly well actually, he seems to be coming around, albeit very slowly."

"That's great! I wish I could have been there for you, I would of liked to give him a piece of my mind myself." Hector joked, earning a short chuckle from his usually quiet teammate. He likes how he has been coming out of his shell more recently, it is a nice change of pace. As a result it seems that Reggie is also happy because of it. Which makes things even better because Reggie is the one that never fails at bringing a smile to the teams faces.

"You will get the chance in time," Mike said with a nod of his head. "But I also managed to make friends with Weiss and Ruby while we were doing our own part of the mission."

Hector faked crying and rubbed an imaginary tear from his eye. "They grow up so fast."

Mike's snorted and shook his head, even as Reggie laughed at his little joke. "This was definitely an eventful night, I would prefer it if we actually took a few days to relax and actually focus on school for once."

"Usually I'd disagree, but I would gladly take some time to chill out, at least until the dance. Oh, by the way Ruby is letting me help her out on my weapon tomorrow after classes, so I will be back to the room late." Hector said in a more mature tone, to which his team nodded in understanding, they knew that the leader of RWBY and their own leader were pretty close friends, and that Ruby was making a weapon for Hector. They really do wonder what their leader could have chosen for a weapon, or whatever Ruby managed to come up with for him. He needs one if he wants to become a hunter, your fists can only take you so far anyway.

After a few moments of silence, Hector's partner spoke up again, asking a question that has been on the teams mind as of late.

"Hector, what's been going on with you recently?" Ashley used his actual name, which meant she was serious about this situation. Of the whole team, she was the one that could tell the difference the most, the subtle change in mood in situations that don't call for it, the way his thoughts were when stuff happened that should have been surprising, it was like he _knew_ things were going to happen when he shouldn't. Who could have expected everything to happen tonight and not be fazed by it?

"How do you mean?" Hector asked with a tilt of his head.

"She means that you've been acting differently, and I know that may be part of your whole unpredictable personality thing you've got going on, but this is something that has us concerned." Mike continued for her. "You know about things before they happen, and know things about people that you shouldn't, and with what Roman said to you it would only make sense for us to be worried for you."

For once, Ashley didn't deny that either. "What did the bastard say to him?"

Hector surprisingly was the one to answer that. "He said, 'Looks like you've made your decision,' and then called me an idiot for making the wrong one apparently."

"Were you supposed to make a deal with him or something?" Reggie asked as they boarded the late night Bullhead.

"No, nothing like that." Hector's voice trails off, he wonders if he should tell the truth about what may or may not happen. If he does tell the truth, then his team would put him on lockdown, and will no doubt get RWBY and the teachers in on it, and that would not make life fun, while also setting back some plans that he has in place. So instead of lying, he tells a fake truth, which is slightly true but mostly wrong.

"He tried to get me to work for him, sent one of his henchmen to ' _talk'_ me into joining them, of course I said no, and he is not happy about that." Hector explained, his team listened carefully as he spoke.

"Awe, you chose us over them!" Reggie crooned as he hugged his leader tightly.

"Yes, yes, you're welcome, love you all too." Hector said while laughing when he saw the pleased looks on their faces.

"He must have offered you a lot of things, I… I am grateful that you did not choose to accept his terms." Mike said with little hesitation.

"If you chose to work for him I might have actually had to hunt you down and kill you." Ashley jabbed a fist into his side, and twisted it just for good measure.

"Y-yeah, that would not have been good." Hector said, he curses himself for lying to his friends and teammates, the only thing telling him that it was okay is that voice in the back of his head saying that it is for the best that they don't know what he has gotten himself into, he really wants to tell them everything that is going to happen in the future, but if he does it could lead to a lot more bad then it can good, and he just can't take that chance.

"What about the stuff that you shouldn't logically know about? Like Team RWBY's attack names and what they do." Mike asked next.

"Yeah, and how you apparently knew that Sun and Neptune were going to go and fly off the bridge." Ashley added.

"And how you knew we were going to be okay afterward." Reggie finishes it off.

Hector rubs his temples, too many questions at the same time for him to process without getting a headache. "I am going to answer that one at a time, and you guys are going to sit there and let me talk Okay? Okay, Mike." Hector looks to the first person directly ahead of him.

"I am like best friends with Ruby, that much alone should be self explanatory, I am also one of the only people willing to listen to her rambling about weapons and tactics. So she may have told me a bit about her team attacks more than a few times." The thing was, that wasn't even a lie. Ruby was really like that, sometimes it got annoying but he couldn't bring it within himself to ask her to talk about something else since she always looked so happy, but eventually he got into it and the knowledge she has crammed up in that head of hers is actually pretty good for him to know since he is going to have to do plenty of maintenance on his weapon by the sounds of things, she must have put a _lot_ more effort into it then he originally thought.

After he was done explaining that to Mike, he seemed to understand and believe him pretty easily. It does sound like something Ruby would do.

"Ash, about Sun and Neptune, they aren't the smartest of people in the world. Do I have to explain more?"

"Nah, that about answers it." Ashley shrugs.

"Finally, Mister Colossus over here, you were literally made of metal, and Ashley was full on aura. So I trusted that my teammates would have been just fine. My question is however, why didn't _you_ come to help us after getting flung away into the city? We were the ones up against an Atlesian Paladin." Hector said as he caught up with Mike and wrapped an arm around his shoulder, giving scolding looks toward Reggie and Ashley who both looked away and started whistling a tune. "Exactly, now please, when this thing makes it to Beacon, I am going straight to sleep, so I am saying goodnight now because I know I won't say it when we get in the room." As he said that the Bullhead landed at the Beacon docks, they always flew pretty fast.

As they exited the Bullhead, Hector yawned once again, checking the time to see that it was now three in the morning, which meant he now had _maybe_ a seven or eight hour sleep ahead of him, he would really enjoy it if he didn't wake up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom this time.

Team HAMR chatted for a bit as they walked to their dorms, the whole way they seemed to get more and more tired, realizing that they are all quite sleepy after that whole day of events before. As soon as they entered their room, they fell into their beds. Hector on his couch, and almost immediately falling asleep.

Reggie was the only one who said goodnight before everyone told him to shut up.

* * *

 **The morning after.**

 **East Vale Police Precinct**

 **Robert's POV**

All things considered things could be going way worse, I could have made like zero fucking progress on my side of things of this little "Possible Vale Destruction" scenario. So far I've caught glimpses of the Chorus in action, managed to get more information on one of their slip ups, capture one person supplying them, get a new lead and also stop one of their executions, not bad… but not necessarily the best, there were far more people doing more than me day and night. It's been two days… maybe three since I was brought into this, but the point still stands. There are still far too much of the tunnels yet to map apparently, the cult still has suppliers since they still don't have to risk to show their faces that often… at least not in the surface.

Ozpin said himself that they needed me to find the route that Chorus is using, whatever entrance to the tunnels they have, whatever map they have, but I still hadn't really made much progress, and not just me, in general there wasn't much to go on… it honestly annoyed me,I needed something better, a location, a base, anything… Shane was honestly the best bet on the long run, but that boy was still unreliable, the same fact that he slipped up and has me on his tail is gonna become obvious when more things start to go… wrong for whoever meets him, I needed the connection between Lionel and whatever Shane gave him, and I also needed to follow up on the lead of the locker room… luckily that was still available to follow according to Howler, they hadn't picked up whatever was in the locker yet apparently, but they possibly would soon… so far, that meant getting more information from Lionel, follow up on Shane and investigate the locker, many things to do…

Which led me here to the police station… I confided all of this to Glynda, and she was honestly the same about her own progress so she understood, she's more experienced too and decided to help me a little, she said that she could handle some classes without me just so I could focus… but... eh… okay I really don't know how to handle this, how am I supposed to work with the police? Nothing against them they do good job is just that... what they expect me to guide law enforcement around? Let them follow? Me following them? Just as extra thing or- STOP!... Ah shit stop it, just shut up me… stop panicking, it never really helped you before anyways, everything in time, and you'll let it flow, just like everything else.

"Fuuuooo… okay." I exhaled as I entered, I passed through a scanner at the entrance, it wasn't only for weapons but for any individual with an active aura, I had show them the "license" Ozpin gave me, it was enough, I stated my business and they showed me the way to an office, the office of Captain Howler, he was so far my one and only contact with the police, as in he was one of the only ones Ozpin told me I could more or less direct things or contact in case of I needed the police for something like, arresting people that I stop or just general backup, and as for vice versa, he was one of the only ones Ozpin had told about me. So pretty straight forward, he helps me with maybe some backup and general processing of criminals and the Chorus, and shares whatever information they have… in return... I wasn't really sure what Ozpin gave beyond general assistance and well… I had a feeling some of that assistance is me, better that a stranger dives in into an enemy fortress than his men maybe… hmmm…

I reached the office and was greeted immediately by the captain himself.

"Oh, Mr. Urra, it's you!"

"It's me, a pleasure to finally meet you in person." I said putting my hand up for a handshake, he shook it immediately after.

"The pleasure it's mine. You are just in time too, I'm right now headed to a conference room to plan the next steps."

"Uh huh… what are the police planning?" I said as we started walking together.

"* **Sigh*** We are stretched thin with all the recent White Fang robberies on top of general gang violence, other criminals and any Grimm in the sewers, that's not even counting the cult now… but luckily you seemed to have dealt with the White Fang."

"For now… how are they?"

"Besides completely terrified?" He asked me and I nodded, I could feel the stare I was giving him, I knew what I've done and why I did it, I would do it again… still didn't change the fact I felt somewhat guilty towards some of them.

"They are doing fine honestly, first time in a while an imprisoned White Fang member isn't babbling constantly about the injustices of humans do to their kind, some of them have ended on a temporal wheelchair, but like I said, is temporal."

"Hmm… Well, any other news concerning Lionel, the Locker… or anything?"

"To give a short summary of what we are trying to do, we already interrogated Lionel, he gave a few details about the cult and the White Fang that could be useful."

"What did he say about the Chorus?"

"Not much, he has given an idea of how they work in getting their supplies, they usually come in packs of four by four truck or vans, take whatever they can get from the stashes their suppliers leave them, and the split off to the underground. But besides that he doesn't know much about them."

"Split off… so they all take different routes." I said thinking of how would they do that. "All to a general entrance or different ones?"

"At first they were all going for the same entrance, now we don't know, so far they have adapted and seem to take different routes, fool us with decoys and vehicle switching." The captain said with a more frustrated tone.

"... They seem to really place a lot of effort in getting their supplies."

"The rats needed to survive down there, and so far it has been working on giving us the slip… but now with the detail of "Storage room 456" we do have another chance at tailing them."

"Ah, I see… did he say anything about what Shane gave him?"

"He's… been more tight lipped about that, makes sense, he doesn't seem to want to involve more of his business partners in this."

"You could pressure him to focus more what it was than who he gave it too."

"We are, in order to keep Shane as a liable loose end, we need to make it seem like he's not our focus. However we need to know what the connections are."

"True…" There was silence after that, soon we reached the conference room, I stood to the side leaning on a wall while more officers and lieutenants were there. Some of them looked at me some with hard stares, other were more soft, I don't know really how far my exploit last night went but it was all over the news, it was a big success after all. Captain Howler spoke briefly with some of the officers and soon stood next to the massive table in the middle and beckoned everybody over, on the table there was a map of Vale, above it there was holographic screen that they seemed to use to put points of interests, circle areas, tell people where they would be stationed, that sort of thing, Howler already had drawn a circle on an specific area.

"Alright everyone listen up, as of now we have chance to catch one of the supply runs for the Chorus, as far we know thanks to good ol Lionel, there are chances the Chorus will try to make this supply run tonight, they will pick up their cargo from this location." He said pointing at the circle. "It's a warehouse full of private storage rooms, they'll be going for room 456."

"Sir, what are we going to do if we run into them? They don't seem to be very cooperative given the last time the huntsman found some of them." One of the lower ranking officers asked.

"So far the idea will be to spot them and tail them, you must not engage them unless they directly spot and try to attack you, we need to find where they are taking these supplies, it can give us and idea where in the tunnels they are."

"Sir, in the worst case scenario that we do get spotted and attacked, should we refrain from using our lethal weapons? Or should we defend ourselves by any means necessary." A more experienced officer asks, this is something they should know now rather than later.

"If you think you can handle it, you should try and apprehend them, but this guys are zealots, you absolutely must not refrain from lethal force, especially if you don't have an active aura."

Hmm… honestly couldn't argue with that logic, if you can handle it, arrest them, if not, do not refrain from killing them in order to save your own life and the lives of your comrades. Made sense especially for them, not all of them could soak up or dodge bullets like basically any other huntsmen could. Besides, the guys we are dealing with definitely wouldn't shy away from killing them… did that apply to me as well… I… really don't know, I've done okay so far...

"If we have to face to face a difficult scenario, well regroup and work together, call for backup too, we do have someone people here capable of dealing with more… superhuman criminals, that and our most recent helper." Howler said pointing at me.

"Hello." I said waving.

"Tch, Sir, with all due respect, I don't think we need a huntsmen to do our job. Even less a kid barely into his third year." I personally said nothing and stayed quiet.

"If we are lucky he won't need to do anything in particular, but as it stands we need all the help we can get, and he has proven that he's more than enough backup if the situation escalates. Besides, it seems like huntsmen have been doing our job more than we have recently with that kid even younger then this one running around." Howler made that particular officer shut up.

"Was this the one that caught that guy? Thanks for that, we might have lost some people trying to raid the base ourselves, sucks that we couldn't get to the Paladin before those kids took it down though." A younger officer said with a nod in my direction, he looks like someone who appreciates my helping around here.

"Not a problem, I'll be sure to leave more for you next time."

"Alright, there's also another reason he's here, if we do successfully track and tail the Chorus, we need to make sure the Supplies don't get to them, when we find where they store them or where they enter the sewers, we have a warrant to assault it, we must in fact, special forces are already notified, some of our people with the best equipment are ready for the call, we just need to successfully tail them now."

"Seems more like we are going to war sir." A female lieutenant commented.

"That's because they have been evading us for a bit too long. Shucks, we just can't afford to lose them, we don't know what they have planned but it could be devastating to Vale if we don't stop it before it happens." Howler said with a sigh.

"So we track them down and assault their base… well, seems like some us might get some action besides the occasional random Grimm in the sewers." Another lieutenant jokes. Occasional Grimm in the sewers? What?

"Seems like it, all of you will go in pairs, make sure to not get too close to the vans or trucks the Chorus might be using."

"What about the Huntsman sir, will he come with one us?"

"Yes… only… not any of you… he'll be going with Maverick." Howler sounded like he felt bad for me already.

"Oh… well, good luck kid."

"Eh?"

"Good luck Huntsman…"

"Uh…" There were more ohs and good lucks given… why? Eventually everybody left the room, leaving only me and Howler.

"Umm… who's Maverick?" I ask a well needed question, throughout my time working with these guys that was the first time I've heard of the name.

"Seth Maverick, he's one of our best lieutenants and an expert in dealing with dangerous situations, that's mostly because he has an active aura, and can come close to and actual Huntsman sometimes… for the longest time he didn't trust Huntsmen or Huntresses, he eventually changed however… he's… he's one of our heavy hitters in the force, hasn't really had a partner either… but the moment I proposed him working with you as… the big back up for this, he said he will do it with no problem… he'll be your partner while this whole deal with the Chorus is going on."

"Partner… okay." I said with a shrug. I honestly had no problem, being the big back was more than okay with me.

"He'll meet you at the parking garage, he has his car there… just remember he's a bit eccentric…" Howler said, hmm, well interesting. I went to the parking garage soon after, elevator was occupied and I had to take the stairs, once I stepped out into the garage and walked forward a bit looking for anyone in particular that looked like a Seth Maverick, and so I spotted someone, he had dress pants and smart shoes, and a formal black vest with a dark blue button up shirt under it, he had some visible tattoos in his arms, and on the side of his neck… it looked like some feathers, he had also a belt with his badge, some cuffs hanging, and holsters for two… really sleek looking revolvers… nice. He was leaning on the hood of a sports variant of the other police cruisers, it was basically a police Mustang… seems I got the cool cop, he was also reading a magazine for weapons. He notice me and folded it and tossed it through the open window of the car.

"Well well well, seems like you are the kid of the hour with everything with those combat boots and other shit, nice half skirt by the way." I was using the outfit for well… my vigilante actions and general work, not the one with the more formal vest, I leave that one for classes at Beacon, now that I looked better he was taller than me, he was about Glynda's height, perhaps even taller...

"Goes with the style." I responded with a shrug.

"Hmm… I guess it does, well Mister Huntsman are you aware of what we are doing this today?"

"Tailing." I answer straight away.

"No, I mean besides that."

"Uh… a picnic?"

"Well… Actually more or less, we still have to wait until the night and we still need to eat and I need to later requisition more ammo for these lovelies." He said taping his revolvers.

"So… just chill out until then? I asked with smirk and a raised eyebrow.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better it gives us a chance to talk of our personal lives, demons and aspirations if you like that sort of thing."

"I don't want an angst fest."

"Good, because I don't want one either butter cup, so yeah, food, drinks, guns and general chilling until the night. Heh heh."

"Heh…" This just might just be entertaining.

* * *

 **The Beacon Forge**

 **Hector's POV**

For the first time in a while, I was actually able to get a good night's sleep and a decent amount of hours of shut eye. As soon as the lessons for the day ended however, which was just the usual story time from Professor Port and History with Doctor Oobleck. I never made the mistake of calling him Professor, I knew what happened to those who called him that. Ruby ran up to me and gave me no choices but to come with her to the forge, where students were able to either create new weapons, or upgrade the ones they currently had. In this case, I was finally able to see my weapon for the first time… and it is _glorious_.

"Wow, this is amazing." I said as I traced my fingers over the bracers, it was made out of the metal Ruby called Etricium, apparently it was a pretty rare and very strong metal that she was somehow able to get her hands on, it was also _very_ heavy, if I had to guess I think they are each around thirty to forty pounds, so I will have to get stronger in order to use my fists like I would before, Yang and Nora's weight lifting regimes would help a lot with that one.

The bracers were very mechanical looking, and of course with a great shade of red that Ruby chose herself that just happened to be the same red of her Crescent Rose, with the same black and red color pallet, only this time it seems that black is the primary color, she is so lucky my favourite color is red too. Around my wrist was some sort of small vent, and before it was a revolving row of dust canisters which held each type of dust, wind, stone, fire, lightning, and ice. Each gives me a different effect that I just can't wait to try out. Of course there was one for each hand. I could already tell this had more than one use, while I can use it offensively, I can also use it as a shield. Which is great for me since I mainly used my aura and arms for defense, and I still have some light scars from that idea. All in all the weapons look _badass_ , It wraps all around my forearms perfectly and molds to my arms comfortably, Ruby was really a prodigy when it came to making weapons.

If only Rob was able to see it, where was he anyway? I haven't seen him at all the whole day, usually I see him in one of the classes shadowing one of the teachers.

"This is amazing Ruby, how were you able to make this?" I say as I punch straight forward a few times, getting used to the added weight the best I can. With this added weight I am now around 300 pounds, so that's fun.

"Ah, you know… with stuff." Ruby answered as she played with her hair, flustered from the praise I gave her. I've learned that the best compliments for her are the ones about her weapons and skills in making them. "You wanna try it out?"

"Hell yeah! Is there a target in here or is that wall talking some shit?" Hector jokes as he spins the revolving canisters, landing them on the fire dust intentionally, I figured it would go well with my red aura when I used my semblance.

"Pfft, there's a target in the corner over there." Ruby giggled as she pointed toward the part of the forge that held rows of targets just for this occasion, Hector nodded and loaded up. Getting into position to use his right fist to punch a straight. If everything goes as planned, he has weaponized his shockwave punches. The ones where he punches so hard that it leaves an almost railgun blast of air into whoever is unfortunate enough to be his enemy at the time, and as long as he has dust, the weapon should work automatically, and if he wants to switch to a different crystal or powder he can spin the cannisters to a different element. So if everything goes as planned, I can yell fireball when I throw punches now.

With a short grunt, Hector threw his fist just hard enough to throw out a shockwave, and instead of a blast of air, a fireball is thrown out, and it burns the wooden target to cinders.

"That. Was. Awesome!" I exclaimed as he threw his fist into the air, hiding the fact that it took some effort to do that with a happy expression on his face.

"Yes! It's finally complete! What are you going to name your new babies?" Ruby asked as she sat down on one of the steel tables.

"Well… their both Black and red… and they weaponize my shockwaves…" I took a seat next to her and thinks to himself, muttering as he thought. Ruby waited patiently for his answer, since she knew Yang had to wait days before she herself was able to come up with a name for her baby.

"How about…" I gasped as he thought of something. "Dragon Fists? They can blow fire out of their mouths, along with any element they choose, sound good?"

"That… is actually a really good name for them, it took ages for me to name my Crescent Rose." Ruby said with an approving nod.

"I guess I'm just good at naming things." Hector shrugged. "I am going to wear these around, probably under my uniform so I can get used to the weight. Thanks for this Ruby, I really appreciate it." I say as I affectionately patted her head.

"Of course!" Ruby laughed. "You gotta show them off in the next sparring class, I heard that Miss Goodwitch will let us choose our opponents in the upcoming one, I can't wait to see the look on everyone's faces when you start using it! Make sure your practice with your babies."

"I will, I will." I laughed at the scolding look Ruby gave me. "I am going to go practice with them after I eat, try to see if I can work it into my fighting style. Double G should be able to help with that."

"She is going to kill you for calling her that one of these days."

"At this point it's a game, if she does kill me, then I win, and she knows that."

Ruby laughed at his little joke.

I tried to see if I could take them off, but was confused about how exactly I could do that, I played with the one on my left arm for a few seconds before giving up.

"How do you take these off?" I ask the one who made them for me.

The look of shock and realization on Ruby's face, along with her widened silver eyes did not do anything to reassure me.

"Ruby… don't tell me you forgot."

"... You are going to have a lot of time to figure it out yourself."

I never facepalmed so hard in my life. Everything was going so well too...

* * *

 **Late at night**

 **Outskirts of the private room warehouse.**

 **Neutral POV**

"So… * **Munch*** those guys actually tried to run away on a shopping cart? Or are you bullshitting me?" Robert asked Seth, both of them were waiting for any activity like many other officers in the area, they were also eating sandwiches.

"Well, they did try, it was an instant failure but hey they managed to dodge one security guard, that's something." Seth said with a laugh taking another bite of his sandwich

"Eh… maybe, did they reach the street?" Robert asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Uh… no." Seth answered as he scratched the back of his head.

"Well, it does sound like a failure then." Robert deduced.

Suddenly the police radio spiked up, someone was giving a general message.

" _Attention all officers, we have visual on some of the Chorus, will update as needed, over."_ Seth's radio sounded out, putting both of them in a much more serious mood.

"Finally." Robert said as he sat up straight.

"I'll get a proper angle, I think from the fence we'll be able to see locker 456."

"Do it." Robert said with a nod. Seth brought his car to the point of view and soon they saw four small vans going in into the warehouse, they were a kilometer and half away, both of the now using binoculars, Seth from his seat and Robert quickly passed to the back to view himself.

" _Does anyone see the license plates on those vans? Over."_

"That a negative, there's no plates and fuck all those vans. Over." Seth said on the radio

" _Fucking hell. Over."_

"Must have removed them… that or for some reason the vans are brand new." Robert said looking still.

" _Wouldn't surprise me, this guys have been weird enough already… and amongst that they seem to have some amount of money… somewhat."_ A woman's voice came through the radio.

" _Would you lot shut your faces and let the rest of us concentrate. Over."_ Another voice came in, this one more raspy. Everyone stayed silent as they saw (the ones that could) the Chorus putting crates in two of the specific vans, the other were empty fo now, soon the locker room seemed to be empty and Chorus closed it, and started to drive.

" _Alright ladies you know what we need to do, follow those two from afar and don't lose them. Make sharp turn and try to guess where they are going, they'll split up them being paranoid… just try get an idea of where they ar-"_

"We got, now shut it and start following Percy, Over." Seth said through the radio as he started to move and Robert came back to the co pilot seat. Soon the vans started to change places in it's formations, all of them with no pate and being exactly the same made it like a bit confusing, it wasn't hard keeping track of the changes… it was just that they were too far away to pinpoint them really well, soon they started splitting up.

" _Alright, we'll split and make sure to follow everyone, Broker and Sanus will go for the one in the front, Adel and Cruxis for the second, Thau and Zema for the third and finally Reverent and Dasius for the last. Copy?"_ Immediately multiple copies came over the radio, those were the codenames for the cruisers going in this operation, Robert and Seth were Zema.

The van that they were following made several turns and took different shortcuts through it's journey, going in and out alleys.

"Are they seriously that paranoid?" Robert asked in a murmur

"I think they know we are following them kid, that or they think it's given by now." Seth said. The continue to follow the van until Robert spotted something, it was the same construction site that he saw in the distance the when he followed the Chorus two nights ago.

"They are going back to the that neighbourhood I stopped the execution in… they must be around there."

"Maybe they left some milk behind, who knows." Seth quipped.

" _This is Sanus. Over, we followed the the van and now it's parked in a an alley, one of the duds, the drivers have run and left no trace. Over."_ An officer said through the radio.

" _Son of a bitch."_ another one said. Seth and Robert continued following their van, trying to stay a good distance behind as to not be directly spotted, Thau was ahead of the van another also taking care. Both of the tried to not turn corners until they were sure the van wouldn't see them, it was making it difficult to keep track of the van however.

" _This is ah… Reverent, we lost this one, disappeared into a fucking alley and didn't come out, we are currently investigating… Over."_ Silence soon came back and they were back on following the van, it was going closer to the construction sites, however, not towards them, which Robert found weird.

"Hey Thau, how is everything going?" Robert asked through the radio.

" _We're doing alright so far, these bastards are getting harder to follow though."_

"Great… just try and get ahead of them, see any place where they might be going?"

" _Now there are is street that turns around directly to the construction site of one of those buildings… I'll see if they are going that way."_

"Copy." Robert said, eyes glued to to the van he could see briefly just as they turned the corner. They followed for a few more minutes not saying much, the van honestly seemed to be going away, from the construction site, it was still in route to the street Thau had mentioned however. The van was now cutting through an alley.

" _This is Sanus."_ A female voice said over the radio, " _We… fuck, we lost sight of them, we lost them, we thought they were going one way and the next-"_

" _Calm down Saph… don't beat yourself up, we know… *_ _ **Sigh***_ _It's up to you Thau and Zema."_ Another lieutenant said over the radio, Robert was feeling the pressure now, he honestly could understand what happened, one grouped guessed wrong where the van was going, the other hit a dud, and then… one just disappeared, " _The hell?"_ Still, now they needed to get this one. It didn't help when the van made on turn to an extensive alley and… didn't come out, the van him and Seth were following disappeared as well.

"The fuck?!" Seth questioned colorfully, leaning in to see if what just happened really happened.

"Shit!" Robert shared his enthusiasm.

"Thau! Are they headed your direction?!" Seth asked via radio quickly in a serious tone.

" _Uh… negative, did… did we lose them?"_

"I don't know… they, they just disappeared."

" _Fuck! Do we radio in, do we…"_ Thau remained silent for a bit, in all honesty all of them went quiet, " _How, just how did they do this, how!?"_ Robert thought to himself, they were going towards the construction site, then they turned the other direction then they went back on route and then they turned to the alleys and, vanished, not even leaving any trace.

"They were right here, they must be hiding or stalling… or something or…"

"Butter cup I cannot really give you an explanation, I really can't."

" _Fuckers seem to have pull some kind of magic trick nonsense."_ Came a different voice for Thau, possibly the other officer that was with the one generally talking.

"Magic trick nonsense… wait." Robert looked up, they were still close to the construction site, he had thought that maybe that place was digging into the sewers or something, they were still close.

"Okay, what the fuck are those buildings, I know we can't really say they went there but… what are they do they have a connection to something underground or something…" Robert asked through the radio, he was in all honestly pulling at straws, looking for any answers, he had one theory… one.

" _Those are actually some office buildings, I think they were going to be some of the Adami family, partners of the Schnees."_

"More like another pet of the Schnees." Seth said in his seat.

" _The office was supposed to have underground parking and a connection to the subway."_

" _...Subway."_ "So wait a second there are constructions going on for an extension of the subway… under our feet?" Robert said. Seth immediately caught on to what he was trying to say.

"You are saying they went underground?! Right here? How the fuck would they-"

"I don't know… it just… it would made sense if they wanted to reach the sewers, how you get into subway from an alley I don't know!" Robert exclaimed, with his hands on his head, a little bit distrust, Seth looked around and soon he found something… there was public parking in this alley, it seem to go underground, it was easy to miss if you were just passing through.

"I may have an idea Huntsman." Seth said as he started driving again.

"Eh?" Robert looked up again, they were going into a public parking, there they passed through three floors of just parked cars, until they reach the forth one that was covered by a fence with the words " _Under construction",_ the fence was slightly ajar, they went trough and in the wall there was hole that gave way into what looked like part of a subway, only under construction… it was big enough fo a car or a van.

"I can't fucking believe it… Howler was right, they are fucking rats!" Robert exclaimed in a gasp, way more happy now too.

"Well, I think we just found the nest." Seth said as he began to load one of his revolvers.

" _Holy shit am I hearing this right, did they actually go underground?"_

" _Huh, well then those bastards are bloody clever , gotta give that one to them."_

"Guess Zema is going after them, we'll send coordinates if we find them." Robert said through the radio, Seth and Robert went and followed with the car what looked like tire tracks, just in case they also cut the lights, they spent a couple of minutes following them until they reached an are similar to station, there were some lights, big part of the the tracks seemed muddy and it looked pretty esqueletal with random steel beams everywhere, they got in close until they saw a fence that blocked their path, behind it they could see the van they were following was there, alongside with the they could only guess was the van that Reverent and Dasius lost. That and multiple members of the Chorus.

"Holy shit is them!" Robert exclaimed

"Okay." Seth went into the radio. "Okay fellas this Zema and believe it or not we are underground in what I can only assume is going to be future Osiria station, we have fucking caught them. Two of the vans are here, along with members of the Chorus. Over" Seth said over the radio.

" _Fucking seriously?!" One lieutenant said_

" _HAHA!" Another one cheered in victory_

" _About damn time! I was starting to get bored here."_

" _Well done Zema, this is Captain Howler, send your coordinates, backup will be there in short time."_ Robert looked at the vans and saw they were moving.

"Umm… they seem to be moving, they might be going for the sewers…" Robert said

" _Ah shit, we'll be there in… actually well…"_ Howler stopped for a second.

"Captain, you know I hate it when you do that. What is it?" Seth asked.

" _Well… you are both are heavy hitters, and you both have active auras so…"_ Robert and Seth looked at the radio, then at each other, eventually they both smirked

"It will be our pleasure" Seth said over the radio.

" _Leave something for us you show offs!" an officer screamed through the radio._

"So Mister Huntsman… you have an idea on how we are doing this?" Seth asked.

"Actually… I do." Robert answered.

* * *

The Chorus never knew what happened, first they heard the screech of what sounded like a sports car going in at full speed, later there was single shot from a gun, and then the fence they had put collapsed and from behind it came a police car with a person on top of it, the driver was shooting concussion rounds and soon hit three of the sentinels they had placed. The car came to a halting screech and turned to give the driver cover, the person on top had jumped, unsheathing lighting blades from his forearms, he dashed in cutting down and incapacitating some guards and going for the truck with the supplies, he slashed at the tires and soon the vans couldn't move, and soon they all smell the stench of burning and scorching rubber, the driver had stepped up from his cover, dual wielding revolvers and more concussion rounds came in one massive quick draw he took multiple shots and downed eight Chorus members that were still surprised by the sudden attack, he went behind cover again, reloaded, and started exchanging shots with more of the members of the Chorus, the other figure was going in close range and shooting lightning bolts, more that six member fell down to the ground clutching their injuries, the figure made a ball of lightning that split into several tiny ones in in the air, once they touched the ground they explodes in explosions of lightning and ash, taking down a massive group of their gunmen that were trying to shoot the intruders down.

The sharpshooter was going in too, he went jumped into the actual platform with a dive roll and shot down another member, he got close and started shooting with lethal bullets to the legs, he also went and grappled with a member while using him as a human shield, the shield died soon after when her own brothers and sisters shot at her, the sharpshooter himself shoot more legs and even to the heads of three people too far away for that, there were three people dead now, the other figure was cutting through most of them too, he grabs someone by the shoulders, delivered a knee to the stomach and a spinning hook kick, he the slashes at the closest people to him disabling them before dashing away from a barrage of bullets in a blur of lightning, he went for them and took one down with a spinning kick, one with some slashes, one with a quick elbow and the final one with a lightning palm.

The other one got close to some more gunmen and pistol whipped three people down in quick succession, before grabbing someone by the arm and twisting it, he took the chance to fire his last two remaining concussive shots and took down another two gunners, he pistol whipped the guy he had and left him there.

The leader of that group of the Chorus had watched all of this, and he was mad, he sent another person to shoot a rocket at the guy with the revolvers, but it never fired, the lightning blur came out of nowhere and shoot a missile that collided with the rocketeer… and him and the gunners next to him exploded in flames, he was about to make another command but soon in came more police officers, some of his people were surrendering… he saw the guy covered in lightning as he just stood there for a second, the leader just saw red, and soon grabbed a sword and went for him.

 **Robert's POV.**

Oh shit… They exploded... I… I… I killed those guys… oh shit, I… I, oh shit another one! This one was the leader I saw the other day... would you look at that, he was coming at me with fury in his eyes, I dodged another slash from him and threw several kicks at him, two low, one mid and one spinning hook to his head, he stumbled back but soon he was back at it, he came in again, this time I parried his blade with one of my own and punched him three times with a combination of a jab and two hooks, I went in and slash his leg shattering whatever low aura he had, I side kicked him on the head and went in with one final punch, he was down, and soon I could see most of the officers taking care of the members of the Chorus… and I had killed some people…. Glynda did warn me this could happen, she said I should be careful, and only use that extreme force when the situation demands it… it demand it, I don't know... it had been just… accidental, was that better or worse? I honestly didn't know, because I felt… not guilty, it was more of a… shame, but I wasn't exactly sorry for the ones I killed… was that… heat of the moment, was that… just, pragmatism, was it okay?… I talked with Glynda before about this, she told me there were situation were it just happened, she had killed as well she told me… I didn't know what to think right now, should I feel guilty… I didn't execute them when they were begging for their life or something... , it was more of a shitty situation… in the moment...

Was that even an excuse?

I didn't had time to think about it, the leader got up again, I was ready for him, only Seth shot his foot to bring him down… and that made him trip, and the blade that was going to parry his attack… instead cut his arm off.

"AAAAhhaagh"

"Oh shit."

"My arm… you piece of… you slaves of society… ug aaah!"

"Uh…" He was just turning left and right on the ground, just wailing and moaning, the cut was already cauterized, so he wasn't going to bleed out… he still felt a lot of pain however, that was obvious.

"What's going on Huntsman, did he hit yo- oooh." Seth came to where I was and saw the moaning idiot next to me, he put two and two together and and realized what happened.

"Damn, that looks like it hurts. I am pretty sure skin also isn't supposed to look that scorched?"

I merely shrugged, the guy was still wailing and wasn't shutting up.

"Agh… my arm… my arm... my arm." he said with tears in his eyes.

"Umm.. uh." Robert fumbled

"Umm is he… a danger?" Seth asked Robert

"Not really he's just… moaning in pain and waving his stump at me."

"Aaaagh- ugh" he stopped when Seth stomped his head and finally made the guy go unconscious.

"There… that should be a mercy for this nice fella."

"I guess… eh." I honestly wasn't sure, but it certainly was mercy in some way… some way. We sooned packed up and gather everyone alive with the rest of the officers, it was a victory alright… but I still didn't know how to feel about the ones I killed… I didn't, I just didn't felt… sick… or guilty, I felt like it had been a shitty situation… but was that me going in over my head?… All that thinking and Seth noticed.

"Hey Mister Huntsman, everything all right?"

"No… no it's I…"

"It's this about those you killed back there?" I nodded.

"I just… don't know, I don't feel exactly guilty I just feel like… it was a shame… but uh..."

"It happens, in your line of work it is bound to happen more than once. The first time is always the hardest, and it is never going to leave you. Just don't take a liking to it 'else I'd have to kill ya."

"... What!?"

"Listen… why did you do it?" Seth asked slowly, the most serious I've heard him all day.

" I… saw the rocketeer, aiming, new I had to stop him, otherwise… I don't know, it just felt like I needed to move fast and act, and then I threw that lightning missile."

"Your body moved without you thinking much?" Seth asked with a raised eyebrow

"Not really, it was more of a, do it… or things could end worse kind of situation… I don't know"

"You did it, because you felt you needed to stop the rocket, that one was aimed at me… so you did it to protect someone on your side."

"Uh… yeah… it's that a good excuse though?"

"Could you forgive yourself if you did nothing, if you let the rocket fly, however it might have end for me?"

I pondered that… I didn't feel guilty about killing them, but if something happened to maybe Seth… or other people I worked with, or the people at Beacon… I, I actually wouldn't really be able to live with myself. Whoever it might be.

"No… not really."

"It happens, people die, people get killed. You're going to be thrusted into making a decision like that again, could be tomorrow, could be next week, could be a year from now. Could even be later on today. Just know that right now, I am alive 'cause of ya, so thank you for making the right choice tonight." He said putting one hand in my shoulder. "Besides, you are not a cold blooded exterminator kid, you only killed them, not the others, not the one that lost an arm, or anyone else, you killed only when you needed too. Trust me, you've got a good heart." He said patting my back, he soon went over to Captain Howler that had called him over

It was… hard to process, but… he was right, if I did nothing, I couldn't live with myself… I suddenly remembered all the time I spent on self defence with my teachers and senseis on the matter… even my own parents… ever since I started training I wondered when it would be right… and I remembered my conclusion now…

"I'll do what I have too to protect me and others… but I'm NOT an executioner." At very least not on the sense of ruthless unmerciful being, I don't want to be that... That little mantra helped, it made me more calm… I'll possibly have to talk with Glynda about this.

* * *

 **AN- Well that was intense. But not unwelcome, we have our first killings done so far, and there are more yet to come, time to start abusing this M rating we got so far. -Genatools**

 **However, I do plan to not make it senseless slaughter either, not without good reason. Btw Seth is mostly similar to Ronan o Connor from "Murdered: Soul Suspect." except without without the fedora and with a dark blue shirt instead of dark red, looks more police that way, and his revolvers… heh heh, just look for "Roke Arms Tactical Revolver" on google. -CrowSkull**

 **I was proud of myself for all of those Ice puns early on in the chapter, they just kept on flowing into my head and then into my typing fingers. I've not got much else to say this chapter, mostly because I have to leave in about 57 seconds. But what do you guys think of Hector's weapon? 'Dragon Fists,' even though they don't actually go around his fists, it's still a cool name in my opinion. -Genatools**

 **Please review and tell us what you think! We look forward to every review that any of you may have for us, and of course, we'll see you all in the next one.**

 **Disclaimer- We do not own RWBY in any way, shape, or form.**


	20. Rwby: Team HAMR chapter 20

RWBY: Team HAMR

Chapter 20- Red Vs Red

Hector's arms are very sore at the moment, it turned out walking around with thirty-forty pound bracers made out of one of the strongest metals in the world wasn't a very good idea when you thought about it. While it provided a great constant workout, every muscle in his arms and shoulders burned in protest with the slightest movement. All the white Ruby was digging through all of her plans to try and figure out how exactly one can take the damn things off.

"You look like shit." His faunus partner stated as he entered the dorm. He has about half an hour before combat class, which he really hopes he doesn't get pulled into a match with how he feels now. Hector is sure he can fight, it would be a pain in the ass recovering afterward.

"Good to see you too Ash." Her leader said with a smile as he fell onto his couch, only for the supports keeping it off the ground to break and for him to fake cry at the sound of the wood snapping.

"The fuck are those things?" Ashley asked when she notices the black and red large metal things on his arms. "Don't tell me those are your weapons…"

"Yup." Hector confirmed as he rolled over onto his back to get into a better position. He really regretted not ordering a bed instead of a couch now more than he ever has before. "I call them the 'Dragon Fists' sounds cool right?"

Ashley ignored the name he gave to both of the weapons. " _That_ is what Ruby had in store for you? Let me guess, it's also a gun?"

Hector widened his eyes and looked at his arms, which are stuck to his sides still because of the weight. "I honestly don't know… but I don't think I would need any, I'm not very good when it comes to firearms." Mostly because he never actually touched a gun in his life, but she didn't need to know that.

He then knocked on the wall next to him.

"Hey Ruby! Does my baby have guns?" He asked through the wall.

" _Duh!"_ Ruby answered through the wall right away. They both share a laugh at how they have just communicated with each other.

"Don't aim those things my way, and I won't mind being in the same room with them." Ashley scoffed. "What are those things made out of? They look heavy."

"Er… I think Ruby said something about Etricium? Something like that." Hector said as he rested both hands on his chest, before immediately regretting his decision when the weight of the two gauntlets press in on his chest, and he slides them back to his sides.

Ashley was touching his bracers before he ever heard her jump from her bed.

"Etricium!? Dude, that's like _the_ strongest metal in the world! How the hell did _you_ of all people manage to get your hands on _this_ much!?" Ashley asked even when she saw the startled look in her leaders eyes.

"Agh! Ash, arms hurt, please back away." Hector said as he struggled to raise his arms to push her away.

"Hell no! You need to tell me how you managed to get that stuff!"

"I don't know! Ruby was the one who made it!"

"Then ask her!"

"YOU ask her! We're right next door!"

"She's not _my_ best friend."

"Oh my God you are unbelievable, and here I thought I was going to get a good nap in before Double G's class." Hector said as he sat up and rested his head on the back of the couch. He then headbutted the wall behind him once to grab the attention of his other friend.

"Have you figured out how to get these things off yet!?" Hector asked despite his partners constant pestering.

" _I'll have it figured out by the end of the day, I promise!"_

"Okay… Ash please, just let me sleep." He said as he swatted away one of her hands, from playing around with one of his Dragon Fist's.

"Oh fine, I'll just bother her about it in class then." Ashley surrendered with a pout.

"Thank you." Hector smiled. "Where's Mike and Reggie?"

"I think they're hanging out with that Weiss girl, went to go eat lunch or something of the sort." Ashley said as she sauntered her way back to her bed.

"Ah, they have been getting closer friends with each other. I wonder how that is working out for them."

"Well, apparently Weiss is going with Mike to the dance as a friend, since you can't "Officially"." She said that word with air quotes. "Go with someone of the same gender apparently, even though it's not specifically stated to not be allowed. My guess is that Weiss will have the dance, and then Reggie will have the _dance,_ if you know what I mean." Ashley laughed when she saw Hectors disgusted gag.

"I swear if I walk in on them again I am going to kill both of them, and put chastity belts on the two of them just in case they come back to life." Hector said as he massaged the sore bicep on his right arm.

"Pfft, good luck getting that far." Ashley then looked away and down at her scroll, then proceeded to pretend to type something into it. "Have you… decided who you want to go to the dance yet?" She eventually asked.

Hector rose a brow at the unexpected question. Truthfully, he hasn't put a lot of thought into it, and with what he had planned, even if he did he doesn't know if he would even be able to spend much time at the dance.

"Honestly, I haven't put much thought into it." Hector said truthfully. "Are you going with anyone? Who's the lucky guy?"

He got the answer he was expecting.

"No one, most guys are too pussy to talk to me."

"Alrighty then, l guess I got a date now." Hector said with a smirk.

"W-what?" Ashley stuttered.

Hector didn't know why his response was so immediate, he knew that he had an attraction to his partner, and that his partner would never admit having an attraction to him. She has been becoming much nicer to him specifically, and has been warming up to his friends, and even made some of her own. Surprisingly, with Nora of all people.

Even with what he has planned with the whole blackout thing he and Robert briefly discussed. He wasn't really planning on it either, with everything going on with the threats and promises made by certain psychopaths, he may not be able to enjoy the company of a lover before something happens. But it is already too late to change his mind with the look Ashley has just given him.

"I just asked you to the dance dumby." Hector said as he looked away from her ocean blue eyes with a small blush on his face, he wasn't normally so easy to make red. "Or with the way I said it I think I just claimed you as my date… whoops."

"W-what? Me? Why me?" Ashley stammered, now with her scroll dropped between her legs, and her dog ears standing up on her head. Something she does when she is nervous.

"Uh, well you're my partner for one thing, we started out pretty rough, and you weren't the easiest to talk to, and to be honest I was pretty scared of you for a good while." Hector said as he looked up to think on more reason while his partner waited and listened intently. "Then you started growing onto me, and you became more than just a partner for me, more like a friend, and I don't know…" The usually confident leader shifted in his seat. "I guess I like you enough to consider you the only real girl to go to this dance with."

Ashley's heart skipped a beat. "W-well I-I." She cleared her throat and took a deep breath. "You better wear something nice, and you better know how to dance!"

Hector laughed when his partner went back to her usual attitude. "Don't worry Ash, I had like twelve female cousins before I came here, I think I have a decent enough amount of experience." He said with a chuckle at all the memories he has with the girls that he always forgot the names of.

"...Had?" Ashley caught his slip up.

"Shit, I didn't mean it like that I-" Hector began to panic, there wasn't really a way he could get out of this one.

"No, no, I get it, sorry for asking." His partner luckily didn't press the issue, thinking that something entirely happened and inadvertently saving her leader from having to make up some kind of lie.

Hector remained silent, not wanting to have to be forced into another set of lies he didn't want to have to eventually dig himself out of.

"Don't worry about it." He said as he stood up, still favoring one of his tired arms. "I'm gonna go freshen up for class, I wanna look good while sitting in the stands watching fights." He joked as he walked passed her bed, brushing against her leg as he did so, and felt a spark run up his leg that he did his best to ignore.

"Sure." Was the last thing he heard from his partner as he entered the built in bathroom to his dorm room.

Finally, he was alone, something has been bothering him all day. And it didn't have anything to do with the things he has strapped to his forearms and wrists. He splashes some water on his face and even drinks some of it. He has a splitting headache that he tried to massage away.

He placed his hands on the ceramic sink, and stared at himself in the eyes. Not seeing anything physically wrong with him. Just his normal freshly shaved face and his brown eyes, and his messy black-brown hair as usual, the same hair that Coco keeps trying to fix everytime she sees him. He tried to make his eyes red like they were back when he fought alongside Team RWBY against a giant one tonne robot. He still doesn't know how his punch was able to do _that_ to the damn thing, even though he was with Yang at the time. But as he expected, it didn't work.

"I guess it only happens when I push myself like I did." He said with a sigh, at least his headache started going away.

He splashed his face with water again and used a towel to dry himself off, then took a peek at his scroll and saw that Double G's combat class was just in another ten minutes. He sighed, and then pocketed the machine.

"Might as well just get it over with, maybe Ruby found a way for me to take these things off. It's been like a full day since I got these things strapped to my arms, and while they are comfortable, they are heavy as shit." He complained to himself as he massaged his sore arms for the third time in ten minutes.

"Dipshit! Get out here we gotta get to class." His faunus partner called out to him through the doors, and he can hear her putting on her boots, for some reason her laces are very loud.

"Coming!" Hector said as he actually did what he planned to do when he walked into the bathroom.

* * *

"Ruby, please tell me you found out how to get these things off of me?" Hector asked the red hooded girl to his right.

"Uh…"

"Dammit." Hector already knew the answer just from that.

"Woah, what are those babies for?" Yang said as she leaned over her sister to get a better look at the Dragon Fist's.

"Not whatever you were just thinking about." The leader of HAMR said right away. "They're my new weapons that Ruby didn't let me help build. You know when you said Wrist things I wasn't expecting them to cover my whole forearm."

"Well I thought I'd give you something to make you stronger overtime!" Ruby said with a smile. "Since your semblance multiplies or however much it actually makes you stronger, if your base strength gets higher then it should carry over right? Making you even stronger than before! Also tougher, that's good to." Ruby explained all in one breath, no one but Hector, Yang, and Ashley bothered to listen to her rambling.

"How did you even get this much metal?" Hector asked as he lifted his arms up again to move them into a more comfortable position.

"Found it." Ruby shrugged.

"Alright, I really hope I don't get called up to fight next." Hector said with a shake of his head.

"Wow, look at Pyrrha go! She's kicking their butts!" Yang cheered as Pyrrha elegantly dodged between Cardin's legs and then someone managed to flip over Sky and make him bump into one of his other teammates.

"Wow, she really is untouchable." Hector said as he focused in on the fight like his partner is doing right now. Even knowing that she has her subtly hidden semblance that keeps her from being touched, it is still a far cry to say that she relies on it too much. Only when she needs to. All that thinking in such a short time, she must have amazing reflexes. He wonders if he could stand a chance, even though he has big metal bracers on that would suck to use in a fight against someone who could control metal.

Then after just a few more seconds and a couple of winces. The slaughter came to an end.

"Excellent work Miss Nikos, you should have no problem qualifying for the tournament when the time comes." Miss Goodwitch complimented with a small smile on her face. Even as all of Team CRDL struggle to stand back up and are groaning in pain.

"Thank you professor." Pyrrha bows toward her teacher, and then toward the audience of other students, but for some reason did not go back up the stairs just yet. Hector gave her a friendly smile when their eyes locked with each other.

"Alright, now I know that is a tough act to follow but we have time for one more sparring match, any volunteers? Or do I have to select the fighters again?" Miss Goodwitch asked the class, and of course no one rose their hand.

"Should I bring out "Shadowsight and Merryband" and get a random opponent?" Robert asked Goodwitch directly next to her, she looked pensive for a second considering the offer.

Hector wonders that since Mercury isn't here, if Blake would actually be the one to fight next, against someone else that is, he doesn't think that she would up and challenge Pyrrha like he did. But for some reason he does not have a good feeling about this, and Pyrrha looking at him with that same look on her face isn't helping anything. He gulps when Miss Goodwitch calls out Blake, making her jump for a bit.

"Actually, Professors, is it alright if I select my own sparring partner?" Pyrrha asked politely.

"Miss Nikos, you were just in a sparring match against a whole team. Are you sure you want to be in another?" Miss Goodwitch asked with an arched eyebrow, even thought Pyrrha might as well still be at one hundred percent aura, that doesn't mean that her stamina is also at one hundred percent.

Hector suddenly knew what Pyrrha mean by returning the favour from the other day when her green eyes locked with his again.

"Yes, I am sure." Pyrrha nodded. "I challenge Hector Rivers to a sparring match."

Hector slumps his head against the table, he new he should have changed out of his combat gear before coming to this class. That would at least have given him time to prepare for this and maybe given his other teacher a call on his scroll. But nooo, now he has the attention of the entire class on him to see what he is going to do, and he has no real good option here. Decline the challenge, and Pyrrha will think that he thinks that she is too good for him, and that he shouldn't even try. Accept, and he just might get his ass kicked all over the arena. So of course he chooses the most obvious choice in order to make everyone happy besides himself.

Miss Goodwitch sighed. "If Mister Rivers accepts, then I shall allow it."

He puts on a brace face, and stands up. Giving Pyrrha a thumbs up before saying.

"Challenge accepted!" Pyrrha smiled at his enthusiasm, even when his team, her team, and Ruby's team all stared at him with wide eyes and slacked jaws.

Miss Goodwitch resisted the urge to sigh again, but can't help but wonder what will happen in this particular spar. "Just… please don't destroy the ring again." She said as she prepared the aura meters for the last time for that class.

Hector hid his nervousness and fear with humour. "Can't make any promises Double G."

"Detention." Miss Goodwitch said straight away, causing the class to all laugh at the poor leaders expense.

"What did I do this time?!"

"Irritation of a professor."

"Oh that is-" Hector cut himself off before he earned himself another detention. Especially when Double- Miss Goodwitch gave him the 'Go ahead, say it, I dare you' Look. He stopped while all he had was a single detention.

"Whatever." He shook his head as he descended the steps, his heavyweight making his footsteps louder than before.

When he made it to the steps before the arena, he obviously waved toward Robert to come closer to him, not even trying to help it. Getting more obvious when Rob just stands there wondering what the hell he is doing. Eventually, with a roll of his eyes, he strolled his way toward the guy.

"Okay, I'm here what's this about?" He asked when he reached Hector.

"What the _HELL_ am I supposed to do here?" Hector whispered loudly to his friend. "I don't know if you've noticed, but I kinda have two big heavy metal things on my arms."

"... Can't you just, I don't know, take them off and throw them mid fight?" Robert asked after looking at his Dragon Fist's.

"Oh yeah, I'll get right on that when RUBY TELLS ME HOW!" He directed his loud voice toward the now timid red hooded girl who chuckled nervously at the way she was addressed.

"Well… okay come over here." Robert said telling Hector to put up his arms.

Hector held out his forearms, and rotated them to show Robert all of the mechanical stuff he doesn't know how to explain. "They're pretty heavy, and we have about ten seconds before Double- I mean Miss Goodwitch loses patience.

"Uh huh." Robert looked at them and then extended his hands out, suddenly very small sparks starting coming out of Hector's weapon, they also started emit a magnetic hum, Robert moves his hands around as if he was tinkering with it from a distance, and suddenly the... gauntlets(?) open up and fall to the ground with a loud metallic clunk.

"Ha! Getting better at this!" Robert said a bit too proud of himself.

"Oh thank god." Hector said as he massaged his sore forearms. "I was stuck with those things on since yesterday."

"Really? How heavy are these things?"

"Uh… Ruby, how heavy are these again!?" Hector asked Ruby who is still trying to hide herself, she perks up when her name is called.

"Eh, around thirty five pounds or so." She said with her hood still up around her head.

"Yeah that, for a whole day." Hector said with a nod.

Robert looked at Ruby for a second, and then back at Hector.

"Why? That's just unnecessary."

"Ask her that, she was the one who built the things. Something about making my base strength stronger or something." Hector said as he bent down and picked up his Dragon Fists, and made sure to check how exactly one could take them off before putting them back on. "They're called Dragon Fist's by the way. I was going to show you the other day but you were on on that mission of yours."

"... Well, I assume you didn't care about copyright, I swear there are at least other six dragon related weapons that are also gauntlets in this school."

"Alright, ignoring everything you just said. Wanna give me the advice I asked for this time?"

Robert sighed. "Go for the legs and force her to move, play dirty and make her play your game, oh and do try to learn from this, see what she does, and adapt-"

"Mister Rivers, could you please enter the arena, we are on a short schedule as it is." Miss Goodwitch interrupted before Robert could explain too much.

Hector sighed and rubbed his head, straining again at the weight of his long bracers. "Alrighty, Kaioken it is then." Hector said as he nodded to Robert and stepped up to the arena, loosening his shoulders with a few rolls.

"I assume this is the favour you had in mind?" Hector asked Pyrrha when he entered his fighting stance, the same he used the other night against the giant Atlesian Paladin.

"Well, I was considering having Nora stay over at your dorm for a few nights, but this was much more enticing." Pyrrha said as she held her shield out and had her weapon in it's spear form.

"I'd fight you everyday in order to avoid that." Hector said with a chuckle, his body flickering with red flames for just a second around his arms.

Miss Goodwitch looks to both combatants, and then down to her scroll, and then started the countdown. The time ticked down from five, and both combatants got more serious as they timer slowly ticked down to zero.

As soon as it hit zero, Hector punched a fireball toward the spartan woman.

Pyrrha widened her eyes slightly at the sudden fireball coming her way, and hastily rose her shield to block the flames. It disperses around her shield and the smoke trail it left behind blinds her momentarily.

"... Seriously? Fireballs?" Robert facepalmed at the weaponized shockwave.

Hector dashes through the smoke in an attempt to catch Pyrrha off guard, and with a small roar threw a powerful punch straight into her shield. The loud clang rang all throughout the arena. While she was blocking high, Hector followed the minimal amount of advice he was given, and kicked out to her legs in an attempt to knock her down.

Pyrrha, like the acrobatic champion that she is, jumped over his leg, and while in the air, jabbed the end of her spear into his shoulder. Knocking him back just a few inches before he made to counter attacked, which was an uppercut that was coming up from beneath her shield, somewhere where she couldn't block or dodge in time.

With a small wave of her hand, his arm wildly missed, and he twirled around a few times before catching himself just as he was about to spin out of bounds. He and Pyrrha quickly realized that the weight of his arms are going to be a problem in this sparring match.

"Okay, should've known that would have happened." Hector said as he blocked the bullets Pyrrha fired at him with his forearms. The bullets ricocheting off of his arms or falling straight to the ground when it collides with the hard metal.

Hector gritted his teeth, and activated his semblance.

"Kaioken!" He yelled as he felt his body get stronger, and the strain that was once on his arms suddenly get much lighter. Overall making him faster as well. However, this time his red aura was much smaller, and only looked like it wrapped around his silhouette.

"What's wrong? Why is his aura so much smaller than usual?" Yang asked from back up in the stands.

"It's something he has been working on for a while, It's a much lower power multiplier then usual. You can say it's his Kaio-whatever times one-point five." Ashley explained, but kept her eyes locked on the arena. She herself was curious about who would come out on top. But after the earlier display of her leader nearly spinning himself out of the ring she can tell that Pyrrha has the advantage.

"Wow, that's smart actually." Weiss complimented with a nod of her head. "It must be much less stamina draining then if he were to go times two or three like he usually does."

"Yeah, like I said, he's been going at it for a while-"

"Go Boss! You got this!" Reggie cut her off with a cheer, and flaunt off his own Team HAMR shirt, with the R being larger than all the other letters.

Pyrrha knew this was bound to happen, and assumed a defensive posture and transformed her Milo back into its sword form.

Unbeknownst to her, Hector spun the dials on his Dragon Fists, and the dust type landed on lighting, and with a smile, punched two more yellow lighting infused shockwaves in her direction. Which hit their target instantly, and the metallic shield conducts the electricity and damage Pyrrha's aura. The first time she has lost aura all day.

Hector whistled. "Wow, lighting is pretty fast. Who knew?" he quipped as he spun his dials again and landed on wind, and fire. Fire on his right and wind on his left. He then took a trick out of Yang's book, and fired one of his fists behind him, this one being the wind dust infusion, and just before striking Pyrrha's shield. Uses the fire infused fist to blast her at point blank range, while also giving himself distance. She managed to block the fireball, and spun around to parry another one of his punches with her semblance. She barely saw the fist coming from the corner of her eye.

It turned out he fired his fists two more times to get to her unguarded side. Which much of taken a lot of reflex training to get it to as fast as he just did. Before she could riposte on the opening she just made for herself, Hector fired his fist again and shot himself straight into the ground, losing less aura then he would have if he tanked the attack Pyrrha had just prepared for him. He flips himself on his hands and into the air.

"Times three!" He yelled and started the same process over again. This time at much greater speeds.

Pyrrha was going easy on him at first, to gauge his abilities, but now that he has suddenly got serious she has to get at least more serious in order to keep up with his highly enhanced speed. Which was still not as fast as Ruby's, but was still something to be wary about.

Hector tried to go faster than the eye can see, but his red flames gives him away too much. He blasts a cyclone of air behind him, and launched himself straight toward Pyrrha with both of his legs pointed toward her. When Pyrrha blocked, she skid back about six feet before pushing him back, making him do a double backflip before landing on his feet.

"For your size you are quite acrobatic." Pyrrha noted out loud.

"... You had no idea what kind of stretches I needed to do for that." Hector said as he entered the same fighting stance from earlier, since his mobility isn't working, he would rather save his stamina instead of wasting it on flashy moves like that. Mentally, he downgraded himself back to his low power mode, just so he can still move his arms without straining to keep them up.

Pyrrha was the one to make the next move, stepping off her back foot and charging with her shield out, as she did so she transformed her spear back into its sword form, and while guarding her side, sliced upward at her opponent. Who crossed his arms in order to block the attack, and even with his semblance-enhanced strength, he gritted his teeth as the attack still nearly broke his guard.

With another subtle wave of her hand, his guard actually broke. Forcing his arms apart and taking a slash at his chest, taking a good chunk out of his aura. But couldn't avoid the counter attack that was his knee digging itself into her stomach. Knocking her back and taking the same amount of damage that she just dealt.

 _Was he expecting me to do that? Does he know about my semblance?_ Pyrrha thought after noting that he didn't give her a surprised look when his guard was suddenly forced apart.

"Wow, he's doing a lot better than I thought he would." Mike muttered to his team.

"Yeah, it's amazing how good he got in just a few months, I still remember when he was running away from a Deathstalker while screaming in panic." Ashley said with a laugh, she was clearly in a good mood, and was satisfied with the counter her leader has just delivered.

Hector didn't give much more time for Pyrrha to think, and dashed in her direction while mentally increasing his semblance back to times three. Instead of attempting to block or parry the incoming fist, Pyrrha jumped back. The arena shattered into pieces where his punch hit the ground.

Miss Goodwitch groaned to herself at another fix she would have to make with her semblance.

Hector kept at it, this time fighting much more aggressively then before. Throwing punch after punch and kick after kick that keeps getting dodged or manipulated away. His stamina was draining fast, which was Pyrrha's plan the whole time, and he was frustrated when he realized that. She was just so untouchable, suddenly her title of the Invincible Girl made a lot more sense.

Instead of lowering his power like a normal person would, instead he just pushed himself even farther.

"Times four!" He said with gritted teeth as the familiar burning pain his semblance gives to him runs throughout his whole body. Pyrrha winces when she is forced to block another of his punches, this time the difference in strength a lot more clear when her shield his nearly knocked out of her grip. She had to push the next punch away with her semblance, this time a black aura wrapped around his arm when she did so this time, meaning that she has to use more of her aura in order to divert the path of the punches this time. Not much more, but still a considerable amount.

Pyrrha decided it was time to get serious when she noticed that.

"RAGH!" Hector roared in a combination of pain and hype as he threw another punch, this time fire infused as flaming brightly as it headed toward Pyrrha's face.

She duck under the attack, and bashed her shield into his chest. Not pushing him back, but more like pushing _herself_ away. Still, it took another small chunk out of his aura, which somehow isn't draining since he is using his semblance.

Hector grinned, and Pyrrha knew why the second the explosion came off of her shield actually blew it out of her hand this time, and flying out of bounds and into the wall.

A delayed explosion. Pyrrha quickly realized, another thing she is going to have to look out for.

It wasn't the first time she has been disarmed of her shield, and she simply wields Milo with both hands and into its sword form. She was just as dangerous with her sword on it's own, and everyone knew that.

Hector was putting on a confident face, but on the inside his semblance was taking its toll on his body. The bravado can only be faked for so much longer. But there is no way he is going to win this fight without taking risks.

His eyes turn red, and he powers up even further.

"Kaioken times five!" he said just as he kicked off the back of his foot, some rocks get flung out of the ground and a crack is where he once was.

Robert and Glynda shared a look of concern for Hector, and the silent message they passed to each other that they are ready to stop the fight if they need to. The memory of him writhing in pain the last time he pushed himself this far still too fresh in their minds.

Pyrrha widened her eyes when her opponent suddenly threw not one, but _both_ of his weapons at her, which she easily blocks and manipulates away. But couldn't use her semblance on the entirely _human_ fist that slammed itself into her quickly guarding sword. Now that he is without his Dragon Fists, she can't use her semblance on him anymore, and he now he is much faster and stronger than before.

Hector grinned when Pyrrha grunted as she struggled to push back, a certain unfamiliar pleasure boiling up from with at the struggling expression on her face.

"No way… she's struggling?" Jaune asked out loud and in disbelief at the sight of his partner struggling to keep up with Hector's new speed and strength.

"Looks like it, she must have found her match finally." Ren said as he pointed toward the aura meters on the screen, which showed Hector having just three percent more than Pyrrha.

People started placing bets as they fight kept going.

"But they still have so much, this fight isn't going to end anytime soon with the pace they're at so far." Yang pointed out. "Hector's semblance is similar to mine though, he gets tired out as he uses it. If this _does_ drag out, he'll lose."

"Which must be why he is pushing himself so far. The last time he was at this level he put himself in the infirmary." Blake spoke up for the first time.

"How do you all even know this much about the guy?" Hector's partner asked with an arch of her eyebrow.

"Ruby." That was all she needed to hear to understand. She always researched into things that interested her.

Hector's grin was slightly disturbing, since Pyrrha knew that he must be in a lot of pain right now. For his sake, she decides to turn it up a notch. She parrys another one of his punches, and slashes twice at his chest, then kicks him away with more force then she is used to, making the aura meters in her favour once again. But to her surprise, Hector grabbed on to her ankle, and lifted her up and over his head and slammed her into the ground behind him. She used her forearms and sword to absorb most of the damage, and couldn't move fast enough to avoid getting thrown across the room, she rolled several meters before stopping herself by digging her sword into the ground. The aura meter was even again.

After throwing her, Hector fell down to one knee. The pain catching up to him and forces him to downgrade back down to three.

Pyrrha takes this opportunity to transform Milo into it's rifle form, and take aim at Hector while he is down on one knee. No doubt tired after pushing himself to his limit. But her hands shake as she aims the rifle. She has lost her fair share of stamina too, and her panting isn't making it any easier to aim her rifle. She fires anyway, and Hector jumped to his side and rolled away from the flurry of bullets that came his way. He downgrades himself even further, and drops back down to his low power mode.

Pyrrha had to reload, and that provided the perfect opportunity for him to charge at her as she hurried to try and reload it, but gave up and transformed it back into its sword form and charged back at him. A determined and excited look on her face.

"Enough!" Miss Goodwitch jumps in between them and makes them stop in their tracks. "If this continues any longer, then one of you is going to end up in the Infirmary."

Hector let out a deep breath and fell backward, completely spent. And the everyone surprise, Pyrrha bent over her knees and also tried to catch her breath. This took a lot out of both parties.

"Who won then?" Hector asked as he lied on his back.

"Neither of you." No one argued with her on that one. "But Mister Rivers, I am very impressed with you today. You are the only one has has pushed Miss Nikos to such levels of strain. The only advice I have for you is to get used to your weapons, or perhaps make them lighter so you are not forced to use your semblance in order to wield them."

Ruby chuckled nervously when Hector looked her way.

"And keep mind your damn aura, and semblance you suicidal bastard!" Robert yelled.

"Actually, if you looked at the aura meter, his semblance actually did not take _any_ to power." Pyrrha came to his defence. "Which is very unusual, but I believe he knew that he could push himself without running out."

"Hector did you? From my point of view you just went with it, I don't want anymore convulsions like last time." Robert said more worried.

"Kind of both of what you just said." Hector said as he rolled his neck and sat up. "Got really excited, and knew that for whatever reason Kaioken doesn't drain my aura." Hector explained simply.

Robert sighed and shook his head. "Just keep an eye on it." He said.

"With that, class is dismissed for now. I am confident that all of you can qualify for the tournament, but that does not mean that you shouldn't train for it even after you qualify." Miss Goodwitch lectured as the bell rang. And Pyrrha ran toward Hector to help him up.

"Thanks." Hector said with a smile as he was helped up. "Great fight Pyrrha, I look forward to the chance to take that title of yours." He joked as he massaged his sore and now pained muscles.

Pyrrha laughed. "So far, I think you may be able to. But I don't think 'Invincible Girl' would be a good title for you." She teased.

"Oh shut up, where did my Dragon Fists go?" Hector asked as he looked around the arena.

"That reminds me." Pyrrha leaned in, and spoke in a quiet voice. "How did you know about my semblance? I don't believe I told you about it, did my teammates tell you?"

Hector rubbed that back of his head nervously. Another thing he has to come up with some excuse for.

"Well… I sorta wondered why I suddenly nearly spun myself out of the ring." He blinked his red eyes a few times.

"Just from that you were able to tell?" Pyrrha sounded impressed as the two of them walked to the spot where both her shield and his weapons landed conveniently next to each other.

"Well, that and the other times I felt them move on their own. Kinda hard to miss it when my entire forearms are covered with metal." He cheered in his mind that he managed to come up with something believable. "Also, I saw that black aura around my arm that one time, that pretty much confirmed it for me."

"Very perceptive of you." Pyrrha complimented as she picked up Akouo. "Usually people with weapons even larger than your own made completely out of metal can't tell. You are a formidable opponent, it is a shame that we could not finish out battle."

"Yeah, well, we'll get another chance in the tournament, just make it to the finals! That way we won't be able to get interrupted again!" Hector said with a competitive smirk. It can go unsaid that he now has a new rival.

Pyrrha smiled as well, this was the first time someone actually outwardly stated that they looked forward to facing her. She also looks forward to crossing blades with him once more, even if he doesn't have any blades.

"Mister Rivers." Miss Goodwitch called to him before he could follow Pyrrha up the stairs. He looked back to her with a gulp and stared into her green eyes with his now blood red ones.

"Do not push yourself too hard in the tournament… we will not be able to stop the match like I did today. I advise you to… be careful." Glynda actually sounded concern for her student. Throughout all the training sessions she gave to him and his team, the two of them have finally started warming up to each other, and besides this time, she actually lets him call her by that damned nickname sometimes without punishment, at least when they are alone at least.

Hector smiled and gave her a thumbs up, pleased with the fact that his mentor is showing her soft side for the first time in a long while. His eyes return to it's usual dark brown as he fills up with happiness.

"I'll be careful, by then, I'll be able to go times ten!" He said with a cheery smile, and ran up the stairs to his awaiting teammates and friends. Two of them immediately start teasing him and his partner about him asking Ashley to the dance. The sound of him stammering and his partner refusing to speak but blushing madly amuses her greatly.

"Heh, for some reason, I think you'll be fine as well." Miss Goodwitch said under her breath.

"And here I thought he was your least favourite student." Robert teased her from behind, and earns a death glare as a response.

"Don't you have a patrol to go on?" Glynda snarled at her _actual_ apprentice.

Robert sighed and shook his head, already not looking forward to it. "I know… I'll be back before two am if I'm lucky." He said, turning away and walking off.

"Good luck." Glynda said as she started making preparations for her final class.

* * *

 **Some time later.**

 **Robert's POV**

"-and that's why we are in patrol together." Seth finished explaining. Glynda had told me that Seth and I were gonna be on a patrol on the morning and what hour, didn't expect it for time to fly however, it was uh… six pm now,

"Well, beats doing nothing I guess, although just resting would be fine by me too." I said, Seth had picked me on his car at the ferry station for the airships about an hour ago, I do feel like I needed a rest sometimes, general training and assistant duties were already something before I had to run around Vale stopping cultists every night so far… except well last night, it had been a full day for me to recover from my little, I would say it wasn't my choice but that would be bullshit since I decided to intervene, be part of this mission and do any lifting necessary… I wanted to do this, I would also say that maybe the second night might not apply to that every night statement since the White Fang are technically not a cult... but that's debatable. Honestly… maybe I'm just complaining too much and not being thankful of other stuff.

What Seth had just explained to me ever since he picked me up for this afternoon/night patrol was that the entrance we uncovered has been at full activity all day, that meant that everyone was looking for any sort of evidence, and that the entrance itself was being explored by other huntsmen and huntresses, professionals ones, however professional I wouldn't know really, but the message was simple, the pros go first then whoever else might be able to do something as to try that no one dies, from his side of the story it was pretty much the same, general law enforcement did not want that any officers or lieutenants went too far into the sewers or tunnels without any real need, especially if they could not handle whatever was down there, I told him what Glynda said to me, that she also doesn't want me to go in just yet, she would prefer if I didn't have to, but nothing is never easy, I don't think even my dumb luck would spare me this one.

The rest of talk was what we were doing tonight, the answer was not clear yet but I could think some things, things were getting pretty active, the contant news of police and huntsmen working together and raiding any criminals was becoming common, citizens were feeling more safe, the more paranoid ones couldn't deny that the job was getting done but they were also getting ready with bunkers in case Vale became a military dictatorship, the faunas population… some of them felt oppressed, eversince the warehouse not one felt like joining the White Fang, but that also meant they were scared to stand up for themselves, even more when they heard a single huntsman did it, even if they didn't knew who it had been… but it also somehow made it better than a crackdown by the police with possible casualties on both sides.

Criminals were also a problem, Vale had it's muggers and thieves, but there were also some more dangerous criminals, Torchwick was the most famous, that was mainly for the way he carried himself, however he was not the most dangerous, there were some other heist crews, gangs, and bandits that occasionally went into town, but most of all there was the organized crime of Vale, it wasn't anything special, it was merely a group of big shots that controlled different areas of said industry and worked with each other and against each other in their on way of exercising capitalism… if capitalism was as much of a thing in Remnant as on Earth. They have gotten somewhat spooked with the recent crackdowns and some might have gone into hiding thinking the authorities and huntsmen were specifically trying to track them down.

The truth was way more circunstancial, as long as the Chorus was a danger to Vale, local mission boards had fair share of contracts directed to missions on the tunnels and on the streets of Vale and police precincts were given an all in all warrant to take down whatever group may be supplying the chorus by the Vale Council and they were making sure to take full advantage of it, same as new huntsmen and huntresses looking for jobs inside of Vale or for more senior professionals to go into the sewers and tunnels for the possible challenge and pay of a lifetime… all dangers and high death rate where all part of the contract, they knew it, I just wonder how many truly realized it, the death rate of tunnels wasn't new… but we had some deaths of huntsmen, police and even military.

I still don't know what had Ozpin had to do to get all this support, what he had to do, what favor he had to ask, the arrival of Ironwood had even been delayed do to this mobilization, and I seriously doubted he had told many people of the Seer, I searched in the Beacon library, and Seers weren't common knowledge, not even exactly more advance knowledge, he could have told the council about it the same way he did me, hiding it's true nature… then again why did he told me? Damn you Ozpin, you discreetly, good intentioned, manipulative prick…

"So… are we searching something specific or are we gonna keep going in circles?" I asked Seth after my brief time pensive silence.

"Well we actually do have an specific mission."

"Mission? Are we gonna get paid by it kind of mission?"

"Well… yes in a way… we are actually after another "Good's seller" before he goes into hiding."

"...What are his specific goods?" I say trying to make the connection as to why specifically we were after this one guy.

"A little bit of everything, guns, medical drugs, recreative drugs, more Mistral black market items and such."

"So another supplier for the cult? A suspected supplier… or just convenient colateral of the warrant?"

"All of the above, some of the members that have ended in lock have mentioned him before, he has been suspected, and he's been a pain for many years. That has lead to a general bounty contract on him in the mission boards, so we are gonna help another huntsman with this, and since we are both registered as a force with the license to take action, there's a chance we could get a cut from this Mr. Huntsman."

"Huh…"

"Have you done any bounty missions before in your years? Or during this year?"

"I know the basics…"

"The basics… okay… so school has been doing okay in teaching you?"

"Well it's been the usual. Teaching kids how to fight people stronger than them."

"Teaching… you said that as if you did the teaching… aren't you just a third year kid?" Seth said in a more suspicious tone, he was either paranoid like me or he really paid attention.

"... Not really."

"Hmm?"

"I… I never went really to Beacon, I am an apprentice of one of teachers at Beacon." suddenly Seth went slower for a second, he then faced me and looked at me with a curious face.

"... Huh… That explains a lot actually! It all makes sense now!" said in a more cheerful tone

"Huh?"

"I mean, people were often wondering why someone so young as you was helping us officially and also doing it alone, there were rumors around that you were a student with battle scars and I was wondering if would have to tip tow around the subject of a possible dead team."

"Ah… no, nothing like that happened."

"Oh thank goodness, that makes it way less awkward now... so you are in fact an apprentice to one of the teachers."

"I am an assistant, with everything and salary." I said a bit too proud of that, there's something really gratifying on working in some way to get your money.

"Oh… oh, so that before… you weren't in school as a student during most of the day, you were at your job. Huh… you know it also explains how you are so capable, who's your teacher?"

"Well… Goodwitch." This time the car did a harder stop before continuing eventually.

"Wait… Glynda Goodwitch?!" Seth asked with a more surprised face, I nodded. "I mean… okay I thought I had somewhat of an above average kid as my copilot but this has gone beyond that… your teacher is Glynda Goodwitch!?" He said pointing at me with one finger.

"What does that make me?" I asked confused.

"A damn fucking exception to what's normal, that's what… I mean there are a lot of master and apprentice duos out there, some are pretty short apprenticeships, some are more long term, but ever since Glynda has become known, she has never had an apprentice, have you asked her why she chose you after many years of denying apprenticeships from others?"

"I never considered asking her why she has done it… never seemed appropriate." It was a lie, she never told me and I never asked, and as far as I remember we were both forced into this in some way, even if we complied. In fact now that I think about it she has only called me apprentice in private… not in class, the only time she has called me apprentice in public was after the food fight, and even then she said it towards me specifically… did the students at Beacon knew that I was her apprentice? Did even Hector know actually?… did I ever tell him? Actually that wouldn't matter, I doubt he knows the deal of apprenticeships in this world.

"Hmm… well then, it does explain however how good you are with that lightning stuff of yours." Seth said.

"Yeah… she has helped a lot with that."

"And what's your job really?"

"Serve as a hard opponent for more capable students and for duos, or even against whole teams."

"Really?"Seth sounded pleasantly surprised by this. "I didn't know Beacon had someone that took its students through the meat grinder, honestly that's good."

"Well, you know how Goodwitch doesn't have the best reputation in Beacon? I got the same treatment, I became the big bad assistant of Beacon that kicks puppys and will force you into an ass beating just so you can learn a couple thing and improve somewhat."

"Well look at you… the big bad puppy kicker is going around town now to find more thing to kick?"

"Well... we are on town and doing a bounty mission… so there might be some kicking, depends on who we find."

"Ain't that right cowboy?" Seth asked with a chuckle.

"Oh, so now I'm "cowboy"? Me? You are the one with the dual revolvers Seth."

"Yeah, you are the cowboy, and that's because I am the motherfucking Sheriff." He said as he jabbed a thumb into his badge.

Robert snorted as he laughed. "Heh… I guess. So when are we meeting this huntsman?"

"After maybe another half an hour, then we'll go together to what we believe is the current den for this guy, and well… maybe we'll get some decent sleep this night if everything goes fine."

"Hmm… maybe, just maybe."

* * *

"This is the place?" I asked the huntsman me and Seth were next to.

"Yeah, that's the place, apartment that extends to an entire side of the building, it's like your own private penthouse." He said, he's name was Liam Aidecmor, tall, about maybe late thirties in age, brownish mullet hair with a goatee, a green battle coat with a metal pauldron and a black sash as a belt, some dark pants and some combat shoes with armor that extended as long as the calf, he also had a special quiver with an extendable bow, overall he seemed like a decent dude.

"It's not that big, I've seen better and bigger apartments that I bet were even cheaper." I said.

"The view must come into the rent." Seth from the side.

"As it always does, they'll add value to whatever is near when talking real estate or housing." I said back to him.

"That's just how things are with housing." Liam said

"I know, I know there's no major evil in that besides taxes and other exhuvrent rates… I mean understand the thing like, close to the subway or to a kwikimart, but come on eventually what? Close to a fucking dog walker or something?" I said.

"The future awaits us, well either way, time trash the apartment." Seth said.

"How are we doing this, SWAT style? All directions?" I asked both of them.

"Yep." They both said at the same time.

"If you two insist, I would work better going through a window or with an angle to a window." said Liam.

"There aren't any building with a really clear shot near to that room… so you might be better just going through the window." I responded.

"Hmm…"

"I personally prefer being the frontal assault." Seth said spinning the chamber of one of his revolvers. "Always like getting the first shot off."

"You sure can handle it Maverick?" Liam asked.

"Of course I can! You see these things?" Seth asked as he twirled both of his guns. "Im the motherfuckin' sheriff of this town.

"Well then, I'll climb the side of the building then and wait to bust through the window." I said.

"I have nauseous gas arrows, it dissipates quick but it should give them a stun." Liam said.

"Guess you'll be the first to go once we are in place." Seth as he started walking to the entrance.

"Okay." Liam himself got his pull out his bow and shot an arrow with retractable cable up the side of the building, soon he was being carried up there by the cable itself, I ran up and climbed up pipe, in less than ten seconds I was already up the floor that the apartment was and was shimming across the edge of the apartment looking for a good entrypoint, I've gotten fast, and my upper body strength was more than enough now to just hang in there with no issue, I found a window towards the living room, the place was a mess, however big the apartment it looked like they had recently moved a lot of goods and now where ready to move again, there were some crates on the living room, and I could spot a hidden wall opened with a safe on it and nothing in the safe itself, mmm, yeah, they were moving, we reached just in time it seemed.

" _I am in the perfect spot to enter, I see four guys, goons most likely, one has an assault rifle ready near him, the others must have concealed weapons, mre might be down the hallway."_

"I see two guys, they might be armed, I can take care of them no problem… there's a new guy… no wait three more, two look like the business type."

" _Do any of the two has a weird snake like line of grey hairs in one side of his hair."_ Seth said all of the sudden.

"Yeah the one with the bodyguards next to him, I guess that's him."

" _Oh totally cowboy, get ready, I'm in position."_ I heard the sound of Seth loading his guns through the microphone.

" _I'm gonna fire the arrows soon then, one at my group another down the hall and another a room I have a window you are gonna be the closest to him, make sure to grab him… and maybe whoever the other guy is."_

"Looks like the big client type of guy… that or some kind of helper."

" _Get ready gentlemen… 3, 2,1…"_ As in que, arrows came flying through an open window and hit their designated areas, a green noxious gas came out the arrows in sudden explosions making the gunmen blind, additional people came out of the rooms to check what was going on only to also be left blinded and coughing from the gas.

"Someone get that gas out and move it, we are-" The leader didn't get to finish, the gas was dispersing, and in came Seth crashing through the door with one of his revolvers in hand, firing three concussion shots at the guys closest to him, he grabbed the black market dealer by the arm and twisted behind him to hold him in place, at the same time I crashed through the window, kicking someone on the back of the head and knocking him over to a wall, I slashed the leg of one of the other guys with my lightning blades and going for the other with a quick uppercut and kicks, he went down with a final downwards roundhouse kick. I went for the next with a jumping spinning kick to his head knocking him into a plant pot, the next, I elbowed in the stomach with a spin and following momentum kneed him on the face, there was another right next to him that was decked across the face, kneed on the stomach, side kicked twice and finished him with a spinning hook kick, there was someone behind me, I elbowed backwards and back kicked after to get him away before he hit me, he tried to hit me again with some sort of machete but I judo threw him to the ground to grab his face and electrocute him, taking him down.

Okay twenty seconds in and everything is already done, my lot were beaten into submission, there were guys with arrow size tasers stickin into them, Liam also apparently beat two guy with just his bow, and the people that Seth shot were still groaning on the ground, he had the dealer and the other suit man was also close, two final guys came around the corner behind Seth, I dashed to one and slashed at his shoulder, deliver an offhand backhand and back kick his leg to make him fall to the ground in pain… the other had been shot by a taser arrow while I handled his friend.

"Thanks for that both you, I owe you two bullets." Seth said.

"That can be misunderstood very easily." I said in return with a laugh.

"I agree with the kid." Liam joined the conversation.

"Yeah… wasn't my best comeback." Seth said with a shrug.

"Hnng… since when do we get assaulted like this in a private residence!, This is a violation of our rights." The dealer spat as he was still being hold by Seth.

"Opportunity presented itself Malak, all warrants were given, you should know one should take those, and you made yourself obvious with this sudden movement of your products." Liam said to him.

"Hmm, doesn't really matter, I been in court and jail before, I'll get out, and after that… heh all of you are suffering for this, I have legal friends you know."He said with a more cocky smile.

"They cannot help you." Liam said.

"Huh?"

"And don't think you get what happened, but you just made it to the mission boards Malak my friend." Seth said still holding him, his eyes widened

"Any help they could give you before now is void, and even if you get out, the moment you do something, a thousand people will waiting to get your contract and bring you back, and if you do anything to them or anyone else, it will just get worse… you days as Black Market dealer and general free reign on the matter are done, you'll be hunted from now on, one way or the other." Liam said finalizing the statement, we called the police and started to mobilize the criminals, the dealer didn't say anything else, his eyes remained widened, not terrified… but with a look that said he didn't know what to do know, the world had just crushed his bubble and the things he depended on, hmm…

I guess his work really is over then, no matter who you were, circumstances can just not go your way, no matter how powerful you think you are… and he made himself a hole he could not climb out of alone.

* * *

 **Beacon**

 **Night time**

 **Neutral POV**

"Ugh, how does that fool have so much energy?" Weiss asks herself after leaving her dorm room, too annoyed by the banter-slash-arguing the leader of HAMR is currently having with his partner, apparently Ashley is trying to get Hector's suit for him, since she doesn't trust him with going out on his own to get his own suit for the dance. Then Hector was mildly offended by that, and then one thing lead to another, and she nearly screamed at them to be quiet in the middle of the night. Instead, Ruby just _had_ to convince to take a walk instead, to clear her head and to just _hope_ that they are sleeping by the time she gets back. "He was just in the fight of his life, and he still is just so obnoxious, if he wasn't one of my friends…" Oh the things she would have done to him if their teams weren't so close with each other.

"Ugh, this is ridiculous." She said as she walked through the empty cafeteria, and even considered staying here for the night, but quickly snuffed out the idea just because of the sound of it.

"Hm? Who is that?" She said under her breath as she spots the back of someone sitting at one of the tables just a few tables down, if she wasn't as preoccupied with her thoughts as she was before she may have just walked passed him. "Is that… Mr Urra? What are you doing here?"

"Uh… oh, hi I'm having a quick snack, what are you doing here?" Robert asked as he looking behind him and spotted the heiress.

"A mutual _friend_ of ours is having another argument with his intended." Weiss said with a scoff and a roll of her eyes.

"Oh, okay so you are just walking around, taking fresh air then?" He asked, to which Weiss nodded her head to. "By the way do you want anything? I may have more or less have stolen a lot of things that people didn't eat today."

"I am fine, thank you." Weiss said as she took a seat down in front of him. "What are you doing here this late in the evening anyway?"

"Like I said, eating and taking the chance to relax of my current crazy life, the dark cool ambient the cafeteria gives at night helps, the moonlight too." Robert said more absentmindedly.

"Mm, what did you think about the spar today? I've never seen Pyrrha get pushed back like that before." Weiss said as she flipped some hair out of her face.

"Hmm… I wouldn't really know, it possibly means that Hector has improved, and that also that Nikos has to work a little better on not getting caught off guard. But it's her, the same trick are possibly not gonna work twice and she was probably holding back for a good portion of the match. Using her semblance more aggressively might help her more on the long run."

"I was thinking the same… apparently the match was also recorded and now it's blowing up all over the world on how 'The Invincible Girl meets her match.' They make a skandal out of anything these days." Weiss said with a disappointed sigh.

"Well, people love to talk… and over exaggerate, it's like they forget senior huntsmen and huntresses just exist, she might have not lost yet but there's definitely a match for her out there. And you? How are you holding up yourself?"

"I have been doing relatively fine myself, thank you for asking. My teammate Blake has been getting a little anxious about the White Fang recently, but we were able to reassure her that the police force and huntsman have been cracking down on them a lot more then they were before. So she luckily hasn't lost any sleep over it." Weiss said.

"Hmm, well it's true, but not the whole truth of what's going on but… oh well… " _Good to know she's doing better, well taking down a huge portion of the operation the other day, must ease some nerves…"_

"Forgive me for asking this, but I am sure you know of the rumour going around that you are helping train Hector, is that true? I am afraid curiosity has been too much for me." Weiss asked hesitantly, he may be young, but he is still technically a teacher.

"I am… well helping him get passed the more painful aspects of his previous fighting style, and it isn't exactly just me, Glynda helps too, we are both actually instructed by Ozpin to keep him up to speed and improving constantly. I'm still curious what he wants with him." Robert said drinking from a bottle of water afterwards.

"That makes sense… now his rapid improvement makes a lot more sense. I was wondering where he was really going when he would say. " _Uh, sorry but I gotta go use the bathroom."_ Everyday at the same time." Weiss chuckled at the memory. "The headmaster himself ordered for this? Is there anything wrong with him that requires this kind of attention?"

"Well there's the convulsions during his match with me, the famous one that earned me the title of puppy kicker and also earned a few death threats believe it or not… Actually I'm curious what's been the students saying this time I didn't pay attention the last month."

"It has relatively died down for the most part… but I think the most recent insult was… something I would rather not repeat, but I think people are now finally moving passed it." Weiss said with a shudder.

"Tch… well then, that would ease up on the stress, maybe more people will listen when I give them pointers too…"

"You can imagine some of the reactions some of the other girls had when the rumour of you training him started to spread. Apparently Reggie spilled the beans to one of them and it just grew from there. I just don't get how that guy gets so much attention from the opposite gender…" Weiss thought out loud.

"That's a mystery nobody understands, not even him when I asked him myself, I'm betting is some sort demonic pact at this point, it's like a never ending gag…" Robert said with a laugh.

Weiss let out an amused chuckle. "Anyway, I don't know much about you other then the fact that you are apparently training under Miss Goodwitch, I even did some research on you and I couldn't find _anything_ related to you or your name. That is… unusual to say the least, may I ask where you are from?"

"... I… I rather not say, but I wasn't anyone particularly special, I rather not say… there were circumstances were I lost my family and… had to figure things out myself … but eventually Goodwitch found me once, I showed some promise here and there and Ozpin convinced her to…" Robert sighed, the lies tasting slightly bitter in his mouth. "Take me in as an apprentice and help finish whatever education I missed… as of now I've been following her, and just recently she has asked to help her with her teaching and around Beacon.

"Well… that isn't what I expected, I didn't know you were her actual apprentice as well that's... I am sorry for whatever may have happened that lead you to that point in your life." Weiss said. "If it makes things easier, I never despise you like most others did, I don't think anyone on Team RWBY does actually, no I know they don't. They're too kind for something as petty as that. If anything they dislike Hector more than you because of all the arguments he has with his team."

"Hmm, thanks… well bad treatment isn't new for me, I've learned to have somewhat thicker skin, I was always a weirdo even when I was a kid, so it became normal." Robert said with a small smile.

"For some reason I find that to be the norm around here." Weiss said with a small smile. "I asked Hector a similar question and with a mouthful of food he said this:"

" _Vacuo, just ran around not knowing what I was doing and suddenly I had aura, and a semblance and I was the leader of my own team in Beacon."_ Of course it sounded a lot more muffled at the time.

"I just can't understand him most of the times, and yet somehow he has managed to become a friend of mine, mostly because my partner won't stop pushing me to talk to her 'other bestie'."

"Well, he's a good guy,and he could be worse. Just appreciate those little things." Robert taking a moment to look out the window out to the shattered moon.

"Have you ever wondered what shattered the moon in the first place?" Weiss asked as she also stared at the one of the greatest mysteries of the world.

"I've had some crazy theories, but nothing concrete, I've always wondered more if any of its pieces landed somewhere in Remnant."

"There's a tale that it was a powerful Grimm fighting against a skilled warrior, and that their battle was so intense that it shattered the moon with their final clash… and the Grimm was the winner, quite a sad tale and not one to tell kids, but I doubt that is what really happened." Weiss said as she stood back up.

"Who knows, I've learned that reality at its core is far more stupid than what people might think, so it might have just been a dumb accident."

"Who knows…" The heiress echoed. "I think I will head back to my dorm now, thank you for giving me a well needed distraction."

"You are welcome your highness." Robert said with a small bow of his head

Weiss scoffed. "Please, I am not _that_ kind of royalty. Goodnight Mister Urra." She said as she began walking away.

"Goodnight to you too…" As soon as Weiss was far away enough he smacked his head on the table…

" _... I'd rather not say… not rea- STOP!"_ Robert slapped himself to gain some sort of control of himself. " _Do not think about it… just present and now, you moping shit, present and now… you'll figure it out."_ He thought to himself before finishing his snack, and went to his room to try and sleep any bad thoughts away.

* * *

 **AN- So, I wonder what all of that is about, I do not have much to say here so I am going to pass it off to the one who might have something to say. See you guys when I see you! -Genatools**

 **I will not say much, but everything will be revealed in time… I think this chapter is more okis but not necessarily good… but at the moment I don't know how to change that, next chapter I plan to make it more interesting again. I would like some criticism on this one too. -CrowSkull**

 **Please review and tell us what you think! We look forward to every review that any of you may have for us, and of course, we'll see you all in the next one.**

 **Disclaimer- We do not own RWBY in any way, shape, or form.**


	21. Rwby: Team HAMR chapter 21

**A/N: Thank you to our reviewer!**

 **Astra: Now it's really good t see you again now I would like to answer a lot of what you said, but I don't think I can answer everything but that would be just too long… but I read everything, and I'll tell you, you are absolutely right about the organized crime of Vale, couldn't think of a better description myself. XD. -CrowSkull**

 **Told you he missed you. Everything will be explained once HAMR makes a return, I have an idea for Ash and Nora's friendship that I feel like everyone will love. Red eyes can mean a lot of things, and neither of what you said is the right one in this case. Ruby found the metal in a way that shall be disclosed at a later date. I have about three minutes so I gotta make this one short so forgive me, I did in fact read your entire review though so keep that in mind. With the Hector vs Pyrrha fight I was going for showing off his weapons and how he has grown as a fighter, while also trying to depower him a bit so he doesn't end up like he is in Unlikely Hero. Again, the Kaioken not using aura in this story has a very good explanation for it. Roberts been busy, has a mission and all that adult stuff. Hector needs some slack man, poor guy can't be trusted with anything besides feeding himself and being a leader. I did not forget about you, I would never forget my favorite Astra from all of my stories, thank you for the review once again! I'll see ya in the next one! -Genatools**

* * *

RWBY: Team HAMR

Chapter 21- Deadeye

 **Under Construction Subway**

 **2 pm.**

 **Robert's POV.**

It was a new day, saturday in fact, and as of now people were gathering up in this little entrance to the tunnels that we cleared up a few days before, it was finally time, I was going to go into the sewers and tunnels. Glynda was with me on this one, so was Seth and a literal battalion of police officers, there was also Oobleck and few huntsmen and huntresses, I didn't personally knew any of them, some of them looked older than others, Liam was with them that I could tell. Well I know someone, that's a plus point on the scale socializing on my book.

"Once we in there remember to stick close to the group and not separate too far, you have no idea how easy it is too get lost in those tunnels." Glynda said to me in a tone similar of a mother berating their kid.

"I know, you've told me several times already." I replied.

"And I still feel is not enough, with luck we'll be able to make significant progress, and if not, we'll have no choice but to keep looking later."

"They might have left map behind, that would be something."

"It might not be so simple cowboy, they appeared to have backtracked a big distance into the tunnels, they seem to have taken everything with them, we might have to explore for a while." Seth said as he was listening on the conversation.

"This is still one of the most direct paths so far isn't?" I asked.

"Yes, it's given a better result than others, we managed to go deeper without any major problems besides the Grimm, even then there is still a large section that we still need to be pushed into. The cult has been pushed back in all directions, but they've retreated behind a set of areas called "The Pits", we tried to follow them there but, they blocked all entrances to that area after them." Glynda explained

"So… this one of the only ways left, it's that bad?" I asked

"Well I told you many people were in it for the big bountis cowboy, so much that the cultists have gone into hiding." Seth said while checking his revolvers.

"Speaking of the cultists, had you guys gotten anything on Shane ever since get got this base?" I asked

"No, the kid disappeared." Seth said

"Really? Like nothing nothing, or did he just disappear somehow?" I asked with an arch of my eyebrow.

"We searched his place after he was gone, no family to speak of, and no trace of where he had gone." Seth explained.

"Hmm…" I murmured to myself

"Everyone! It is time! Everyone gather around and plan our incursion into this ancient tunnels full of danger, I recommend everyone get here on the double lest you want to walk in and get lost in this ancient corridors of history and paranoia!" Oobleck yelled out loud with a megaphone.

"... I guess that's our commanding officer." Seth said while holstering his gun.

"Do yourself a favor and call him Doctor when greeting him, it would save you the reaffirmation of his PHD." I warn him with a sigh, I've made that mistake one too many times.

"He's like a ferret with the way he moves around, a ferret with green hair and glasses… and a tie." Seth muttered while observing Oobleck's hyperactive movements. I couldn't help but chuckle at imagining the thought, I think even Glynda would crack a smile, in less than two minutes we were all in a circle with the rest of police and huntsmen, Oobleck was in the middle.

"Very well then, listen, there are some of you that already have gone through this drill but at the same time there are many here that haven't, so here it is. We are gonna enter the ancient tunnels underneath Vale, the ones used on ancient times as secret passages to avoid public eye, as a possible refugee during wars and as a way to go out of Vale for nobles, kings and for the other two reasons already stated. These tunnels overtime became full with Grimm, and of then evolved a very into a dangerous kind of monster, the tunnels are not only filled with Grimm but are also a never ending maze." He paused to take a quick sip of whatever it's called from his thermos before continuing.

"Nobles and authority figures kept building more and more passages for themselves and eventually on top of each other, the sewers of Vale are in fact built on top of them. This tunnels have some central hub of areas, one of them is the are the "Chorus of Dawn" has its central base alongside some very special cargo that must be destroyed, today once again we are trying to get there and map the areas of the tunnels, we will follow the tunnels and paths that go in the north east direction since that area is where the Chorus has retreated as of late. Any sign of finding any open rooms like central crossroads or any big chambers are progress since those are what we assume the cult calls "The pits", as that's what they have yelled in their latest retreats."

"Now we'll go in groups and stick close to each other, we will only separate if we need to check multiple passages and every few three hundred meters some designated individuals will place green and orange light bulbs on the walls that will act as guides, the green side of the light bulb will signify the exit route while the orange side will signify the path that goes deeper into the tunnels, oh and as a precaution once in the tunnels, do not step into the water."

"Uh, why is that the last part." Asked a young huntsman

"Thank you for asking!" Oobleck shouted as he sped up into the face of said huntsman, who recoiled with surprise. "Now that the tunnels are a house of multiple kinds of Grimm, ancient kinds, Beowolves become alphas, Ursas become Majors, there are emperor Taijitus, but there are also some less known Grimm that reside on the sewer like canals of certain tunnels, such as Trapjaws and Dischargers."

"What are those exactly?" Asked an officer in full swat armor.

"Trapjaws are giant alligator type Grimm that will wait for any prey to come close and will _destroy_ them with a single bite. Dischargers are Grimm Electric Eels." said a huntress with brown hair and golden highlights, she seemed to have a pair sais that doubled as tiny crossbows.

"Oh, that just screams joy to my ears." Said sarcastically an officer.

"It does to me as well!" Oobleck bellowed. "We are about to enter areas that were possibly never explored before by modern historians, it's fascinating." Oobleck said not paying any attention at the weird looks that statement earned him. "Get ready, we are moving in immediately, Huntsmen and huntressess on the front, police officers at the back and sides, I'll select now the people in charge of carrying the lightbulbs too." Oobleck said as he started guiding the little army to the tunnels.

* * *

"This place is really disgusting." Someone commented as we moved through the tunnels, in truth it wasn't worse that cleaning the litter box, wasn't even the half as bad, not by a long shot, but it was constant and annoying, you could smell the salt and piss in the air… then again my nose for some reason never really worked that well, it had a tendency to block out some of the more particular smells for some reason, like bug spray, I cannot smell bug spray for some reason, not for very long. There were some people down here with more sensible noses however, three humans, two faunus in particular were holding their noses and squinting their eyes very hard. I couldn't blame them, the stench must have been even worse for them then it was for me.

"Ah but is also full of interesting details in its structure, you can differ some purposes from the streaks that adorn the sides." Oobleck said as he was enthusiastically putting another one of the lightbulbs on the wall, Oobleck hadn't exactly said much during the trip, but he hadn't stay quiet either, he was going from side looking at seemingly every single nook and cranny for anything that might hint at the story of this tunnels, alongside signs of tracks from the Chorus or anything else really, we were all doing that last bit, but Oobleck managed to take it an extra mile also taking notes at anything remotely particular, but once again he didn't bother anyone doing it and was fairly quick, so nobody cared.

"I might regret this but do you actually know the purpose of this specific tunnel we are in." I asked.

"Well compared to other tunnels the subtle stripes here seem blue and I've seen only two other tunnels with those stripes, I think I can gander that comparing them to the other tunnels, this seems like the ones for private noble transport." he explained to me.

"Hmm… blue stripes, blue noble blood, a valid assumption." I said.

"Makes sense they would try to transport their supplies through here, open spaces big enough for a group or even a small vehicle, well maintained walls and floor too." Glynda pondered.

"You know I get the feeling that we could have come on a small armored car trough these tunnels." Said one of the officers with a mustache.

"That would work if we knew where we were going, as it is I'll rather not get stuck in awkward turns, weird steep ramps or stairs with Grimm and posible cultists trying to kill me, thank you very much." Seth said placing another lightbulb on the wall as we kept moving at a general solid pace, he had been one of the selected few to carry a bag of lightbulbs. As soon as he finished several audible growls came from the far end of the current tunnel.

"Speaking of which..." The huntress with the double crossbow sai said unfolding them.

"You all know the drill, everyone watch your fellows and everyone make sure to kill as many as reasonably possible." Glynda commanded as the small skirmish of Grimm came close.

We all knew how we approached the situation, there were designated frontliners, there was a second line and a final far range line, most huntsmen and huntressess were between frontline and second line depending on weapons and abilities while the police where usually between the second and the far line, most of the people on the front line are told to do their own thing as effectively as possible while protecting whoever was next to them, middle grounders did the same only from more range, they also had to make sure Grimm didn't reach the firing line of of the far line, which was were the bulk of the people without Aura where alongside with other aura users that were there in case the Grimm reached that far back or because they prefered to attack from there, Liam was such an example. Seth himself was on the second line being a sharpshooter, I bet he could still whack Grimm to death with his revolvers if necessary, Glynda also prefered the second line as a better point for her to use her semblance for whatever she needed. Oobleck like to get close with his mace/rocket launcher… thermos… thing, yeah let's go with thermos. For some reason so he front line, as well as me.

When the pack of Grimm came close I dashed in with many others to meet them, I went with a lightning missile that scorched many and blasted them into their deaths before going in blades at my sides, I striked and slashed at them fluidly, cutting at their rib cages, piercing their stomachs and hearts before moving into the next, I pierced on in the middle of the stomach before twisting the blade and drag it out the Beowolf in a fluid motion to slash at the next one that came over before push kicking another and stabbing him with both blades, I kicked the Grimm away before moving to the next one, cutting the leg of an older Beowolf before slashing its throat open, cutting the head of three other normal beowolves in multiple slashes, lighting palming, jumping up and grabbing the head of an Ursa that came from my right, I stabbed in the eye and soon began to drop dead, I sliced and killed three other bewolves, stabbed another to my left, and with a spin back kicked that one into another before sending a thunderbolt at a Beowolf in the air that was pouncing… someone I guess, couldn't really tell who.

Four more came and I also killed them on a flurry of slices, one in particular I cut its arm before slashing it's face, an ursa came and tried to slam me to the ground but I dodged back and jumped up stab the back of it's head, with a spin I slice it's head in half, I had to act quick soon an alpha was coming for me, I use the ursa's fading corpse as a stepping stone to jump, and with both blades I sliced the alpha in half as it pounced me.

The skirmish had scattered now, far less Grimm came for me, I slashed at two and killed them but the others were soon gunned down by a mixture of different kind of projectiles, the Grimm were getting mowed down, I slashed at another and before I knew it any other that came near was already dead, it was just a massacre on the side of th Grimm… well I was just one person that had done a fair share… I think, and what I have done many others did in their own way, projectiles were flying, I could spot Seth firing while getting closer to the frontline, Glynda was using various combinations of her powers, currently she was crushing a king taijitu, many other were helping however was net to them, about time I do the same.

I threw a ball of lightning that sticked to a beowolves mouth, he was surrounded by many other Grimm, once the ball exploded there weren't many left, I threw many lightning bolts, downing and killing many Grimm, one thing to note about Grimm was that not only did they not have Aura, but it was also toxic for them, they were weak against any form of semblance application, and also to dust… since my lightning was my semblance it could do much more damage to them than to humans in normal circumstances, and the results could become… explosive, as testament to the Beowolf the exploded from the inside out as I threw a thunderbolt in it's direction. A creep came out of the pack willing to attack with it's gigantic mouth, those lizard/dinosaur things were weird… but no the fastest or more dangerous, I lightning dashed towards it and with both blades cut one of it's two legs, after that it was useless, like a turtle on its back and it was very soon focused and destroyed by the gunners, after killing some other Grimm I redirected myself to help a duo of policemen that were part of the front line, they both had swat armor with some mix of more military (or knightish if we look at the pauldrons) looking attire, they both had assault rifles that doubled as riot shields for the most part, they also pulled out what I could guess was the stock and barrel, that part doubled as a spear… cool.

They were watching each others back as one was shooting while the other was furiously killing and stabbing Grimm with the spear and bashing their heads in with the shield, once the one with the assault rifle had to reload they switch stances, and take the spot of the other, I dashed in to help a bit, I killed like about four beowolves with quick slashes and an extra one kicking it's knee and grabbing its head, making it explode with pure energy and lightning, the two policemen both switched to both their assault rifles and started firing at any other loose ends, an Ursa Major came near and tried to swat me away, but I ducked and delivered my own slash with both blades at it's stomach and threw a lightning bolt at its face, it was just enough to disorient it and make it stand on its hind legs, I lighting dash behind it, cutting one of said legs with both my blades, It fell on its face and before it could even attempt to stand up I drove one my blades through its head, all the way to the other side.

Soon enough all the Grimm were dead and any of the ones that tried to get away were quickly shot down. "Well done everyone, it seems we managed to to survive that pack without casualties, good." Oobleck said taking a sip from his… weapon, how does that work?

"Do stay alert, we still have much room to cover! I hope I don't have to remind anyone to check their weapons." Glynda shouted just so that anyone could hear… there just a couple reloading sounds here and there, but everyone seemed ready to continue.

"So… that wasn't too bad." A young huntsman said.

"Oh I certainly hope so, those skirmishes are just going to keep coming, and they are gonna get worse." Oobleck said, me and Seth started walking a little to the side.

"So… only getting worse from here." He said in a murmur to me.

"Yeah… and it wasn't too hard, when we have a full battalion of competent people." I responded also in a murmur.

"If we were less…"

"Or more inexperienced people were here…"

"Then things might not go as smoothly." I finished everyone's train of thought.

Who knew really, there are chances smaller amounts of people could do better, less chances of friendly fire and less people to worry about. But it was clear there was reason the tunnels were nasty, the Grimm here could overwhelm you very quickly, me and Seth decided to just keep ourselves to murmurs as to not sour the mood, it had been a victory after all.

* * *

We kept going forward without any noticeable resistance, the tunnels didn't offer much in variety, there were moments where he had to choose direction however, it wasn't difficult really, so far there've been only one set of pathways that were in the north east direction, north east was the general direction of "The Pits" apparently, it made navigation a little bit easier, signals were not existing down here, and compass apps didn't work, but for that we brought actual compasses, hmp… thank you simple technology. We ignored all other hallways and passages going for the same direction, we didn't encounter more Grimm, at least not on the same numbers, there was a couple of beowolves and ursai, and also a wandering taijitu, but nothing special, I still hadn't saw a trapjaw or a discharger, then again this hallways weren't part sewers like others, so maybe we were fortunate in that regard.

"Halt!" Oobleck shouted suddenly, we looked ahead and the path soon splitted into three different pathways, this time they all went the same direction.

"I guess this is the point we split up?" Another huntress asked.

"It will, everyone settle on a direction, we'll make each team has around the same quantity of people, the formations stay the same." Glynda said, soon we were all splitting of, I caught her looking at me for second before going to the tunnel on the left, she's worried it seems… but she seems to be okay with me being a different group, I chose the tunnel to the far right, Seth himself went for the middle.

"If someone meets a dead end then tell the rest trough radio, the moment we have solid idea where each path goes will decide which we'll all follow." Oobleck said finally before walking forward, he was also on my group on the far right hallway.

The march itself through the hallway was nothing really, important I would say, there was idle chatter here and there but it was mostly murmurs and quick comments, everyone was far to focused on keeping alert, we kept going a little up ahead and found a pack of Grimm, way smaller than the last one, really manageable for our group, the fight actually came in and… went right away, I fired a lightning missile and a few lightning bolts and slashed to beowolves to death, but by then most of the pack was dead, and ursa Major remained, however someone threw a spike to the ground that launched up, went through the ursa and stick it self to the roof while the ursa was dangling from some wire, then we just used the beast for a little game of piñata, only with bullets or in my case lightning bolts, it was pure awesome overkill. We kept walking a bit further until.

"Ah, dead end it seems." Oobleck said… yeah that, the tunnel continued a little further before ending on a segment where it seemed the roof just collapsed, we were doubling back now.

"This is the group of the far right hallway, we hit a dead end, we are turning back." One sergeant of the police radioed in, soon we were headed back, there wasn't much talk through the radio right after besides some acknowledgements.

"Hey." The huntress with the cool crossbows said to me, she must be sparking up a conversation to pass the time.

"Whats up?" I greeted back to her with a nod.

"So, you seem a bit young compared to many others here." She pointed out, gesturing to the other huntsman and huntresses who appear much older then I am.

"I'm guessing that's not the usual around here."

"Not really, there are some other young ones around but after a bit you recognize most of them, which is strange because I've never seen you actually." She said with a curious look.

"Well, no offense, but I also have never seen or heard of you before today so… I guess it's a pleasure then." I said extending my hand for a handshake. She seemed surprised for a second before chuckling and accepting it.

"It is a pleasure, name's Miara."

"Robert."

"So tell me Robert," She said as she released my hand. "How did you get tangled into this mess?"

"Personal decision, general request from my boss, a need to just do something about it… that's actually why I'm here, how I got tangled…? uh someone presented me the opportunity to help with this and… well, all of the above happened."

"Hmmm, I personally found it to be an interesting job, seemed appropriate, my team disbanded recently, not on bad terms, more on "time do continue our individual lives" and this seemed like a decent contract, it does guarantee some amount of back up."

"Did you expect an entire battalion?" I asked with a short laugh.

"Well no… but it's welcome, everyone here seems capable enough, you for example have very nifty lightning blades."

"Hmm… thanks, those crossbows seme pretty cool too."

"Oh they are, internal chamber for six continuous shot for each one, and bolts ready for any need… speaking of ammo, how do you do those lightning tricks, is that dust for the blades as well?"

"Not really, lightning dust is yellow, my lightning is blue." I pointed out.

"So then how…" She looked perplexed.

"Maybe when we get out I'll tell you, for now just know that it's part of my semblance."

"Ah okay, I see how it is."

"Heh, heh." That little talk did help calm the nerves, Miria was alright, I don't know what she actually think the stuff she said on her mind, really didn't knew what most people here thought of the odd young one, whatever the case, being friendly never hurt…. Or could?... eh… as all things it always depends.

As we continued the radio came in again, it was the team from the left side.

" _This is the group that is on the left side over, the pathway splits, but turns into the far west pretty suddenly, also we got two injured, we are heading back over._ " said a woman

"Understood." said our man in charge of the radio, it didn't took us very long but we reached again the point where the pathways split, we waited for the group from the far left, soon enough they appeared with two injured limping, they were being helped by one person each one, Glynda commanded that they should return to the surface, and that they should have an escort, a few police officers were going with them alongside Miria and another huntsman, both of them volunteered to keep them safe, soon they parted, and then we received word from the group of the middle.

" _We have encountered another… well division I guess, they all whoever seem to go towards the direction of "The pits"._ "

"We'll be on our way." Oobleck sid via the radio… without even asking the person in charge if he could use it but… eh who cares.

* * *

We reached the area the middle group had just stopped at, once again the pathways splitted, but this time it was different, there were more than three, way more, and towards the right and left the hallways continued giving more pathways… it looked like some sort of massive circle or semi circle. We reunited with the group and Seth seemed to want fst bump, of course I'll give him one.

"Good to see you made it, are the injured… ok?" Asked a random police lieutenant.

"They are on their way back to the surface, and they are being escorted." Glynda responded quickly.

"Ah good." The office said with a sigh of relief

"What's the situation here?" Glynda continued

"Well, all of the pathways seem to go in the same specific direction, at least, towards the north east, there are some other pathways… they seem to go in other directions but… we deduced that they look more like pathways that come here from another direction than separate tunnels that start here to go in another direction."

"So… that means this would like a central hub that all pathways cross." I offered.

"It seems to be the case." Oobleck approached at an incredible speed, he seems to have examined the other paths already "All the stripes from the corridors have noticeable end with a symbol, and the paths forward have a different kind of stripe all together."

"So this might be… the area they called the pits?" Someone asked, a huntsman apparently.

"It's possible." Oobleck said.

"Making progress!" I said with small cheer, progress down here did feel like really good news.

"The huntsman Liam Aidecmor is on guard at the entrance… he seems pretty sure he saw something earlier." The lieutenant said.

"That guy always had a good eye." A huntress said of the side. I personally approached Liam at the entrance of the pathway he was looking at, everyone else was either also close to this first pathway or the adjacent ones.

"So, you see anything Liam?" I asked him.

"The corridors here seem to be particularly long for some reason… but I think I can pot a light at the end."

"That's something… what did you say you saw earlier?"

"I'm not sure what I saw, I just thought I saw something moving."

"Might be a good idea to check with… you know binoculars or anything that gives you a zoom." A huntress said, there were other police officers close to us too, Seth was also here.

"So how long of a dark tunnel you estimate this is Aidecmor… that weird to say." Seth said.

"I'm pretty sure there are weirder surnames out there." Liam said. "Wait a second…" There was soon a short burst of static on the radio that quickly disappeared, Liam was squinting his eyes hard, trying to see… something.

"See anything?" I asked, he raised his fist to tell me to shut it and let him concentrate, he went forward a little and then… we heard and ominous ghastly *Fwaam* with some serious echo, a dark smoke energy shot went by me, I looked behind while everything still felt in slow motion, the shot had hit and gone through two police officers, making massive holes in their chests, they were in line with…. With Liam, Liam was full blown huntsman with aura and everything… I looked back at him…. and all saw was a stump and pieces of meat flying where his head was supposed to be. The blood flew everywhere.

" _Three for one and we are just beginning, it's a good day!_ " A distorted slightly raspy voice said through the radio just so that anyone could hear.

"SNIPER!" Someone yelled and everyone soon dived for cover, I lightning dash taking the alive person right next with me behind a wall.

 **[[ Xcom 2 - Deadeye OST… on a loop. ]]**

" _Do not worry friends, I got spares for every, last, one._ " The voice said

"That's… That's Vaseer!" Glynda screamed.

"Who!?" I screamed back.

"An assassin more or less well known, dangerous sniper has also always evaded capture. What is he doing here…" Glynda explained.

"Waiting for us t seems!" Seth yelled as he poked his head out slightly before going back behind the wall.

"No one take chances, that guy took out Liam in one shot, assume it can kill you just as easily." Glynda Yelled across to everyone.

"We'll try to go this way!" A group of police and huntsmen said as they went for a far end corridor trying to advance there.

"Wait! No!" Oobleck yelled, but it was to late, we hear another shot, and another officer was dead, the shot split him half, another tow died before they reached out again behind cover.

"Shit…" I said to myself.

"All tunnels go towards a central area that much is clear, and he appears to have vision on all paths!" Oobleck yelled, there was quiet and uncertainty for a second, no one knew what to say…

"Anything we can do Doctor?!" Seth asked Oobleck.

"Hmm." In a second Oobleck dashed with his ridiculous speed into the open and then behind a wall further up the tunnel, a shot barely missed him. However he soon went further up, the walls between sections had some passageways between them, Oobleck went in and out those until another shot came, it also missed him.

"Very well, seems like whatever weapon he's using he needs time reload, not much, but enough to be significant here, this not ideal but, I suggest everyone here advances through multiple tunnels together, instead of one at a time." Oobleck said as a couple of paces ahead. Soon he was going between covers again, trying to distract Vaseer. It worked to an extent another shot was heard, and from what we could see Oobleck was still alive.

"Go now, take cover whenever you can, all advance together, do not give the bastard time to think." Glynda commanded, soon everyone rushed up ahead, hoping to whatever was above that we wouldn't get killed in the blink of an eye.

I dashed up ahead with lightning and hoped for the best, I heard the sound of a shot going by, it hit the rock walls however, there was no sound of flesh being torn apart or not even the sound of a scream or a curse that meant we had to move again, there was barely space for everyone, some people were farther ahead while other lagged behind due to lack of cover, the ones capable of supernatural speed went ahead while the other followed, Oobleck did an impressive job at baiting shots, he appeared to have a pattern to his movements but the moment someone could tell what he was doing he switch directions or speeds… has done this before? And how many times?

I moved up again, behind me I spotted Seth reaching fo cover, he also reached in time, but behind there was someone that took too long to reach for cover, he face was blasted in a squall gore.

"Shit…" There was nothing much more I could think of to say, even people dying or seeing people's brains explode… my thoughts were overwhelmed with a need and desire stay alive, make sure that most of would be able to survive this, ideas on how advance, how to trick the sniper, how to maybe protect the other if possible… all thoughts of horror, despair or grief were pushed to the side, just for the purpose of finishing the job at hand, in a way mind knew that we worried about those things now… our chances of survival would be lower.

More people went in, shrugging off the dead of comrades just so that we could keep going…

" _Ah this little game is actually the best I felt on a while, I really should have gotten back to work sooner._ "

… And also so this sadistic piece of shit got what was coming to him, bastard couldn't even hear us through the radio, he was just broadcasting how pleased he felt with himself whenever he landed a good shot, he was playing with us. We move in farther ahead, we managed to move in maybe a fifth of the the hallways so far, casualties still weren't… massive, but they were mounting, I dashed in to next bit cover at the best speed I could muster with my semblance and went ahead and joined the other baiters at the front.

"Stand back!" I yelled, I created a screen of lightning in front of the passage as a shield just so we could advance, however soon a shot came, directed at me, I didn't risk it and got out of the way after putting the shield… the shot went right through it without much resistance, but it was a solid enough distraction so that people could move up.

" _Sorry but that ain't gonna work_ " Was heard through the radio.

"Keep moving everyone, we are making steady advance."

"I'll prefer didn't include chances of my body part being blown off!" Seth said as he dived for cover.

"I think that everyone here would like the same." I said in a yell.

"Yeah… because it's true." He said crouching next to the wall, really not getting close to the edge, I consciously stepped a bit farther from the edge of the cover I was behind too. We continued the advancing, I lightning dash, stopped for a second after after hearing a shot on a separate tunnel, and dashed away immediately as another shot came my direction, it was mostly guessing… but I guessed right, that's what matters. The shot that came for me landed where I had been.

" _Slippery bastards… well you have gotten far enough, time to start the true game of peek a boo._ " As soon as he said that, the walls shifted… the fuck!? The wall I was using as cover was replaced by nothing but air, other walls shifted too, and the way backwards had been blocked off by walls.

" _I see you._ " Was heard from the radio, in a moment I saw a light, and put my gauntlets to form lightning shields in front of me as fast as I could, also putting all my aura into my defenses, the urgency of the situation made them particularly easy to create, the shot hit the shields, and I was sent flying against a wall, I left a massive crack on it and my aura flared as I hit, the shot had a massive punch, I felt it send energy through my entire body… but I was alive and able to keep going. I recovered… i had recover, on instinct I went dashe to another nearby wall, soon another shot came and hit where I had been.

" _Hmm… good reflexes._ "

"Kid! Are you okay?!" Someone next to me asked me.

"I'm fine, I'm alive! I can keep going…" I said, soon Oobleck was next to me and looked me over, after a bit he nodded and guessed I was indeed okay.

"Attention everyone, Mr. Urra was able to block one of the shots with his aura and semblance, if you have confidence you could block a shot of that magnitude, well consider it, as of now keep moving, do not stay in one cover for too long." Oobleck said through the radio. Soon we were dodging bullets again, some people tried to block the shots, only three that tried survived, and some didn't fare as well as me, they tried to use weapons instead of a semblance, and as such the shield were destroyed, but they were alive and we were able to keep moving forward… until the walls shifted again, this time it had more deaths as a result… however before more could happen Glynda created a massive purple barrier, a shot came and barrier vibrated and shifted, but it stood, it wasn't a small effort on her part, but she was able to withstand the shots, we took the chance to really advance before she was forced to dissolve the barrier.

" _Oh joy, Glynda, long time no see… well maybe this time we can end this, tell you what, if I kill you today, I'll name my new rifle after you… you'll have a place of honor forever in my heart._ "

"Not creepy at all." I muttered to myself and maybe whoever was next to me, granted at least this guy wanted to kill her, things could far worse and creappier if I really thought about it.

"We can't keep advancing like this! The moment the walls shift things he gets free shots, and we are barely on the middle of the hallways!" A huntsman yelled, I couldn't help but agree, he had us.

"He planned this, this was trap! No wonder no Chorus members appeared so far." I yelled back

"And now we are trapped here!" Seth yelled too. "We need an alternative."

" _I think I found something like a solution._ " The voice of a female officer came through the radio, at the same time another shot came, this time we heard the crunch of meat… we lost someone else.

" _Oobleck! Come here to the far left tunnel anyone else capable too._ " Glynda said also through the radio, Oobleck went there in a haste, I followed him and stayed close. When we reached the far left tunnel, the office and Glynda were in cover next to a hatch, it was a small tunnel, this tunnel hallway also doubled as a sewer of some sorts, and this hatch was connected, it didn't' reach the water however, maybe the water was far up enough to reach the hatch.

"This hatch seems to lead to wherever they are, there's a light at end of it similar to the one at the end of the tunnel." As she was explaining we heard another shot, thankfully this one wasn't followed by sound of gore and blood.

"Ah, so an alternative route, good." said Oobleck.

"We need to go through here, we can't stay here." A huntsman said.

"What we need to do is send people who can go and take out Vaseer, with the shifting of the walls it's clear he has a way to control that or someone that can. We need to deal with him right away." Oobleck said. We all looked between each other.

"Who should go?" The officer asked.

"Mr Urra And Miss Goodwitch seem like the most appropriate people." Oobleck said on a heartbeat.

"What?" Glynda asked him.

"Shouldn't you be going? You have dodged more shots than me." I said back to him.

"That has been with the help of cover and a _lot_ of luck, you two are the only ones that I know that have abilities capable of protecting against those shots." Glynda and I looked at each other for a bit… semblance fighters… right.

"The rest of us will be here while you deal with him, do whatever you have to do." Oobleck said before he rushed back to his job of baiting bullets.

"Come on Urra, I'll go first, but stay close to me." Glynda said to me.

"Got it."

* * *

We slid down the hatch and soon landed on a platform that looked like a maintenance shaft, the slide was on the direction of the pits, so now we where…

* **Fwaam***

… Right where Vaseer was, he had a gas mask and hood alongside a black leather duster. We kept low, he didn't need to know we were here yet, he was up on a tower, the whole room had a central tower, and the top of it that was in line with the hallways we were in before, there was a bridge that connected the hallways and the tower, the tower was also connected to other set hallways and tunnels, were more than a few meters below him thank to the slide, down below the tower extended into a pit that glowed a light blue, at the bottom you could see giant crystals of dust emerging from a pond.

"Whoa…" was my response to that view, it was a pretty far drop too… maybe this was what the Chorus called "The Pits", seemed like a solid description, I couldn't ponder for long however, we still had to take care of him quick, lives depended on it. We also saw someone else, a member of the Chorus with an intricate mask, he waved his hand and concentrated, seemed like he had been doing that for a while, later he released his hands on a final motion, we could feel the shifting of the earth and of the walls… so there was someone else helping him shift the walls, someone with and earth or rock semblance apparently.

"We need to go and get up where they are." Glynda said to me.

"I can climb the tower itself, who should prioritize?"

"Definitely Vaseer, we need to make sure he stops shooting the group, you can take him."

"Excuse me what?"

"He might be deadly and capable, but his far too much of a dedicated sniper, close range is not his strong point, I can take care of the other, we don't know what he can do, but I'm confident you can take Vaseer if we get the drop on him."

"Okay." I said, soon we I was climbing the tower as fast as I could and as stealthily as I could, grabbing holes and loose edges, as I climbed up I could see Glynda to the side, she was using her semblance and platforms along the edge of the chamber to get behind them, I kept climbing and and soon I was less than a meter close to Vaseer.

"Shift the walls again. I think I can maybe get a five in one with this one." He said to the Chorus member, the Chorus member did, and soon the earth shook, but as Vaseer aimed his shot, a purple barrier appeared in front of the gateway he was going to shoot through, blocking the shot.

"What the-" Vaseer said surprised until he looked behind him, Glynda was there on another platform. "Glynda… how did you, well doesn't matter I promised I will kill you so…" I took the chance to bring myself up with blades at the ready, but Vaseer must have felt me in some way, because soon I was swatted back down with the sniper rifle he was using… it looked more like some sort of railgun now that I saw hit me. I grabbed whatever ledge of the tower I could to keep myself from falling into the pit, and now the Chorus member was also against me, making pillars appear in front of me trying to hit me of the tower, I was just fast enough to avoid the pillars, meanwhile I heard Vaseer fire, most likely at Glynda… shit

One of the pillars forced me to jump down slightly, as I jumped down I heard the voice the Chorus member, he was screaming on a panicked tone, I then saw his form being thrown as a rag doll through the chamber, I for moment felt safe… safe, no you are not safe against this kind of people… my mind acted and paranoia set in, I used my hand to create a shield in front of me behind the pillar, the other hand was still holding on to the ledge, my assumptions were right, Vaseer shot at me through the pillar and I was barely able to hold myself on the ledge, the pillar of stone shattered too, I had to move, I was now evading shots from this bastard by jumping side to side on ledges, I readjusted myself and started running up the wall to get back to the top, he saw me and I was forced to lightning dash to the side to avoid a shot, I was behind a pillar again.

"Hmmm…"

Vaseer then stopped shooting, but now started aiming at Glynda, she defended herself with her barrier, but soon a combined from the Chorus member unbalanced her, and the second shot made her go against the wall much like it had done me before, the son of a bitch.

I ran upwards again, but he was waiting, shit, I dove out of the way of the next shot and behind another of the other pillars again, he was ready… he was using Glynda as a way to bait me, I needed to think I need to reach up there and take him, that gun was way too powerful, they could definitely double team her with that power… Well think, idiot think… I got it.

Vaseer decided to take a shot me again through the pillar, I was once again ready with a shield, I felt the energy of the shot going through me, the sheer impact… but I was able to remain there.

"What in the name of…" Vaseer muttered as soon as he saw my plan, while behind the pillar I created small ball of lightning that were floating on the air, many of them, and as he saw them I released them, all of them went in different directions leaving a trail of blue sparks, but all of them had a common final destination, him… like guided missiles they avoided any obstacle and went straight for him.

"Uuuagh." Vaseer grunted as the explosions of lightning hit him head on.

It was actually hard to concentrate so many applications of a semblance separately, but I've managed, and now I was up the tower with Vaser, as soon as I reached Glynda put a purple dome on the top of the tower, it was just me and Vaseer now, close range, one to one, I gave a nod to Glynda and unsheathed my blades.

"Well would you look at that… the little boy got up here with me, but did you seriously thought it was still going to be easy." He said as he drawed quickly the rail gun and shot at me, I managed to avoid it, and went for him with my blades, I slashed at him while he blocked the blades with the sniper, I kept pressuring him giving him some kicks, I hit his calf and managed to disorient him to to get a chance to punch him a couple times, before sidekicking him in the stomach, I then kick him in the chin and made him bounce of the top of the dome back down, with a spin I jumped up and hit him with both my blades and sent him towards the wall of the dome.

"Eeegh… you little shithead." He grunted, even though I managed to beat him hard, he never let go of the railgun, he fired again quickly, he did three consecutive shots, I dodge the first two, but I was forced to block the last one, the impact sent me against the wall of the dome as well, I lightning dashed again to cross the distance and went in with diagonal slash, he rolled out the way and I followed him, he avoided my kicks and blades, while blocking also some, however Glynda was right, he wasn't a close range specialist, I soon overwhelmed and outmaneuvered him and got in some slices and kicks, I spin hook kick him away from me, and intended to get close again, I jumped after him, but while in the air he shot again and I was force to block, I was sent to the wall again.

That fucking weapon was pissing me off, it did way too much damage, and he must have a semblance that helped in some way to augment that, even while blocking the shots I took serious damage, my aura must have been on the red by now, he didn't look much better, but any second now he could land a shot and kill me… the gun didn't look too good however, If could damage it severely again… maybe.

"Hnngh… Come on then, let's see if you can do better than that!" I yelled.

"Tch" was his answer, he shot again and this time I bared all my strength and semblance into my electric shields, it made go to the well, I concentrated however and landed on the wall with my feet, ignored the pain of the force against my body and gather all my strength and went against him like a torpedo,, shield at the ready. He shot again, but I was already on him, but my shields were covering the barrel of the railgun, the way I was angled only the shields were in the line of fire, I was slightly more up, thank goodness me because went the bullet came, there was an small explosion, I again bounced and went straight into the wall, the impact shattered my aura, I was now at zero.

I stepped up and looked at Vaseer, he looked worst than me, the gun looked even worse, "Huh… why can't you just die kid." he said as he stepped up quickly and tried to fire… for a second I thought that was it for me, I was barely standing when he did so… but the gun didn't fire.

"No no no no!" He said in a panic, soon he flipped something and the gun was charging again ready to fire, seems he knew how to fix the thing if anything happened, but I didn't gave him the chance, I went in with only the strength of my semblance and slashed at his right arm, I cut his arm off, making him drop the gun, he looked at me surprised, soon anger flashed in his eyes and tried to punch me with his other arm, I dropped and did a back trip kick that swept his feet, once he was on the air I didn't waste time and jumped and sliced downwards, I cleaved him horizontally in half…

Once he dropped I stood there, his torso was in one place and his legs where in another, the smell of burnt flesh was also present. He was till barely alive too.

"I… didn't see it… coming." And then he dropped… his eyes stopped moving, and he stopped breathing, Vaseer was dead now. In a minute the dome disappeared and Glynda appeared with an unconscious manhandled Chorus member.

"You… you did it." She said to me.

"Yeah… he nearly killed me too." She looked at the body for a second

"I always wanted to make sure he was brought down… not the first time I fought him, but it was the first he had a weapon like that, he always bragged that one day he'll make history too… with this rifle he could have…"

"How did he get that thing?"

"I don't know… but I can take I guess." she said looking away… thanks to Salem perhaps, we were after a seer, and the fact he appeared with an ambush and that railgun didn't seem like coincidence. Soon Glynda grabbed my shoulder.

"Are you okay Robert?" she asked me.

"... I don't know… but I think I will be." I said as I favored my injuries.

"Good, trust me, you did well today, better that I thought in fact."

"Heh… thanks… I'm guessing these are the pits then?"

"Maybe… even if not, it is still a major progress." Soon the group appeared from the hallways, and where moving into the chamber. I moved in and grabbed the railgun, despite being damaged… it was still intact… it definitely looked atlassian in design.

"We'll make sure to confiscate and analyze that thing, so bring it with you." Glynda said to me.

"Hmm… right."

* * *

Me, Glynda and Oobleck returned to Beacon fairly late, we all were on the elevator to the teachers lounge, from there each one of us will go their respective rooms, I also had already left the railgun in lock up too, the moment the elevator doors opened Penny was waiting for us… or me.

"Oh, hello professors." She said smiling and with a wave.

"Uh hi Penny." I said, soon enough Oobleck and Glynda walked past her just so she and me could talk.

"So… I heard that you went into a dangerous area, and then you came back!" she said excited.

"Yeah… well, I'm not gonna lie, it was bad… and ugly." I said as I rubbed the spot I got shot through unconsciously.

"Oh… but you all made progress right? And you also came back alive… now I don't know what happened but, I'm sure you all did the best you could, and kept each other safe." She wasn't wrong… it could have been way worse… more people could have died, and I couldn't have returned.

"Well… you are right, I might have to go back but, I think that if we keep working together, me and the professors can do this."

"I know you can." She said with a bright smile.

"Thank you Penny… for… believing in me." I said with a smile, she responded with bone crushing hug that my back will definitely regret later. But truth be told, this helped me more then it hurt, emotionally at least.

I felt a lot better already. I couldn't help but smile. Yeah… I can handle this… I think… well someone has too, and I'm not gonna quit now… I have to do this, for everyone.

* * *

 **A/N: Phew, that was intense, I feel really good about how this went… and I don't mean because I was the main protagonist of this, but because it gave me chance to experiment with some things, such the feeling of being against a sniper, I don't know if did it well, but I feel satisfied. -CrowSkull.**

 **I am sure you all have noticed a distinct lack of Team HAMR, do not worry because they will come back next chapter, we just needed to get things moving along for Robert and his own little arc he's got going on. So now with that being said, thank you for reading! -Genatools.**

 **Please review and tell us what you think! We look forward to every review that any of you may have for us, and of course, we'll see you all in the next one.**

 **Disclaimer- We do not own RWBY in any way, shape, or form**


	22. Rwby: Team HAMR chapter 22

**Here we are with another chapter! Some things will happen, things will happen indeed… many things. I hope you all enjoy! The dance starts really soon!**

 **Now let us thank the reviewers from last chapter!**

 **Zeldawolffang: Yeah, me too, when I first saw her die I was deeply saddened. We'll see what happens in the future of this story. -Genatools**

 **Astra: Ah, here you are my friend, I apologize for updating four times a week almost three weeks in a row. I just had more free time on my hands then I usually did before and I took full advantage of it. And yeah, and HAMRless chapter needed to happen in order to get Rob his stuff done, and he was the one who wrote the whole chapter, I did my best to edit it and chipped in with the lines every once in a while. Since last chapter was all about his character, I'll leave the rest to CrowSkull! -Genatools**

 **I'll just say that yes I love Xcom, but this is about as much as a reference to that as it gets, I plan for other things in the future with more inspirations, also thanks for your kind words, and I'm gonna make sure to fix the problem with Maria… Miria… whatever her name is, but I'll tell you, writing her name is kind of confusing, You get really mixed up sometimes. -CrowSkull.**

 **Thank you both for the reviews!**

 **Now let's get right back into the story!**

* * *

RWBY: Team HAMR

Chapter 22- The Real Struggles Begin Here

 **Roberts POV**

Another day another mission, back at the entrance of the tunnels on the construction site early on the morning with another battalion ready to go, if this place was full of activity before now it was just it's own little military village, equipment everywhere, communications, weapons and an infirmary. It has been a couple of days since the event with Vaseer and incursions into the tunnels have been plenty, as in one for each day. Everytime we get farther in into the depths of the tunnels, the hub room where Vaseer shot at us has been repurposed as a checkpoint as our entering into the pits, officially thanks to more imprisoned Chorus members we also have a better description for the pits now, "The Pits" are combination of hubs that once were natural caves full of water and dust crystals, with time the massive pit holes became part of the tunnels sewer system, there's apparently an even bigger central hub for the pits, one where the hole might as well be the size of Beacon, the Chorus members willing to talk said that's where they are housed… however we didn't get much more, not even directions, as time passed to the people we capture become more… broken, it's like they become traumatized or jaded over something, something that must be affecting them, my bets are on the Seer, we are getting close, but they possibly know it as well.

"Think we'll be able to end early this time?" Seth asked me as we get ready, to go to the checkpoint.

"Honestly I hope, I have a dance to attend to." I said back to him, honestly that was also problem, the dance is tonight, add another one to the problem's list… since when does my problem list is full of deadly or Vale falling scenarios?

"Have a date for that cowboy." Seth asked me

"Not really, way too busy… besides it's the students that have that idea of going with dates, and mostly amongst them, I haven't asked someone and no has asked me." I said to him with sigh

"You love life could use a little color cowboy."

"Oh, you have no idea how pathetic it really has been, I'm a complete coward, I'll be the first to admit."

"Hmm… and here we are throwing ourselves to our possible deaths, you sure are a coward."

"On this… not really. In love definitely." I said with a laugh.

"Attention everyone we are moving, rest of the battalion is already at the checkpoint, is only us that are missing, double time everyone!" Said an officer through a megaphone.

"Seems like that's our cue." I said to Seth.

"Another day bullshit then." He replied.

"Yep."

* * *

We arrived at the checkpoint in about an hour, it infinitely quicker when you knew where to go, the light bulbs also helped, they have been given a blue color to indicate the path to the checkpoint, the checkpoint itself was full of people, some around the platforms on the side, others on the tower that went down into fountain of water below us… interesting design.

"Seems you guys have arrived." Said a smooth voice towards me and Seth, it was-

"Yes, we are here Miria." Seth said, her eye twitched slightly

"It's Miara." She said in a more grave tone. "Not Miria, not Maria, not Mara, not Mirai, not Mariara, it's Miara." She said, ever since the event with Vaseer and when people started to delve deeper into the pits various groups started making their own little squads, me and Seth had stuck together, Miara- who's name I'll admit got confused on the past- decided to join us, so did the two officers with shields and spear rifles, another bunch officers also decided to stick close to us and an older Huntress then came and took the role of leader, which was okay for everyone since she did it quite well. Together we were Venom Fang squad, our job was to be a self sufficient flanking unit.

"Miara… Miara, okay I can get it this time… maybe." Seth with a hand up his chin.

"Just think of Miasma and you won't get confused." Said one of the officers with the shields.

"Oh ha ha Mackie." Miri- Maria- dammit it, Miara said.

"All of you give it a rest." Said our leader, Elena Sargheid, renown Huntress, capable, wielder of a sword spear that double as an energy weapon, some kind of lance energy rifle, short dark hair, with a black and red leather battle coat and other leather accessories in the form of armor.

"Are we moving soon?" I asked Elena

"Yes we are, we are taking the most eastern tunnel this time, the other squads are going to come from the other tunnels." said Elena.

"The other tunnels? We are raiding another checkpoint of the Chorus?" Verdant said, Verdant was the other officer with a spear and shield.

"We are getting closer, we need to make a final push and soon we'll reach the main hub." Elena said.

"We better start moving, others already are." Miara said.

"I'll join you soon, I have to make a call." I said.

"Don't tardy cowboy." Seth said to me. I went to a nearby communication station that we had set up down here, it allowed Scrolls to make calls and send messages from down here within a certain range, like wifi spot basically, I called Goodwitch.

"Hello apprentice." she said.

"Hi master."

"Is everything going well down there?"

"For the moment, we are going to make another raid, with luck soon we'll have another checkpoint, it would be easier if you were here."

"I wish I was, but matters of the school dance have somehow taken priority."

"A dance more important than the security of Vale, heh." I chuckled.

"It's ridiculous, but we also need to maintain some normality according to Ozpin, not everyone knows about this problem after all."

"True… well with also some luck I'll be able to make it to the dance."

"Let's hope so… be careful down there Robert, please."

"... I will. I'll talk to you later."

"Good luck." She said and call was ended, now we just had to take care of the Chorus.

* * *

"I really hate the most flooded areas of this place." an officer said as we walked to the point we were assigned.

"Suck it up Jack." said Mackie.

"I will when get out here."

"Cut it out back there." said Elena in commanding tone. "We are a couple step from our destination, remain quiet." she said, we soon where on what seemed to the small entrance to the hub got in a sight of another pit like our own checkpoint, only this one didn't have a tower, it was more of an actual pit, there were some structures and crates on the middle of the pond, it was like an impromptu base, we could see some Chorus members walking around. Venom Fang was next to one of the structures from our little passageway, which was little more high up than the other entrances, we could jump to the small structure and get close to them the moment we need to attack.

" _Alright this is Mingo squad, we are the entrance ready to push in when we need to."_ Said a voice through our radios.

" _Copy that Mingo, listen everybody, we are gonna wait for Sicar and Rhoda to make distractions, Venom Fang and Stinger will come in later taking down whatever major threats there are, then come in the rest of the squads. Now wait for Sicar or Rhoda's signal."_ The radio then went silent.

"You listened, get ready to jump." Elena said.

"I don't like this, there are patrols but… they seem, awkward." said Miara.

"Maybe they are finally running thin on members." Seth said.

"Either way I wouldn't get ahead of myself, be ready for Grimm or ambushers." I said. Soon we could see some members of Sicar running about, they were sneaking in hopes to get the chance to plan some explosives, burn something, anything that might create a distraction, but then we heard a microphone or some sort of P.A. system.

" _You have all walked in here in order to protect this city, to save from lunatics as you might think, but nothing could be farther from the truth."_ Said a grave voice. " _The people that send you don't value your efforts here, not the sacrifices, the means, they don't care for your efforts. They are just a corrupt system where the good get used while the evil pilfer away and gain power and stability in exchange for your lives. I should know, I was a Huntsman once, I did whatever they needed of me. I fought for them so that they could protect what I valued, and they didn't, they were left to rot, just as you are being sent here to rot as well. The kingdoms don't really value their citizens, they don't care for their sacrifices, not even of their troops, they left us to rot and burn away!"_

" _No more, we are the Chorus of the new Dawn! We are ready to die as to stop this corrupt powers from holding the leash of humanity, we'll crumble their walls so we can be free again, we'll burn their cities so that we can start anew... and you dare try to stop us? You are mindless pawns in their games, shackled beings, I am the leader of the Chorus and if you really wish to intervene, then YOU WILL ALL DROWN DOWN HERE!"_ The voice screamed, soon we could hear the sound water, it was like a river, like a massive amount of water coming from different ways. Soon we saw a massive torrent of water coming from one of the empty tunnels, fast… they were really going to try and flood us, drown us with them if necessary.

Sicar scrambled and went for whatever they could do in the moment, they exploded some crates and some Chorus members with them.

" _Every one begin the assault quick, and find an exit, there appears to be water coming behind us!"_

"How the fuck did they manage that?!" I asked.

"Doesn't matter, Venom Fang, GO!" Elena commanded.

All of us went in, me, Seth Miara stuck together, covering each other as we jumped into the structure and started taking out whatever Chorus member we could find, I went in with my blades, striking and cutting at about five members of the Chorus on a single flurry of slashes, immobilizing them Miara went for some other three with her Sais, Seth back us up shooting lethal bullets and killing several of their gunners.

I lightning palmed a member from the structure in the water, and roundhoused kicked another before also sending him to the water with a flying kick, another member came behind me, I spun around stabbed him through the chest with both my blades, as he was dying I tossed him over the edge of the structure, Miara hersle pinned someone to the wall with the shots of her crossbow and Seth fired at a crate of explosive material some cultists were taking cover behind with a fireblast round, people never learned to not take cover behind something explosive it seems, the crate exploded and some of them survived, others… I don't think there was much left of their faces.

"Robert! Scorch them! Verdant to me cover Simmer." Elena shouted, when she said schorch them she pointed at group of Chorus members that were shooting from pond that were giving trouble to Mingo. I shot maintained a stream of lightning from my hand at the water they were in and soon all of them were convulsing due to electricity, some of them might have died, we didn't have time to care, there where other issues at hand.

Soon the Grimm started to appear, ewolves, Ursai, a Taijitu and Dischargers, I jumped down into the water that by now was reaching my calfs, I rushed an alpha beowolf stabbing once on the stomach, ducked a claw swipe and stabbed it on the head before getting it away with a flying roundhouse kick, more Beowolves came and soon I killed two in a flurry of slashes and kicks, another came and kicked it knee so it bent the other way, when it fell I cracked it's head and skull with a single curb stomp, I lightning missile another pack that also had an Ursa, the Ursa survived as it charged towards me and I charged back, I lightning dashed and with my blades cut it's head off.

Seth and Miara together with the rest of Venom Fang joined me soon, Miria shot and pinned beowolves, Seth Shot an Ursa Major down with multiple shots, Elena used her sword spear on big arcs, Verdan and Mackie did their tag team and the officers shot at whatever came close, I grabbed a Discharger that tried to bite my head and zap me, with a twist of the wrist I snapped its neck.

" _You will drown and die here for your interference."_ the leader screamed through the microphone, we spotted him on balcony covered by shields and other defences, he seemed to want to see us die personally… even if from a distance, some tried to shoot him, but the shields were too good of a cover.

" _You will know the feeling of being left behind-"_

"Oh for fuck sake just shut up!" I yelled as I shot a lightning missile at him, the shields somehow reflected the missile and it bounce to a bunch of explosive crates next to a pillar… and pillar crumbled and opened up a hole where the water started to sip into, all of the pit shaked, with that more holes appeared on the walls, holes that were absorbing the water that by now was reaching our knees, but that started lowering.

"Uh…" is all that I could come up with.

"That worked in way! Everyone blast the pillars! We need to empty this place!" A huntsman in Rhoda squad yelled.

"It's… that even a good idea?" Someone asked.

"It's that or die here on a massive pool full of Dischargers, We don't have time to think of somethings better, blow the pillars down, maybe find another tunnel or something!" Another huntsman said, we all started to bring the crates to the pillars while covering each other, some officers and even Huntsman or Huntresses got overwhelmed by Grimm though… I fired another lightning bolt that shocked many Grimm on a small area thanks to the water as Mackie and Verdant placed the crates on one of the pillars.

"Are you guys done?" Miara asked while she was firing her crossbows, she runned out of ammo soon however and a Grimm came close, I was about to go and help her when her hair color changed to a purplish pink and the highlight became blue, her nails became neo blue and purple claws that she use ripp the Grimm's throat apart… was that her semblance? What was that?

"We are done." Mackie said as we backed away, soon each squad exploded different pillars, and the pit shaked as rocks started to fall from above, it was beginning to collapse, multiple holes appeared on the walls as the water began to pour in different directions, some of the hole lead to other tunnels, other to more pits.

"What happened to the bastard up there, he went quiet." Someone asked.

"The guy ran just as soon as cowboy here, tried to fry him! The massive pussy! No offense to any cat faunas." Seth said

"No time for that, RUN!" Elena said, the pit was collapsing fast, we ran as rock fell from above and the water poured fast in different directions, some people died thank to the water that carried them, other to falling rocks, others to the Grimm, in the end Venom Fang remained without casualties as everyone went to a hole that lead into an unknown passageway, members of Rhoda went with us and we had a couple coming from other squads… however everyone scattered, besides us we didn't knew what happened to the other squads as we kept running.

We finally run far enough into the tunnel until the walls collapsed, piles of wet rocks still leaking water blocked the path we came from, we were all alive… the present at least.

"We did it… we survived, Yeehaw!" Cheered one officer, it did feel good to survive, there where some laughs at that, but soon they went quiet, everyone went quiet, Elena brought out her Radio, when she tried to use just some barely audible audio came.

" _We have… *static* … separated… *static*... tunnels collapsed… *static*... blocked off without access… *static*... Trapped down here…"_ And then the signal died… everyone started to realize what this meant, we were now trapped in the tunnels, no backup, no communication, no resources… we were trapped… shit.

* * *

 **Team HAMR's dorm**

"I still don't know why you guys don't trust me to get my own suit." Hector said honestly as he sat down on his couch with a blindfold over his head.

"Stop being a little bitch and deal with it." Ashley said as she rummaged through the options she chose for her totally-not-date-to-the-dance. Since Hector wears mostly red and black, and she wore mostly white and blue, they have a little ying-yang thing going on there. Something happily pointed out by both Yang and Reggie who made a simultaneous pun. Ashley dragged Hector away with Nora for help and Mike as an assistant in order to see what suit goes best with him, Reggie was too busy laughing with Yang to care about them all leaving.

Nora in this case, was sitting in the far corner of the room with a silly grin on her face, overall happy with the sight of her doggy friend and other _other_ red friend. "The idea for a blindfold was mine by the way." The valkyrie couldn't help but say.

"I figured that out already." Ashley's partner said with a nod of his head. "If it was thought up by Ash I would have been a little concerned for my innocence."

Nora snickered, while Ashley threw her pillow at him. "Shut up and sit there, also be quiet."

"Wow, that almost sounded like it made sense." Hector snickered. "How did the two of you end up as friends anyway? Kinda came out of nowhere if you ask me."

"We broke someone together!" Nora immediately shouted triumphantly. Mike who was sitting quietly on his own bed coughed up his drink at the sound of that.

"Please tell me Reggie wasn't a part of that." Mike pleaded with a concerned look in his eyes. He and Nora had very similar personalities, so he wouldn't doubt the two of them getting involved in some shenanigans together when no one was keeping an eye on them.

"Psh, no not this time sadly." Nora said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

"Oh thank- wait what do you mean not this time?" Mike asked, but it was too late for Nora has already popped up beside Ashleys side and linked arms with her.

"Some meanie commented something nasty about her faunus heritage, so we made sure he remembers to hold his tongue around faunus from now on." Nora cheered as Ashley _chuckled_ along with her, that was most concerning. Nora was slowly stealing their friends away.

"Oh gosh." Hector pinched the bridge of his nose. "Please tell me that he still has his legs."

"Eh, he's alive." Ashley shrugged and grinned at the leader, even though she knew that he had a blindfold on at the time.

"That is honestly all I wanted from you after hearing how you two made goody-goody with each other." Hector sagged in relief on his couch. "What are you doing here anyway Nora? Don't you have to get ready for the dance yourself?"

"I already changed!" The ginger cheered as she twirled on her toes and plopped down to take a seat next to him.

"What? When?" Hector asked as he felt the couch shift under her weight.

"After we put the blindfold on you dumby." Nora answered with a light punch in his shoulder.

Hector's eyes widened underneath his blindfold, and he closed them once he remembered that he had a cloth over them that made them hurt. "You mean you were half-naked just now?"

"Yuh huh."

"And you didn't care that there was two guys not Ren that could have seen you."

"Psh, you had a blindfold on and Mike likes dick!" Nora pointed out.

"She's not wrong you know." Mike said with a laugh as he flipped a page in his book.

"Why do you sound surprised? Did you want a peeky peek at me?" Nora teased as she flicked his nose.

"No, not even I would be brave enough to risk getting caught peeping on you." Hector wisely went along with the joke, though a lot of the times when Nora talks he really doesn't know if she is being serious or not.

"Ha! You got a keeper here Ashy poo." Nora said as she placed her hands atop of the faunus' shoulders and leaned pressed her face next to hers.

"Please don't say that, we aren't going to the dance like that." Ashley said with mild embarrassment.

"Uh huh, you're as bad at lying as Pyr is y'know." Nora teased with a wink.

"What's going on right now?" Hector asked, resisting the urge to take off the blindfold and see for himself.

"Nothing! Sit there and don't do anything!" Ashley ordered as she threw one of the shirts that she didn't like at him.

"When are you going to be done with that anyway? Doesn't the dance start in like, an hour?" Hector asked after laughing a bit.

"Ugh… Mike, how is this one?" Ashley asked as she presented him with a perfectly fitted black and red tux. Black being on the coat and pants, bow tie and shirt. Then red on the vest, and the whole thing made out of flexible material just in case the person wearing it gets bigger. But overall it is something that Ruby would be proud of, mostly because of the black and red color pallet.

Mike looked up at the suit, made a humming sound and then stood up and walked over to get a better look. After leaning in and opening the coat to see on the inside, he smiled approvingly and gave his teammate a thumbs up.

"I like it, it fits him well." Mike said with a smile.

Since her totally-not-date-and-only-a-friend was blindfolded, and was being distracted by Nora, she could her sigh of relief be seen and heard. "Awesome, alright time for phase two. C'mon Nora! Time for me to get dressed!" She said as she picked up her still bagged white and blue dress.

"Coming Ashy!" Nora said as she followed her friend, but suddenly remembered something that she was supposed to do. "Pick up Ashy at my room 'kay?" She said to Hector as she peeked her head back in.

"Yeah no problem." He said as he finally was given permission to take off the blindfold and peeked at her with one eye. "See ya." He waved to her with two fingers, to which she grinned at widely before shutting the door behind her as Ashley called for her to hurry up.

As soon as the door clicked closed and automatically locked, Mike spoke up. "It's good to see someone such as Ashley find friends on her own."

Hector couldn't agree more. "Yeah, it is. So is this the thing that I am supposed to wear?" He asked as he stood up and ran his hands over the actually really good looking black and red suit and ignored the other uglier ones that were piled up on the other side of his partners bed.

"Yeah, that is it. It surprises me that your partner has a decent touch in fashion. She was even considering asking for Coco-"

"No, the last time I hung out with her I thought I wasn't ever going to get out of that place."

"What? Oh, you mean Daisy and that other person?" Mike asked as he remembered the story he was told the other day.

"Don't say that name too loud!" His leader was quick to exclaim after taking off his Team HAMR shirt, leaving him in just his white tank top that is somehow still in one piece and his underwear. "I don't want to run the risk of them being omniscient and I get in trouble from talking about them behind their backs."

"For a guy who seems to have a lot of confidence within him your sure are a pussy sometimes." Mike teased with a chuckle as his leader slipped one leg through the pants of his dance suit.

"Hey! I am your leader, and therefore I ban you from using that word." Hector declares, attempting to use his leadership status to his advantage.

"Hmph, whatever." Mike scoffed as he made sure that his own tie was set up nicely, and that his long pale blonde hair is put up correctly in it's man bun, he even got newer better looking glasses for this occasion, with a nice dark green touch to go with the color of his aura and suit. "How do I look?" He asked his fellow teammate.

Hector eyed his teammate up and down really quick, and gives him an approving nod. "I like it, the man bun is a nice touch." He complimented, to which his teammate was both thankful and appreciative that his leader didn't make some silly joke about a gay guy asking him to basically check him out really quick.

…

Michael has spent too much time around his leader to think that about him so quickly.

"Thank you, and so far you are looking good as well, I didn't think a suit would look well on you until now." Mike complemented and insulted at the same time.

"Gee thanks." Hector rolled his eyes. "I don't wear suits like this often, and I feel weird looking so… _professional_ , even if it's just a tux to most people."

"I understand in a way, I don't think I've ever seen you without a casual look on. Besides that one time I saw you naked of course." Mike remarked with a chuckle.

"Hey! I thought we promised never to speak of that again!" Hector exclaimed with a mild blush on his face.

"I apologize for breaking such a promise then." The blonde of the team bowed in such a sassy and unbelieving way to show that he was sorry, making his leader roll his eyes and huff.

"In all seriousness though, Hector."

"Hm?" Hector hummed as he finished buttoning up his vest, and decides to leave the coat open because he just likes it better that way.

"You and Ashley, are the feelings she has for you mutual?" Mike asked in a gentle way. He just needs confirmation on this, he and Reggie can tease the two of them all they want, but when it comes down to a dance like this where no doubt a lot of couples will be made, he feels the need as a friend and comrade of both Ashley and Hector that he should assist of required, neither of them has made a move on the other until the latter asked the former to the dance. Which was still very unexpected to him, when Ashley came up to him with a wide grin on his face, he knew something good must have happened. He has been her go-to when it comes to relationship and guy stuff.

"Well… honestly, I don't know." Hector admitted honestly. "Yeah, I no doubt feel something for her, and I still don't know for sure if she feels something for me. But I don't know if it is romantic… trust me, I wouldn't have asked her if I thought something couldn't have been made out of the two of us. I like Ash I really do, and I like to think that she likes me back." Leaving out the part where he doesn't even know if he can stay at the dance for the whole thing. "If it works out between us, great, if it doesn't… well shit I don't really know what to do from there. We live in the same room so if something bad went on between us then it's going to be awkward as fuck for probably the rest of the year."

Mike was honestly very surprised with how genuine and honest his leader was about this matter. Hector Rivers and Ashley Cain were attracted to each other, that much was without a doubt, one prime example was how Ashley went from bitchy and unsociable to not as bitchy and surprisingly very sociable, and at times even _affectionate_ with her partner, then that is a really big sign that there is something going on with her.

On Hector's side, if you looked passed the teasing and the display of confidence he always displayed, he was actually a pretty sensitive guy, and he cares about what others think and do. He always has a smile on his face, most of the time at least, and knows when it is time to be serious. He also knows the limits of the person he is talking to, and Mike has noticed the way he has been seeing Hector's eyes and demeanor change when his partner was with him. They are not alone a lot of the time, but from talking to her about it they did hang out with just each other from time to time, and another thing that surprised him was the entirely different view of his leader.

There was one time where Hector and Ashley went out together on their own, it was one of their few days off and they chose to spend it together in Vale. From what Ashley has told him, his leader was almost like a completely different person. The way he acted, talked, and even the way he moved was different, and for once Ashley didn't ever feel the urge to slam his face into the ground. They talked and talked, laughed together, smiled together. In shorter terms, his leader went from eccentric, and a pretty bubbly person, to a charismatic, and almost cunning person, with of course some properties from this other personality that others know him well for. Ashley told him that there was a moment where another human sent a disgusted look in her direction because of her status as a faunus, and his leader glared back at him with such ferocity that the human looked away and sped up his pace.

Mike smiled as he put the pieces together, his leader was definitely feeling a pretty _big_ something for his faunus teammate.

"I understand, feelings a complicated, especially ones of romance." Mike said as he places a hand on Hector's shoulders. "I for one, am rooting for the route of the two of you getting together." He leaned in to whisper in his ear. "Me and Reggie are going to sleep in another room tonight, so we will be leaving you two here alone at the end of the night, use this information as you wish."

Mike then patted his shoulder, and walked out their room without even looking back, leaving his leader for the most part flabbergasted and blushing in his room at the thought of the pure intended implication of what his teammate said to him.

Then he got sad, because when he found himself alone in the dormroom, he went to pick up his Dragon Fist's that he has hidden behind his couch and roll up his sleeves so that he can put them on. He doesn't know what might go down, and while he would much rather have a happy night with his partner, some things are just more important.

"Shit…"

He has a decision to make _very_ soon.

* * *

 **Robert's POV**

"Come on get it working Verdant." Mackie said

"I'm trying" Verdant said

We had gotten and picked ourselves back up quickly down here, we kept going in a direction and found a little outpost of the Chorus, we took them down, killing most of them, however to our surprise, they had a communications device with them, we were trying to get it to work so we could get some intel, send a message that we were alive, anything… however we didn't have long, the Grimm were constantly bugging us and on our tail.

"I got it" Verdant said as he got the machine to work."

"Everyone get their scrolls and any other devices and try to get in contact with someone." Elena commanded… I had someone particular in mind to send a message to, it was urgent. I typed my message on my scroll and sent it, but just as that happened we heard something behind us, a massive growl, we turned around, and saw a Trapjaw, a Grimm alligator the size of a house coming for us on this narrow tunnels.

"What the fuck is that!"

"Everyone get what you can, then drop what you are sending and run, we have to run!" Elena said.

"Holy shit!" Me and Seth screamed as all of us started running and shooting back at the Trapjaw…

I can only hope the message reaches Hector.

* * *

Before he could finish his thinking, his scroll buzzed from on top of Ashley's bed, it was a message from Robert. He hasn't heard from him in a while, so he quickly picked it up, unlocked it, and opened the message.

" _I'm not making it to the dance… things went to shit stuck in a sewer with a pretty high chance of death, you're on your own. Penny has spare EMPs btw. Good luck."_

"Shit!" Hector repeats himself as he throws his scroll back on the bed, that complicates things, to a degree he can't explain with mild words. "Fucking godamnit cun-" He really can't.

After settling down, he finally evaluates his situation.

"Okay, so I am alone in this tonight, I got Ashley to worry about, the damn CCT, Penny with an EMP in her chest or something like that, and then there's Cinder. I gotta keep an eye on Ruby… that USB thing he gave me is pretty much useless now since I don't know how to work computers, and I doubt I'd get a chance to get to the damn place because of all my friends." He mutters to himself on the choices that he has, which none of them involve everyone being happy in the end. They all lead to him having to either take Penny with him to stop the virus, or going by himself to stop the virus, and only one of them is slightly less dangerous than the other.

He _might_ stand a chance against the half Maiden if he pushes himself, and that is only if to stall her long enough for Ironwood to get there. Even then he might just nearly kill himself by pushing passed his limits.

"What the fuck am I going to do…?" He asks himself as he takes in a deep breath.

He didn't even have time to calm himself down.

" _Hey Hex! You coming to the dance or what?"_ Ruby asked as she knocked on his door at such a speed and pace that was impossible to count.

"O-oh yeah!" Hector called back through the door as he rolled his sleeves back over his weapons. "I was just making sure everything was in order, coming now." He said as he double checked that everything was actually in order and then opened the door to see his best friend with that red adorable little dress on, and even when standing still she still seems to have trouble keeping her balance because of the heels. Though she does have her usual cheery smile on her face. Beside her is Weiss Schnee of course, who also looks happy to see him but at the same time probably was forced to stay with her partner and leader.

"You know it's a bit late to be asking me out to the dance right?" Hector teased with a subtly forced smile to hide the inner turmoil inside his head.

"I-I'm not here to ask you out dummy!" Ruby stammered with a red face as Weiss chuckled. But then stops when she sees his smile. "Ugh, and here I thought I was being nice by thinking you had to walk to the dance alone."

"Nah, I gotta go pick up Ash from Jaune's room, something about a 'phase two' of whatever plan she and Nora came up with." Hector said as he gestured to the room across the hall.

Ruby gasped. "You and Ashley finally got together, and YOU asked her!? Ha! Weiss owes me money~" She sang as she danced around Weiss, momentarily mastering the art of walking with heels as she does so.

"Wait… bets were placed? When did this happen?" Hector asked as he tilted his head out of confusion.

"Ugh… my immature team placed bets on who would ask who to the dance." Weiss explained downcastly. "I thought Ashley would be the more aggressive one…"

"Wait, wait, wait hold up-"

"Yeah but you were _wrong_!" Ruby cheered as she nearly falls over but catches herself on the conveniently placed wall.

"You guys placed bets on us? When did this happen again?" Hector repeats himself, actively doing his best to ignore Weiss' unintentional but pretty intention insult.

"Oh, ever since Coco told us you two went out together one time in Vale." Ruby finally answered her fellow leader.

"It was mostly Yang's idea." Weiss added.

"And with that, I don't need to know anymore." Hector said as he rose his hand. "I'm gonna go pick her up now and forget this conversation ever happened, I am going to dance with everyone by the way, so try to find out how to walk with those things by the time I get there Ruby, because you are going to be the first one."

"Awe you suck." Ruby pouted as she sped away, not wanting to be caught up in another bind.

Weiss sighed and nodded his way. "Good luck with your date." She said as she started walking away herself.

"Yeah, you too."

He heard Weiss scoff and mutter something underneath her breath, but decided to let it go for now.

" _Right, almost forgot about the whole Neptune thing, I think I'll stay away from that one for now."_ Hector thought to himself as he watched the heiress disappear around the corner.

"Right, time for teenage hormones time." He joked to himself as he steeled his nerves and walked slowly up to Team Junipers room, and stopped himself from waiting to knock on the door and rattled three knuckles against the door loud enough that there was no way that no one on the inside didn't hear it.

" _Coming~!"_ Nora's voice sang as she skipped up to the door, her footsteps for some reason making Hector's heart beat increase.

Once she opened the door, revealing that she is wearing her prom dress with the heart around her chest. Nora leaned against the frame and eyed him up and down with a smile. "Looking good, is it too late to swap dates?"

"Tempting, but I don't think Ren would survive that thing." Hector played along.

"True, true. He is such a fragile thing."

"Said fragile thing is in the room with you." Ren's voice piped up from inside, who is in sight and seems to have also been forced to put on a blindfold.

"We know~, so Hecky, are you ready to faint?" Nora said as she leaned in just a bit.

"Eh, more or less, I'm guessing Jaune and Pyrrha are already there?"

"Yups."

"Right, so I am ready to be amazed. Lets see what Ash has got for me." Hector said with a confident smile, even as he felt heat rise up his neck from his chest after remembering Mike's final words to him before he left to the dance.

"Will you shut up! You're embarrassing." Ashley's voice was heard from behind the door that was covering half of the room, keeping the look of her dress a surprise.

"I think you left out a word there." Hector pointed out.

"I know what I said." His partner assured.

"Oh great, guess I'll just stand here until I get bored and take Nora to the dance instead."

"Really!?"

"N-No!" Ashley exclaimed, surprising both herself and her partner with her own boldness. "Just hang on… Nora, just let him see." She finally said with a small stutter.

"Hehe." Nora pushed the door all the way open, and guided Ren out of the room fast enough so that Hector wasn't able to get a good enough look at Ashley. After they scurried down the hallway, Hector finally set his eyes upon his date.

She was Beautiful with a capital B. True to her own plan, she had a white and blue dress, with streaks of black in it to match her hair, the frilled skirt went down to just above her ankles, and she had white stockings over her arms, and he doesn't know what shampoo she used, but it smells _great_. It was actually put down to, hanging over her shoulders and down to just below her shoulder blades, and Hector never knew until that his partner would look great with her ashen colored hair let down, and her dog ears standing straight up on her head as if she was excited. So adorable.

Ashley met his eyes and smiled the best that she could, but she couldn't even try to hide the blush that was on her face, she had a small amount of makeup on, though not so much that it was obvious, just the right amount.

"Well…? Say something!" She shouted, and stomped her foot, momentarily returning to her usual personality.

"Ubjaga." Was all Hector could say to describe her look, and had to swallow and clear his voice to regain enough composure to speak. "You look beautiful Ash." He said with a smile as his own cheeks began to heat up.

There was a few moments of silence before Ashley shook her face and stepped out of the room, hooking her arm though is and pressing the side of her body against him and forcing him to start walking. He was surprised at how comfortable she seemed to be pressed up against him like this, and with himself by how comfortable she was. After a few minutes he adjusted himself so that he was more comfortable, and stopped tensing up his arm, thank the lord she didn't grab onto his forearm.

"So… yeah, do you know how to dance?" Hector went with that question as an effort to break the ice.

"As much as I know how to use my semblance." Ashley answered sassily.

"Oh great, that means I get bonus points since I have to teach you how to not step on my toes." Hector said with a chuckle, earning a tighter squeeze around bicep.

"Idiot." His date said with a shake of her head, this was one of the rare moments he could get away with his little quips.

"I have to warn you there, I did promise myself to give Ruby her first dance tonight, but you are the main event so you have nothing to worry about."

"I know, I expected something like that from you." She looked up at him with a warm smile. "You're a good friend like that."

"Y-yeah." Damn that smile, she isn't making it any easier for him to prioritize saving Beacon. "I owe her a lot, it's the least I can do since she made my weapons for me in a really short time."

"Yeah, where did she get that much Etricium anyway? That stuff is super expensive."

"She said that she just found it lying around, must have been left over from someone, no idea who though. I guess she just yoinked it before anyone else could, and she took all of it to make the Dragon Fist's with."

Ashley giggled at the amusing story, one of the first times Hector has ever heard his partner giggle. The first time was when they went out together on their own.

"Oh there's Yang." Ashley said as the two of them were getting closer to the ballroom.

"Huh, I thought that she would have put more effort into her dress." Hector whispered into her dog ear.

"I'll try not to hold that over your head for as long as I want." Ashley said and laughed at his horrified expression.

"Hey you two! I was wondering when you would show up." Yang greeted with a smile and waved at them. The wolf whistled after looking at the dress Ashley is wearing. "Looking good Ashley! Make sure you give by a play-by-play in the morning."

"W-what!?" Ashley stammered with a blush.

"Yeah, ignoring that, what about me?" Hector asked in an effort to save his partner from any further embarrassment. "I wasn't the one who chose it by the way."

"As sexy as always champ." Yang said with a wink. "Especially when your eyes turn red."

"Okay then, I will try my best to ignore the way Ash is digging her nails into my skin and walk passed you now." Hector said with a nervous grin as he walked by the blonde brawler with his partner still linked with him by the arms.

"Have fun you two!" Yang yelled as the duo disappeared into the crowd.

"Okay, well, here we are." Ashley said as she looked about the rather large room.

"Yeah, I'll hang with you for a bit before heading off to dance with people." Hector replied.

"I would rather you get it over with now actually, the song is bad for dancing right now. I think you'll know when to find me." Ashley said as she brushed some of her hair behind her hair.

"You sure? You know if you want me to I'll stay with you the whole time." His heart squeezed at the impulsive lie that just he just spat out of his mouth.

"Best friend Hector!" Penny shouted from the other side of the room.

"Penny no!" An Atlesian soldier shouted next, no doubt in pursuit.

"Well, that question was answered." Ashley laughed. "Go have fun, I won't miss you."

"Wow."

"Too much." Ashley added as she looked away. "I'll go find Mike and Reggie in the meantime, and I'm warning you now if any of those random girls walk up to you I am going to murder them, and then you because I feel like it." She winked at him as she walked away to look for their other teammates.

"Wow, she is different now, is this what she is normally like?" Hector asked himself even as some poor guy was just tossed passed him at the speed of a bullet, most likely due to Penny's inability to control her own strength as she pushed through the crowd. "I like that." He decided with a grin.

"Best friend Hector!" Penny exclaimed, this time right next to him and wrapping him with her arms, though for once she isn't squeezing him to death in her usual vice grip.

"Hi Penny." Hector greet back as he rose one arm with a little strain to pat her ginger head.

"Oh!" Penny jumped at the contact, it was the first time someone pat her head.

"Huh? What's wrong?" Hector asked as he took away his hand.

"Oh nothing, please do that again." Penny said as she gripped his wrist and put it back atop her head.

"...What?"

"I did not say to stop."

"If it wasn't you I would be afraid for my life." Hector laughed as he pat her head again, and if her pleased 'yee' sound was anything to go by then she must have liked it.

"Penny! I told you not to stray too far from us!" The Atlesian soldier said as he finally caught up.

"Oh, my apologies, I simply found one of my first friends and I could not help myself but be excited to be in his presence."

"What? Oh…" The soldier coughed. "Sir, are you her uh… boyfriend?"

"Yes! He is my boyfriend!"

"Not like that, I am a friend who is a boy." Hector quickly corrected as soon as he spotted the way the poor guys mouth dropped out in horror.

"Ah, I see." The man coughed. "Well sir, I apologize for the intrusion, but Miss Polendina is under my protection for the night, so at a maximum I can give you five minutes with her with me nearby. Don't worry though, I won't be eavesdropping." He quickly added when both Penny and Hector glared at him with a certain malice. He was more scared of Penny because he knew what she was capable of, but if he knew what Hector was capable of then it probably would have made it worse for him.

"I'll be going now, but I'll be nearby." The soldier said as he backed up a good distance to where his squadmate in blue in waiting.

"Alright Penny I need your help." Hector said as he leaned down to her ear.

"Oh? How may I assist you?" Penny said eagerly.

"I got this USB thing, that is supposed to protect Beacon's servers from some kind of virus, keep this a secret by the way, but I have no idea how to use it."

"I don't know how I can help with that. I am afraid I must learn how to first before I can memorize the process." Penny whispered back.

"What? Damn, okay I'll remember that."

"Have you read the instructions online?" She asked next.

"... I don't think you want me to answer that."

"Your facial features are suggesting to me that you do not know how to use the device."

"Great analysis Penny." Hector chuckled. "Do you have any spare EMP's?"

"Why would I bring EMP's to the school dance silly?" Penny asked with a giggle.

"... Right, silly me." Hector said with a forced smile and a shake of his head. "Thanks anyway, I gotta go look for Ruby now before she disappears into nothingness. It was good to see ya Penny!" He said as he began to walk away.

"Bye for now best friend Hector!" The android waved away at him, as soon as he moved away the soldiers closed back in.

Hector cursed within his own head, how the hell did he not think of that!? It seemed like common sense now that he is thinking hard on it, that once again, complicates things, and since not the entire Atlesian fleet is in Vale now he has literally no other choice then to go into the CCT himself, which is going to be _quite_ fun indeed.

"Is something bothering you Mister Rivers?" The voice of Ozpin asked from right beside him, startling him slightly at the sudden sound of his words.

"Agh, I was wondering when you were going to pop up out of nowhere again." Hector said with a huff.

"I've no idea what you mean." Ozpin said with a smug grin as he took a sip from the same damn mug that he always has with him.

"Mister Rivers." Glynda Goodwitch greeted with a nod. She looked a little distracted, which was unusual for the combat trainer. But even then, this was an opportunity to ask her about their mutual friend.

"Hey Double G, have you heard from Rob recently?" Hector asked with a face of curiosity.

Glynda tensed up at the mention of her apprentice, it was a difficult question for her to even think about answering, nobody really knew what was happening down in those tunnels. She doesn't know if she should tell the boy that has seemed to have grown quite fond of herself and of Robert, though it should have been expected given the amount of time they have both spent training him to become a better hunter. It sucks, but she cannot disclose that information in the end.

"I am afraid that Mister Urra will not be able to make it to the even because of a complication with his mission, that is all I can say unfortunately." She explained.

It was what Hector expected, they knew that he was from another world, and that he knows about some things that are going to happen to a certain extend, just not anywhere near to what they originally expected. Not that he is willing to share that bit of information anytime soon.

"Damn, okay, I get it." Hector nodded in understanding, or at least the best acting skill he can put up, at this point he knows something is up, but he has more immediate things to worry about at the moment. "I haven't seen you around Oz, what's been going on with you?"

"Work I am afraid, the upcoming Vytal Festival is something that unfortunately takes up a lot of my time to set up properly, many things that I would rather not bore you with at a time like this." He easily deflected the question. "How have you been? It has been quite a while since you were dragged into my office by my assistant."

"Eh, you know, the usual, kicking ass and getting stronger."

"I've heard that you've obtained a recent color change, red I believe, is that correct?"

It made sense that he knew about that, literally everyone knew, the news spread fast between Yang and Reggie. "Yeah, don't ask me how it works because it just kind of happens."

"I understand, it is not an unusual thing for hunters and huntresses to adapt a color change while using their abilities, such as Yang Xiao-Long for instance, who also gains red eyes when she uses her semblance."

"Trust me, I've heard enough about that for a lifetime." Hector chuckled. "Speaking of semblances, I was wondering if maybe tomorrow I could come talk to you about mine? If you have time of course, there's just no one else I know who is basically better than an expert on the stuff."

"I suppose I can arrange a meeting with you in the coming days, I am afraid however that I cannot guarantee for it to be tomorrow."

"I get it, thanks for even considering it." Hector smiled, and then turned to Glynda. "Are you okay? You would usually not even let Ozpin make decisions on his own."

"What do you mean by that?" Glynda asked with narrowed eyes.

Ozpin chuckled, but wisely remained silent.

"I mean that you're not being yourself right now, believe it or not but I can be pretty perceptive." Hector actually stood his ground against the older huntress, who seemed surprised at his boldness.

"Hmph, I seem to have underestimated you once again Mister Rivers." Glynda laughed bitterly. "Yes, something is bothering me, but you need not worry, I will handle it myself. I am an adult."

"That you are, but I still offer a dance in an attempt to help make you feel better." Hector said with a polite bow as he extended his hand toward her.

"W-what?" Glynda stammered, not expecting any of what he just said to actually come out of his mouth.

"I believe this is what the students call 'making a move'." Ozpin teased, making Hector jerk his hand away when he saw Glynda reach behind her and reach for her riding crop.

"No! Not like that! Forget I asked haha, oh there's Ruby!" Hector said as he ran away as fast as he could in the expensive clothes he is wearing.

"He has hardly changed." Ozpin said as he sipped from his mug. "For a second there I thought you were actually considering his offer."

"I was." Glynda pinched the bridge of her nose. "But then it would have been a scandal to convince the students that I am not sleeping with the boy.

Ozpin chuckled softly at that, it was very close to the truth. "I am glad I am allowed to bend the rules."

"You're lucky I let you do that."

"Yes, yes I am."

* * *

Ashley is more nervous then she ever has been before, her date and partner has started dancing with his best friend, and while the sight of him doing his best to teach her not to step on his toes, and her constant complaints that his feet are too big and that he should make them smaller while at the same time blushing madly because of her first dance with a boy going up in flames, even as Hector laughs wholeheartedly and does his best even as Nora takes pictures with her scroll. And Ren, Jaune, and Pyrrha all snicker at the sight.

"You keep shaking like that you're going to crack the floor." Reggie teased as he sips from his cup of punch.

"Shut up."

"You know the next song is a slow one right?" Mike teased next as he mirrors a sip from his boyfriend.

" ."

"You know he is going to come to you next right?" They both asked at the same time.

"I get it!" Ashley finally said as she hugged herself with her arms.

"Do you?" Mike asked.

"Yes, yes I do. I am not an idiot, this is either a good move or a bust, and I am still mad at you for leaving me alone with him tonight." Ashley said with a glare that was betrayed by her blush.

"You're blushing." Reggie teased.

"SHUT UP!" She yelled, blushing even heavier as she scares most of the crowd back with her screech.

"I can't wait, in the morning out friends aren't going to be virgins anymore." Reggie cowed.

"You don't know that Reggie, with how long it took both of them to ask each other out, I think they are going to need a little push." Mike said.

"Ah you're right, good thing I spiked her drink."

"What!" Ashley started trying to make herself throw up, but was stopped when Reggie started laughing. "I hate you, both of you. Die."

"Love you too Ashy." Mike winked.

As he said that, the music began to get slower, and more romantic, and the DJ announced to everyone to get with their significant other, or whoever the person they want to be with together right now. Ashley never saw two people move away from each other faster then Hector and Ruby did when they heard that, after a quick couple of words which lead to a quick hug from the two red wearing friends, Hector locked eyes with her and started heading her way, making her heart leap into her chest.

"And now it begins." Reggie said as he grabbed Mikes hands.

"Good luck to you two, and wish us luck to." Mike said as he accepted Reggies grasp around his waist.

"Not that we'll need it." Reggie quickly added as the two of them danced away faster then Ashley could call out to them.

"Sup." Hector said with a smile as soon as he reached her, and held out his hand and bowed to her. "May I have this dance m'lady."

Ashley actually laughed at that, she must be having an off day. "Sure dipshit." She said with a roll of her eyes as she gripped his hand, and with her left hand rested it on his right shoulder.

"Okay then, I know you're new at this but… but…" Hector looked distracted and he looked out the window, his eyes shaking as he did so. "But uh… just keep calm and focus, you're with me." His voice cracked, making him clear it, but he kept glancing out the window every now and again as they moved with the crowd.

"What's wrong?" Ashley asked as she noticed his discomfort. "Is it me…?"

"What!? No not you at all, nothing's wrong." Everything's wrong right now. "I'm just a bit nervous is all." He apologizes in his mind about the lie.

What he saw was Cinder, and she was looking right into his eyes, she knew he saw her, and even beckoned her hand, like she was _daring_ him to stop her. She smiled, and then backed away into the darkness, beckoning him with a finger as she did so.

That meant a lot of things.

"Yeah, I'm nervous too." Ashley admitted as she looked into his chest, and then traced his arms with hers before stopping at his forearms. They felt… way too metallic. "Are you wearing your weapons?"

"I… yeah." Hector admitted, his cursed sleeve just had to roll up just enough for her to be able to see the beginnings of his bracer on his left hand as it wrapped around her waist.

She narrowed her eyes at him, before arching her eyebrows softly, and pushed her forehead into his chest. Hector didn't really know what to do here, caught red handed, and now he is getting conflicted signals from his faunus partner.

She looked up at him, and there was a tear in her eye, but also a smile. She rose her hands up behind his neck, and placed one on his cheek.

"You're important to me… you know that right?" She said gently, not making any effort to look away from his eyes.

"I… yeah, I do… and you're important to me." He admitted as he relaxed his stance, and even forgot about Cinder for a split second. His hands wrapped around her waist fully, and interlocked with each other behind her back.

They smiled at each other, and Ashley even with a tear falling from her eye, started to step up on her toes to get closer to his face, and on reflex Hector began to lower his face to hers, not even trying to resist to urge to be with her in this magical moment.

The feel of her lips on his own was amazing, and it sent sparks through his body, as it did for her. They deepened the kiss, and Hector reached one hand to the back of her head, as she placed one of her hands on his chest. It lasted so long that when they parted they were both gasping for breath.

Nothing could have prepared him for the next words to come out of her mouth.

"Please don't go… you won't come back." Ashley sniffled.

The music went silent in his ears, and whatever redness he had on his face paled.

"W-what do you mean?" He dared to ask.

"They want to take you away… please… just stay with me." Ashley begged as the tears fell from her eyes. "Don't go."

"How would you know that." Hector asked with barely concealed anger. "How _could_ you know that?"

He wished he never asked.

"I… am a spy… I've been feeding them information about you for months…" She confessed shamefully, she couldn't keep her gaze on his betrayed eyes.

Hector ripped away from her, tears welling up in his own eyes, he looked so betrayed, so heartbroken, that is just made it worse for the faunus girl. It was like his whole world was just flipped on its head. He gritted his teeth as he spoke next.

"When I get back. You will explain everything to me. If you don't, if I come back and you're not here, then you're dead to me." He said as he spun around and stomped away, his fists clenched as he did so, and out of pure anger his eyes turned red. He felt so betrayed, conflicted. Here he was just having one of the happiest - no, _the_ happiest moment of his life, and then this shit hits him, then there's the whole Cinder situation at hand, so much that he has to think about, that's only if he has the time to think about it. In truth he has no idea what to do with his partner anymore, but he knows that one thing is for sure.

He has to deal with Cinder himself.

No one dared stop him as he stomped away, and ignored Ashleys cry for him to stop, and even Yang as she tried to stop him from leaving, but it was too late. He slammed the door shut behind him and everything, including the music, stopped. Mike and Reggie were shocked, Ruby and her team were feeling the same, they all saw what happened, and wondered what could have gone wrong for him to act like that.

As Ashley cried, Mike, Reggie and Nora quickly made to comfort her, wrapping her in their hugs as they lead her outside through a different exit of the building.

* * *

"Fucking DAMNIT!" Hector screamed as he ripped off his coat and vest, then ripping off his shirt and vest and then the tie that _she_ got for him. Leaving him in just a white tank top, his Dragon Fist's, and his pants and shoes. The cold air of the night making itself known on his bare skin. The tight clothes would have just been constricting him.

"God… fucking… damnit… How could I have been so stupid?" He asked himself. "On my own fucking team… I should have noticed." Now that he thought about it, his partner spent a lot of time on her scroll, and the whole beginning of the school year could have been a sign. The way she looked at Emerald and nodded when they walked into that bookstore just over three months ago.

"Damnit Ashley…" It didn't make it hurt any less, the fact that she could have just been faking everything, and yet her confession was so genuine, and the taste of her lips was still in his mouth.

He swallowed his sadness, and cocked his Dragon Fist's ready on lightning dust. Then wiped whatever tears fell from his eyes and shook his head. He made it to the tower and kicked the doors open, he looks around with his arms up in a defensive position and sees multiple unconscious guards, but then at the same time, some of them were _dead_.

"Shit." Hector said as he averted his eyes from the man who had his throat cut so deep that his head was hanging on by a thread.

"Looks like I have some work to do… looks like I'll be going times ten early." He said as he made his way to a familiar elevator with two more dead guards bleeding on the floor.

He has no idea what he was about to walk into…

* * *

 **AN- Well that was fun, a lot of things are going wrong right now, things are now happening. A fight for their lives are in the midsts. I wonder what you guys are thinking? What do you think of the way I handled things with the dance? I would like to listen to what you all think. -Genatools**

 **I'm also curious on how you guys think the adventure in the tunnels is gonna turn out, it's gonna be action packed that's for sure. -CrowSkull.**

 **Please review and let us know what you think!**

 **Disclaimer- We do not own RWBY in any way, shape, or form.**


	23. Rwby: Team HAMR chapter 23

**AN: First, thank you to the reviewers of last chapter!**

 **Zeldawolffang: Ashley how could you!? Yeah, that was quite the twist wasn't it.**

 **Soul109: I am proud of myself for getting that as quickly as I did.- Genatools**

 **Only it wasn't a backstab, it was sick trickstab from a high point man… lol I don't even play tf2. XD -CrowSkull.**

 **Astra: If you think I was crazy updating twice within 24 hours, I just posted Blind Huntsman the other day, then the day after was Unlikely Hero, then I finally took a day break and now I am starting Team HAMR, which is going to be quite the chapter. Ashley and Nora are quite the pair, but Reggie and Nora? God help whoevers room they are in. I didn't write what they did in JNPR's room for a reasons, and a good reason at that. Ashley… sigh, yeah Ashley, the whole build up to her betrayal was a very subtly built up one, you'll see what I mean then, she is quite the tragic character, and everyone thought she and Hector were going to get together at the dance, when pretty much the opposite happened, you have no idea how long it took me to decide whether or not to have her be this spy/betrayer, I just went for it because it was the original plan anyway since the beginning of this story. Everything will be explained in due time of course. Ruby finding that metal could have been made possible because of all three of those things who knows, and of course Daisy and her unknown sibling are going to return, they are a blast to write. Stockings over arms are called sleeves… facepalm, ignore I ever said that. Red is the best colour, don't try and understand why red is the way it is. "Did Cinder just threateningly moonwalk into the shadows?" Dude, that made me laugh more than it should have, and in a way I guess you are spot on. I can't say anything about spoilers ;) You'll just have to wait and see. You have a good eye for figuring stuff out, and yeah the dance is going to be what starts to make things more serious like the show did, you'll see what I got planned for HAMR pretty soon. About wonderful writing strategy, I honestly think we both have accidental excellent writing strategy, we just let each other know whenever we have to make our separate adventures tie in together, other then that, careful planning is made with each chapter, or at least that is how I like to put it.- Genatools.**

 **I'll describe it more of a stumbling into an excellent strategy in all honesty, and also Astra, regarding snapping an Eel's neck, it would be the same as breaking the spine of a snake, maybe neck wasn't the right word, you just have to grab the head and twist your hand forward, damn they can do it to themselves, if you want to know where the idea came from, check Alien vs Predator 1, I'm sure you'll get it.- CrowSkull.**

 **Thank you all for the reviews!**

 **This is where things start getting… exciting to say the least. Depends on what context you are thinking of.**

* * *

RWBY: Team HAMR

Chapter 23- Through The Fire and Flames

"Ashley what happened?" Nora asked her friend Ashley as she cries into her hands, Mike and Reggie kneel beside the two with worried expressions. "Everything looked like they were fine, you two kissed and Reggie had to fork over some Lien." Nora laughed, and Reggie whined about being down a few bucks now.

"It's… it's not that." Ashley struggled to speak, and is conflicted in which duty she should stick to. She doesn't know who she is right now. Ashley, the criminal and undercover spy. Or Ash, Hector's partner, she has been having this existential crisis ever since she realized her own feelings for the human. Every bit of information she sent to his enemies was another blow to her feelings, but she doesn't know how to explain that to her friends, the ones she was meant to betray anyway. "It's my fault…" She eventually said as she managed to hold down another choke.

"What do you mean?" Michael asked. "I saw what was happening Ashley, both of you were very happy with each other, and then the next thing I knew he stormed out of the room with the angriest expression on his face that I have ever seen on his face. Obviously whatever happened was bad enough that it overshadowed everything he felt for you."

"Mike!" Reggie exclaimed. "That was a bit harsh man, you know everyone is sensitive right now.

"I say it as it is Reggie. You know that is how I am, I don't think our leader did anything wrong, and I think Ashley is hiding something from us." Ashley winced at how spot on her teammate was, he couldn't be any closer to the truth.

"C'mon Mike, this is Ashley we are talking about." Nora defended her friend, this is the most serious then any of them as ever seen from the usually hyperactive and bubbly girl. "Even if it _was_ her fault, who's to say Hector didn't just overreact? Stuff like that happens, even if I would be the first to admit that I wouldn't have expected that from him."

"It's not him." Ashley defends him, to the surprise of everyone else. "It wasn't… an overreaction." She added as another tear fell from her eye on onto the ground.

"Ashley… what happened then?" Nora asked hesitantly.

Ashley shakes as she tries to find some way to reveal the truth to her friends. It comes with may risks, such as the fury of Cinder and all that she worked with, not to mention the White Fang and Roman. She has been with them for so long and betraying _them_ was certainly more dangerous than betraying her team and friends. Her eyes shake at the mere thought, it hurt her so badly so watch her partner stomp out of the ballroom, she wanted to stop him so badly, and that is what scared her. She wasn't supposed to fall for anyone at Beacon, that's why she put on that bitchy attitude for so long, and yet Hector just kept pushing and teasing her, and shrugged off all of her threats and insults. One thing lead to another, and she started to let more and more of her actual personality out, she made friends, relationships, and grew closer and closer with her partner to the point where she accepted his offer to hang out with him, just the two of them in Vale, and it was the most fun she has ever had in her life.

But even then, every day she betrayed him, she constantly updated her employers and how strong he got, how skilled he got, the friends he made. They just _kept_ asking for more about him, and she couldn't find the courage to tell them off, and was afraid of the consequences. Until finally, it all built up to the point where she couldn't hide it anymore, she has no idea how Hector knew everything that he did, how he knew about the CCT hack, how he somehow knew that Emerald and Mercury were going to be at Tucksons bookstore, and at what time. Not to mention how he already knew a lot about stuff he shouldn't know about, and she relayed that information to Cinder.

Her only consolation is that she tried to stop him, tried to get him to stay with her. If he did that she would have cut ties with them on the spot and focused on being a huntress and focused on her relationship with the young man she has fallen for. She doesn't even know if it is too late or not… is it!?

"He's at the CCT." Ashley confessed, though they don't know in what context.

"Why would he be there?" Reggie asked with confusion in his voice.

"Because there was a trap laid for him there, and he doesn't know what he is walking into." She grabbed onto Mikes collar with one hand. "We have to get there before it's too late!" She yelled as she stood up.

"What!? How would you know that? Why didn't you tell anyone!?" Mike asked he grabbed her wrist and stopped her before she could run off.

"It's…" Ashley hesitated. "I'll explain everything when we get to him, there's no time now!" She exclaimed as she pulled out her scroll and typed in the commands for her rocket locker.

"I believe you." Nora said as she did the same, and smiled at her despite the situation.

"I don't know what is going on right now, but if Boss is in trouble then we need to get to him ASAP." Reggie said as he to called for his weapon.

" _I_ am going to get the headmaster." Mike said as he glared at his faunus teammate, who shrunk under his gaze. "I expect a full explanation for this later." He added as the lockers landed one by one, and the three of them began to get suited up.

Before the could respond, in the distance they see a bright red light shine out of one of the floors of the CCT, along with orange flames. They all realize the situation and shift into overdrive.

"We have to get there NOW!" Ashley yelled as herself, Nora, and Reggie begin sprinting toward the tower. Leaving Mike behind so he could get the headmasters assistance.

They can only hope that they get there in time… because by the looks of it the fight is already nearing its end.

* * *

 **Minutes Earlier**

The elevator ride was the longest elevator ride Hector has ever had the luxury of attending, with the stench of blood and dead bodies filling his lungs with every breath being taken in, along with the agonizing nervousness and the sound of his heartbeat echoing within his ears. He is surprised he hasn't turned back yet.

Ashley was one thing, Neo was another. Robert showed him that strength isn't everything, and right now strength and a mild amount of skill is all he has. But against someone like Cinder?

He is going to need a _lot_ of strength to go up against that bundle of joy, a lot more if he wants to actually win.

The Kaioken has been the only thing keeping him in the game so far, and sometimes it's drawbacks are too much for him. Going times ten like he plans to is bound to mess up his body badly, possibly even kill him. But being killed while knowing you may have had the power to prevent your own death is worse than being killed even after giving it everything you've got. At least in his opinion.

The last ding of the elevator snapped him out of his stupor, and he immediately enters a defensive fighting position, just in case anything is thrown at him right out of the gate. Instead, he is met with the smirking face of Cinder Fall, her bright orange eyes staring into his still red ones. She is sitting on top one of the computers, and of course the picture of a black queen piece is ever present on the screen.

Hector sucks in breath through his nose, and gingerly stepped out of the elevator, his eyes wander over every nook and cranny of the room, searching for any traps or any other people that could be here to 'Take him away' as his traitor partner warned him.

"My oh my, so you are the one that has been causing me some trouble these last few months." Cinder cowed as she hopped down to the ground, walking with her side to Hector as she eyes him up and down, before returning her burning gaze to his eyes. "Just by the look in your eyes I can see the potential within you."

"Yeah, that sounds like me." Hector said with a grim tone, he remains on guard and focused, not taking any chances with the woman before him.

"There is no need to be so tense Hector." Cinder cooed with a smirk.

"I find the situation I am in to be makes my tenseness more than called for." Hector said with a glare, he refuses to fall to her charms.

"Hm, you are as smart as I've been told it seems. When I called you over here I could tell that you recognized me almost immediately." Cinder pointed out as she takes a single step closer. Hector held his ground. "Have we met before? Because I am certain that I have never seen you before."

"Yeah I'll keep that one to myself Cindy." Hector said with a scoff, holding his ground.

Cinder ignored the annoying nickname that Roman sometimes called her. "Your reasons are your own I suppose. I also have my reasons for not killing you as soon as you walked out of that elevator, would you like to know why?"

"If it is to be a part of my apparent harem I am sorry to disappoint you." Hector chuckled despite his situation. "I am really not in the mood for girls right now."

"Amusing." Cinder rolled her eyes, young boys always were confident, but that confidence can be easily be burned away with a bit of fire. "But no, I have a proposition for you." She said as she faced him fully, her glass weapons hanging off of her hips, as she said this Mercury and Emerald walked out from behind her, how they got there, Hector would never know.

" _Great… that just makes things a lot more fun."_ Hector thought to himself and grit his teeth, mentally entering his low power version of the Kaioken and immediately feels his arms get lighter and his body begin to warm up.

"You would be a fine addition to my ranks, perhaps even as an equal with time." Cinder said with a smile as she placed each hand on one of her swords. "But only, if you join me. I am sure you know there would be consequences if you do not accept this proposal."

"..."

"No answer? I don't mean to rush you but I am going to need an answer _now_." Cinder said as she slowly begins to unsheathe her weapons.

"Nah, I'm just trying to think of the most polite way to tell you to go fuck yourself." Hector said with a grin. Cinder lost her smile, and he saw Emerald tense up and get ready to spring onto him right then and there, and Mercury only shake his head at his words. "If you think I am going to betray my friends, then you don't know me as well as you think you do. I am not going to fall for your shit Cinder, I know better then little miss minty over there." Emerald widened her eyes at his words. "What was it? Oh yeah, you were a nobody scratching at garbage cans and stealing from anyone you can just to get by, then suddenly Cindy here comes along and you latched onto to her like some child getting their first toy."

Emerald widened her eyes even further and growled at him, almost attacking him right then and there if it wasn't for Cinder holding her arm out to stop her. Mercury couldn't help but laugh at his partners spot on history.

"I see that you have been underestimated when it came to what you know…" Cinder noted, commiting that bit of information to memory, perhaps there was even more potential then even she originally thought.

"What are you laughing at Merky?" Hector asked the gray haired teen, who stopped laughing as soon as he was addressed. "You ever feel guilty about killing your own father?" Mercury tensed up at the mention of his father, scowls at him with a look of pure hatred. "Those robot legs of yours must have came in handy in committing patricide."

"I see that you have been _vastly_ underestimated." Cinder said before Mercury could get angry enough to get violent. "Knowledge can be dangerous you know…" She let Emerald and Mercury walk passed her. "But, your ways of finding things out could be a very useful trait, are you sure you don't want to join us? I can certainly find much use for someone such as yourself."

"And again, in the most _impolite_ way possible, go fuck yourself." Hector said as he flamed up with red.

This time Cinder was getting irritated, and it began to show as she summoned up her weapons and stepped up to the plate herself. "I am being patient with you, much more then I would normally. What was it that you said earlier? Betrayal… funny you should mention it."

Hector lossed his grin, and his brow furrowed with anger as he remembers what happened just a few minutes ago.

"Ashley Cain, she has been sending us information about you for some time now, originally she was there for another purpose, but imagine my surprise when I was told that she was on the same team as you of all people, and your partner no less?" Cinder smiled when Hector's anger rose, and a growl escaped from his throat. "Your abilities, leadership skills, combat style, and that _very_ interesting semblance of yours. I can sense that aura is not the primary source of power, have you ever wondered where it came from?"

Hector didn't answer, but it was his low growl that let Cinder know that she was spot on.

"With time I am sure you would figure it out yourself, but the more I heard about it the more I thought that you would be much more useful as an ally then an enemy, but if not… then the information you have on Beacon would have to do." Cinder said with a grin, followed my Emerald and Mercury as they prepared to initiate the fight.

"I'm going to kill you." Hector growled with a manic grin on his face.

"Pardon?" Cinder has never been threatened like this before, at least not recently.

"I am going to kill you." He repeated, and his red flames grew larger as he pushed his limits to a times three multiplier, ignoring the burning pain running throughout his whole body. "I am going to make it hurt." He stood up straight, and his red flames grew even darker as he grew angrier, his red eyes glowing slightly as he glares at Cinder and her underlings. "I will make sure the last thing you feel is fear, that is my response to your fucking proposal." He said as his Dagon Fist's crackled with electricity. "Now are you going to keep prolonging this are do I have to make the first move?" He asked next as the area around his feet grew black due to the heat. It is a wonder how his shirt hasn't burned off yet.

Cinder didn't say anything, and she herself got ready to fight, as did Emerald and Mercury, their silence was all Hector needed to hear.

"Good." Hector charged at Emerald first with blitzing speed, she widened her eyes as a crackling flaming fist thrusted itself into her stomach, knocking her back and very shortly knocking her out of the fight, as soon as he pulls back his fist he has to block the kick from Mercury with his other arm, making sure his foot made contact with the metal rather then his skin, but can't do anything fast enough to prevent Cinder from touching a hand to his fist and causing an explosion that launches him back toward the elevator, he hits the doors and indents it heavily, before rolling out of the way of the next incoming fireball.

When he recovers and takes cover behind some of the computers, he sees Mercury running at him with a flying kick, he dodges to the side and counters with a punch to the face, but his fist flies right through his body, and his body disappears into nothing. This moment of distraction is enough for the real Mercury to kick him in the side of his head and sending him rolling back into the open, where a smirking Emerald awaits with her guns loaded and pointed at him. Her fingers then squeezed tightly on the triggers.

Hector blocks most of the bullets with his Dragon Fists, but feels some of them peg into his legs and stomach. He grimaces at the sharp pain, and while holding up his cover charges at her. Emerald jumps back, and Cinder dashes in her place, a smirk on her face as she redirects his charge effortlessly and then slashes at his back twice, cutting through his shirt and nearly cutting into his skin if it wasn't for his aura. He winced at the pain but throws a kick backward at the woman anyway, which is parried with one of her blades and he gets punished once again but a stab attack being jabbed into his chest, ripping another hole in his shirt.

He winces but catches the blade with his hand before it can get pulled back, ignoring the cut into his palm and fingers and the dripping blood as he pulls back on the blade. Surprising Cinder with a head butt, and dazing her momentarily, and then with his favourite knee he jams it into her stomach, she loses her grip on her sword, and it falls to the ground and shatters right away.

Hector had no time to celebrate his small victory, as Emerald jumps right on him and nearly cut away at his throat if it was for his hard fought reflexes that made him block the blade with his arm, sparks fly as the metal grinds against metal. He pushes her back with his overwhelming strength, but Mercury comes flying back in with another kick as soon as he thinks he can get a few seconds break. He dodges the kick and gets locked into a back and forth scuffle with the gray haired teen, neither take much damage as the block and counter each others attacks. This lasts for about five seconds before Mercury finally opens him up, planting a kick into his gut that forces the air out of Hectors lungs.

But instead of falling back, he wrapped both arms around his knee. He looks up at Mercury with a grin, and he responds with a gulp. Hector then proceeded to lift him up in the air and spin around until he is going so fast he makes himself dizzy, then throws him as hard as he can at the window. Mercury crashes through it but barely hangs on to the metal frame, saving himself from a death by gravity.

"Agh!" Hector groaned as a fireball blasts into his back, taking out yet another chunk out of his aura. He fell down to one knee, but manages to get behind cover around one of the pillars holding up the ceiling for all of them.

"This could have been so very different Hector." Cinder sang as Hector took the pause in the battle to recover some of his stamina and aura, no matter how miniscule it may be. "You could have simply joined us without resistance, it pains me to see such potential squandered over something such as heroism."

"Do you ever shut up!?" Hector asked as he spun his revolving dust cylinder to land on fire dust. He then came out of covered and punched two of his own fireballs at the half-maiden, who negates each of them with a single fireball, the collision of the projectiles causes a plume of smoke that clouds everyone's vision.

Hector took this time to power up even further.

"Kaioken times five!" He yelled at the top of his lungs as his body soared to its current limit.

"Kaio-what?" Cinder muttered and then widened her eyes when an even stronger and fast Hector dashes through the smoke and nearly takes her head off if it wasn't for her quick reaction timing.

Rather then stop Hector kept going, his new target quickly being changed to Emerald, who is not as fast as Cinder is, and out of desperation uses her semblance make it look like she is someone she really isn't. Ashley.

Hector's face softened for a second, and even slowed down a little when he sees the terrified face on his partners face. He gets even angrier when he remembers what she had just done, and attacks the illusion with a flame empowered fist. Emerald just moves her head out of the way in time for his arm to jab itself into the machinery she was previously kicked into, her aura flares to prevent her body from being burnt, and she kicks him away with both feet, or attempts to anyway. She wasn't expecting him to not even be phased by her kicks, and his body felt much harder and tougher upon making contact. With his other fist Hector tries to punch her in the face again, but it gets narrowly dodged again and Emerald rolls out of the way to prevent herself from being pinned, and he finds himself with no both arms stuck in the machine.

He rips them out, destroying the computer, and faces off against Cinder once more, who with a very surprising amount of strength, clashes with him on more than equal footing. She was actually able to push him back, and make him strain his muscles even more then they were before. With a smirk, she used her powers to blow him away once again, burning off what remained of his shirt and causing damage to him through his already low aura.

Hector cries out in pain when he feels the pain of the machinery shattering against his back when he smashed into it, and is barely able to push himself back onto his feet. Determination and adrenaline being the only thing keeping him in this fight now. He needs to go further… he needs to go even further beyond his limits if he wants to have any .hope of coming out on top against these impossible odds.

"I need to go further." He repeated his own thoughts to himself as he rose his arms up to his sides and grimaced as he felt his body burn with even more pain, and blood begins to drip from his nose.

At this point Mercury already pulled himself back in, and with a nod toward Emerald they prepare to attack him as they see him just standing there with his guard down.

"Wait." Cinder stopped them.

"Why? We have him right where we want him." Mercury questioned her. Both himself and Emerald are panting heavily, while Cinder is barely showing any signs of fatigue.

"I want to see just how far he can go… He has made me curious." Cinder said with a shrug, before turning to the gray haired teen. "Question me again and it will be you who faces my flames next." She threatened as a single eye of hers flamed orange, Mercury was wise to back down and allow the young man to power up against his better judgement..

Hector grits his teeth and slowly begins to power up more, his wounds burning even hotter as blood begins to seep out of his nose even more profusely, he then tastes blood in his mouth. But through all this pain, he can feel himself get stronger and stronger. He needs to do this if he wants to have any hope of coming out of this with his life.

"Kaioken… times…" He nearly collapses as his semblance takes him to a multiplier of eight, and Cinder smiles in satisfaction at witnessing his growth. Wanting- no _urging_ him to go even further. She wants to see his power.

"I will handle this." Cinder declared, her minions backing up and out of the fight to let the stronger ones fight, they share a silent message telling each other to jump in when the time is right.

With shining blood red eyes. Hector reached his goal.

"Kaioken times ten!" He roared as his muscles increased in size, and the pain he felt was even more excruciating, he literally only sees red. And in the center of it his Cinder Fall.

He took one step, and the next second he was gone from sight. Mercury and Emerald didn't see anything, and the next thing they knew, Cinder and Hector were fighting with such fury they didn't know if they'd be much help. Even as the battle soared to new heights, Cinder kept that damn smile on her face, taunting him with her very gaze.

Hector showed her that he should not be taken lightly, and forces her to take him more serious as he continuously grows stronger with each second. She finds herself barely able to keep up, and Hector barely able to keep it up.

His bracer clashed with her sword, the tough metal shattering the glass, but gets re-summoned just as fast as it disappeared into nothing. He does the same to the follow up attack, but this time the blade is reformed inside his guard, and slashes down his chest, and this time cutting into skin, his aura running on fumes now as it is, while Cinder must still be at above half, possibly even higher considering that Hector hasn't hit her much yet.

As they fight, Hector can't help but notice one of her eyes flaming orange, signalling to him that she is using at least a good portion of the Fall Maiden's power. He almost feels satisfied with the fact that he pushed her to such heights, but her power comes natural to her, while his is more forced and untamed. Meaning that if he doesn't end this soon, then he will be the one to fall first. Cinder even looked like she wasn't going all out, which both scares him and gives him a chance to catch her off guard.

He gets his chance when he breaks through another one of her swords, and this time gripping her wrist with a vice grip so tight it would have snapped her wrist if it wasn't for the ocean of aura that she has. Then with his right arm breaks through her other sword and without wasting another second pulls back his arm, and lands a devastating right hook straight into her face, and then activated his flame dust to add even more power to the punch, and a delayed explosion following straight after. The light from the explosion could have been seen from the outside and she got blasted into the concrete wall, bouncing off of it and causing bits of it to fall on top of her.

But even after finally landing a devastating blow, his arm paid for it. He screamed in pain as he felt four snaps going up his arm, his bones broke under the pressure of the force of the attack he had just dished out. He forced a power down and before he knew it he was back to times three. He grips his arm and weakly stands back up from one knee, the weight of the Dragon Fist making the pain even worse by pulling down on his broken arm. One eye shut and biting back tears in order to stay focused on the fight. He hopes that one attack he landed was enough to at least do _some_ damage, there was no way it couldn't have.

He is quickly reminded of the other two younger villains. Emerald and Mercury making themselves known by stepping in the way of where Cinder was just sent flying, blocking his vision of anything he might have wanted to see.

He gritted his teeth and rose his one good arm even higher.

If he was going down, it wouldn't be without a hell of a fight.

* * *

"Headmaster Ozpin!" Mike yelled as he finally found the white haired man talking to one of his students, one that he did not recognize.

Ozpin perked up at the call out, and turns to face his student and smiles. "Ah Mister Cedric, how are you doing this fine hour-"

"My leader is in trouble, you're the strongest huntsman I know. We need your help!" Mike cut him off and explained the situation frantically.

"What do you mean? How is Hector in trouble?" The headmaster asked, even as he followed his student without any further hesitation. It was probably the first time he has ever addressed Hector by his first name, and the situation called for it.

"I… I don't know, I am sure you saw what happened with him and Ashley earlier, for some reason he stormed off, and now apparently he is being attacked- I mean look at his aura right now!" Mike said as he showed the headmaster his scroll, which showed the aura levels of his team. Himself, Reggie, and Ashley all had full auras, while their leaders was dipping below thirty, and dropping every few seconds.

"Lead the way." Ozpin said upon realizing how dire the situation actually is.

* * *

Mercury and Emerald dashed right into the now one armed fighter, who does his best but can't block every attack coming from both of them at the same time with just one arm. Mercury kicks him in the gut as he did before that follows with a roundhouse and a downside kick and makes him keel over, and Emerald slashes at his cheek, cutting away at what remained of his aura and then unloaded a whole clip of bullets from her left handed gun into him, putting him on less than five percent of his aura. Mercury added to the combo by switch kicking him in the face, making him stumble back and nearly falling over, then Emerald depleted the rest of his aura by slashing at his chest, making him fall back on one knee, and for good measure shot him a couple more times in the shoulder that belonged to his bad arm.

With an angry yell he swiped his good arm at them, making them both jump back and aim their ranged weapons at him. All he can do is raise his good arm in order to protect his vital areas, and hope that his times three Kaioken would make his skin tough enough to handle the bullets. To make things worse, the rubble moved, and was later blown away.

Cinder stood up from the rubble, and the beside the very angry look on her face and the fact that her mask must have been burned away, the only thing she got in terms of damage was a slight bruise around her left eye.

Hector feels his hope get dashed, he lost this fight now.

"You have struck my final nerve." Cinder said as she summoned up her weapons once again and started to stomp up to him, the clicking of her heels echoing throughout the destroyed room. "You made this much more difficult than I expected."

Hector couldn't respond, he was too focused on trying to keep the Kaioken up even without aura, his red eyes flickering back to brown every few seconds as he tried to keep himself in this fight. He is bleeding from several different wounds, and has burn marks over a majority of his chest, his right arm is bent in a very unnatural and disgusting way, and he is on the verge of passing out.

And yet, he still tries to keep pushing forward. He managed to get on his feet, and enters the best fighting stance he can muster up with his off-hand, turning his body so that they couldn't see what was wrong with the other, even if they already knew of its current condition.

"I won't… give up." Hector saif just loud enough for them to hear.

"I don't need you to." Cinder retorted. "For a hunter-in-training, you should really learn how to watch your back."

"What?" Hector questioned, perplexed by her words.

He understands what she meant when a thin sword stabs through his thigh and exits out the other side, and whatever fight he had left was lost. With a cry he fell down to his knees, and clutched at the profusely bleeding wound he has. His Kaioken fades away completely, the only semblance of it left being his red eyes. Two black gloved hands rest on his shoulders, and he can feel hair tickling the back of his neck, he cranes his neck up to see who it is, only to see two mismatched eyes staring back at him, and a very pleased smile on Neo's face. She pushes him down to his hands and knees, and yanks out her sword. Earning another cry of pain from the leader of Team HAMR, then he gets pulled back up by the scruff of his neck, and feels her arm wrap around his throat.

He is defeated, there is nothing he can do now.

He laughs despite his loss. "Looks like you finally got what you wanted, eh Neo?" He asked as she rested her chin on his shoulder, she nodded happily and began to tighten her arm around his neck slowly, cutting off his ability to breath with each passing second. "Is it too late to ask you to switch sides?" He barely choked out as he desperately tried to pry her arm out from his throat with what little strength had had remaining.

Neo looked like she was thinking about it, actually considering the idea, but shrugged and shook her head no nonetheless, just as Hector expected her to.

Emerald returns her weapons to their holster on her lower back, and Mercury finally relaxes his stance. Cinder smiles at his now submissive nature, and stepped up to him with her previous confidence and usual flirtatious manner. She kneeled down to look him in the eyes, and Neo adjusted his neck so that he stared right back into hers. Red eyes stare into orange, and her eye flames dissipate away as she grabs his chin.

"You, are going to be coming with us now." Cinder said with a victorious smirk.

Hector replied by spitting blood into her face. "Fuck you bitch."

Cinder punched him in the face so hard that it knocked him out cold. Neo kisses his forehead as she let him down gently, hiding her pout toward Cinder by huffing and crossing her arms after placing him on the ground.

"Where were you this whole time?" Mercury asked with an arched eyebrow.

Neo threw an empty bucket of ice cream at his feet, effectively answering his question.

"So while we were fighting for our lives against this guy you were fancying yourself a nice bucket of ice cream? Then came by just to steal the win?"

Neo shrugged her shoulders and smiled, pretty much answering and confirming his suspicions.

Mercury sighed and shook his head. "Wonderful, glad we could rely on you."

Neo flipped him off.

"Charmed."

"If you two are done, it is time we got things moved along." Cinder ordered. "Neo, be a dear and take our guest to where he will be staying from now on."

Neo nodded, despite her hatred for the woman, was not stupid enough to disobey her. She picked Hector up and placed him around her shoulders. It was really awkward for a diminutive girl such as herself being forced to carry someone about two feet taller than her more or less, not to mention that he is really heavy for whatever reason.

"What do we do now Cinder? We got the virus in, and now we have that guy you wanted us to capture, what do we do from here?" Emerald asked.

"You do as you are told." Cinder answered with a glare, still a little sore about the mild black eye and the blood that was spat in her face. "Go back to the hideout, recover your aura and rest up. I will message you the details of where you will go next."

"Yes mam." Both Mercury and Emerald said with an obedient nod.

"Good. Off with you all." Cinder said as she left the building the same way she entered it, and Emerald and Mercury did the same but with different means. Leaving Neo alone suddenly, she pouts at their dismissiveness, and makes sure to commit it to memory to stab Hector again for bleeding on her clothes, he is running out of blood though, and that broken arm of his is going to have to be treated, so she needs to teleport him to his new home stat.

As soon as she was just about to teleport however, the door to the stairwell gets slammed open, and out comes two of the other members of Team HAMR, as well as a ginger girl she does not recognize, all with their weapons out.

She locks eyes with Ashley Cain, and soon everyone sees Hector knocked out, heavily wounded, and puddles of blood and wrecked tech all over the place. They all scowl at her and begin to charge at her in an effort to save their friend.

But with a final wink, Neo and Hector both shatter away into nothing but shards of glass, and are already far far away.

"No!" Ashley yelled as she fell down to her knees, tears beginning to well up in her eyes once again. She was just a few seconds too late.

"What happened!?" Came the headmasters voice, who came running in with Mike close behind, they all widen their eyes at what used to be a console room, everything is mostly destroyed, with splatters of blood here and there, and almost all of the windows broken. Ozpin closes his eyes and shakes his head, already knowing the truth of the situation that was quickly explained to him by Mike.

"They took him…" Ashley choked out. "He's been taken."

Everyone sagged their shoulders upon realizing that they have just lost one of their friends to the enemy, and with all the blood and destruction all about. It would be a miracle if he was still alive by now. His aura was at zero, with no signs of recovering, and the sight of Neopolitan taking him away does not add to their hopes whatsoever.

Ashley fell down to her knees once again, and broke down. Reggie dropped his axe, and crouched down with a hand on his face, tears threatening to fall down his face because of the grief he feels for his loss leader.

Nora, the one known to always be happy, is also resisting the urge to break down, all for the sake of her faunus friend who must be feeling worse than anyone else.

Mike could hardly believe it… his leader was so strong, so determined, and has show the most improvement over his time as a student of Beacon than anyone else he knew. He wouldn't just be gone now right? Just like that? He runs a hand through his pale blonde hair, and for the first time in Beacon takes off his glasses in front of people, his light brown eyes filled with sorrow, and anger. His anger being directed at his traitor faunus teammate, who has already confessed to being at fault for this. It is pity, and only pity that is saving her from being revealed right then and now, even if she might so so herself anyway.

Ozpin shuts his eyes, and tilted his head down to the floor with barely concealed anger, his knuckles turn white as he gripped his cane harder then he has in a very long time. He promises himself, and his students that he will find a way to get him back, and already plans something on the spot.

None of them made it in time, and the guilt is already getting to them, along with the fear of thinking the worst happening to their friend and leader right at this very moment.

They have been defeated, all of them have.

* * *

 **Robert's POV**

"You know, I consider this a victory." I said triunfally. Our clocks had warned us it was night, and we were also starting to feel it. With the flooding, the Trapjaw dead (thanks to Mackie and Verdant putting their spears through its eyes while all of us teared it apart on way or the other) a couple hours ago, the travelling and that one encounter with the Chorus after the collapse, we were exhausted. We decided to take camp in a tunnel with some openings on the wall that left us with space to sleep and camp without being too exposed… we had some rations that we came with and also some that we took from the Chorus he first chance we got, but we to save those so Elena told most of us to search for alternatives, a.k.a. Rats, we did find some but… I went for something different.

"Really? Cockroaches instead of rats is a victory to you?" Miara asked me.

"Totally, they are smaller, easier to catch, they cook and clean faster and you also don't have to worry about boney bits when eating them, so if none of you want my cockroaches, I'll be happy with keeping them to myself for my stew." I said taking another cockroach that I wasn't using for said stew into my mouth.

"Uh… sorry, but in all honesty I can't deal with roaches, rats I can… roaches… not so much." Miara said eating her own rat on a stick.

"You know what, screw it, I'll have some." Verdant said to me.

"Those ones over there are clean and cooked, if you want you can put them on a stick, they taste like chicken."

"Are you seriously-" Miara started, but stopped as Verdant, bit and crunched the cockroach.

"Wow, you weren't kidding." He said, going for another one.

"Told you." I said, Miara looked over towards Seth who was cleaning his guns and enjoying his rat on a stick, he merely shrugged.

"Well why not, the cowboy always has some reason to what he does." Seth said as he went and picked another stick and settle for a selection of rat and cockroach for his menu.

"Thank you for your trust on me partner… seriously though why am I still the cowboy?" I asked him.

"Eh, you look the type." Seth said to me between bites.

"Wouldn't you know sheriff." I said back to him.

"Is he actually a sheriff?" Miara asked.

"Pfft, no, he's merely a lieutenant, he just wished he could be the sheriff." Mackie said with a laugh, we all shared it.

"Heh, you know what, I guess that's better, sheriff would be too much paperwork and too little action."

"Even so you have cup that says number one sheriff." Mackie said with another laugh.

"You really want to fit those revolvers don't you." I said to Seth as all of us shared laugh at his expense.

"You know what, fuck all of you." Seth said dismissing us, he was having a good laugh as well though, so no hard feelings. "And you cowboy, just so you know Marston and Morgan are more important to me than that." Seth said to me

"Heh heh." I laughed.

"Glad to know you seem uplifted." Elena said to us as she approached the rest of the aura users of Venom Fang.

"Well someone seems to enjoy his roaches." Miara siad towards me.

"And you your rats so let's just agree to disagree."

"Hmm, well, we'll be moving early on the morning, we'll keep going in the direction of the central pit."

"Shouldn't we be going the other direction?" Mackie asked.

"No… we still need supplies to survive and the Chorus has those, in fact if we keep going we might be able to just steal away their supplies, reach their base, get a map, and then find a way out… and if we can take them out, two birds with one stone, I understand that the smart thing would be to go back… but we don't have any idea of where the rest of the squads are, where the people outside might be looking for us, and just how collapsed and flooded the tunnels have become." Elena finished. There was silence for a bit.

"How are the other officers? How are our officers, the people from other squads" I asked.

" ***Sigh*** They are not great, our officers got used to us working with them, and they can survive a fair bit on their own, but they are having doubts, and the deaths are weighing heavily on the people from other squads… even the few aura users that they have."

"It's really Venom fang the only without casualties?" Miara asked.

"We are a flanking unit, everyone here had to have some skill to flank the enemy and survive, Rhoda was a more stealth orienting squad so some of them survived, the others… straggler from either Mino or other squads."

"Why did they call us Venom Fang anyway?" Verdan asked.

"Eh… the guy doing names wanted a snake and scorpion theme for th flankers, he wanted to be original I guess." Seth answered.

"He could have just call us Taijitu." Verdant said.

"No he wouldn't, whether it is true or not, naming groups and squads after Grimm is considered a taboo, and a sign of ill omens." Elena said.

"Huh… well, maybe that's better, we'll need all the help we can get." Mackie said, We'll sure need it, I was questioning in my mind if I should tell them about the Seer, I probably should… maybe, we were going that direction after all, hmm… I kept thinking and soon bubbling started to cam from my side… what?

"Oh… my cockroach stew is ready." I said.

* * *

 **Now THAT, was a thing. Yeah, Hector lost his fight, but let's be honest here. He wasn't ever going to stand a chance realistically. Cinder on her own could have beaten him. The only thing that let him last as long as he did was the Kaioken, but this is not Unlikely Hero Hector, his younger, weaker body can't handle the power that his counterpart can, that's not even mentioning him not being nearly as skilled as the other Hector, since that one had Ozpin in his head, and trained a lot more than he did, not to mention older, stronger, and basically superior in every way to HAMR Hector. Then there's Neo lurking in the shadows the whole time, waiting for her moment to strike. A lot of things happened this chapter, even though it all really lasted around ten to twenty minutes at most. And yes, as confirmation right now, Hector has been kidnapped, taken away, held hostage and many other synonyms. Life is hard like that. -Genatools**

 **The team on tunnels is also adapting, and going into further danger as well, and yes, Marston and Morgan are indeed exactly what you are thinking, call it a thing of the moment, but I honestly think those names for Seth's revolvers fit. -CrowSkull.**

 **Please review and tell us what you think of the chapter!**

 **Disclaimer- We do not own RWBY in any way, shape, or form.**


	24. Rwby: Team HAMR chapter 24

**Welcome back everyone to another chapter of Team HAMR! We have recently pushed passed 50 followers, that is a milestone for this story! Halfway there to 100!**

 **Celebration time come on! -CrowSkull**

 **Let's see who reviewed last chapter**

 **Zeldawolffang: Yeah… poor Hector, he is been through some shit.**

 **Soul109: No problem! I respond to every single review from every single story!**

 **Guest: Sadly, no, Ashley has no relation to Rhea from UH, Rhea isn't even in this fic besides a mention at most. She may be alive in this story, but she isn't in the story as a main or side character.**

 **Thank you both for the reviews!**

* * *

RWBY: Team HAMR

Chapter 24- Abandoned, Forgotten, Disturbed.

 **Michael**

The next day after the dance was supposed to be full of walk of shames, and other then that happiness, but no. Everyone is left feeling defeated. Multiple enemies, not just one, managed to sneak into Beacon, then to the CCT tower, and the only one who noticed was the leader of his team, Hector Rivers. And after a fierce battle, one of which he Mike has no doubts his leader did not go down without a fight, if the destroyed machinery, shattered windows, and scorch marks were of any indication. But in the end he was defeated, and he was kidnapped.

Mike took up the mantle of temporary leader until his teammate is either found alive… or dead. He was very close to ratting out Ashley to the headmaster, but after pleads from both Reggie and Nora, who are the only other ones who know the truth, he was convinced to let her stay. But not for her, because he knows that his eccentric and unusual leader would have probably done the same, and for the friendship that they had before.

Michael Cedric was called up to the headmasters office in order to review the footage that the cameras were able to catch. He ignored the people who expressed their concern for him and his team, but he is not the kind of person who accepts pity from others. He barely acknowledged Weiss even, who is the closest person to him outside of his own team. Though from his knowledge, the kidnapping of his own leader has caused discord among the other teams, RWBY, and JNPR.

His job isn't to comfort people, even if he wouldn't be very good at it. He has given himself a mission to find his leader, wherever he may be. He denied the requests of the rest of his team to see the video as well, simply because Ozpin has warned him that the footage isn't exactly friendly on the eyes, and he caught his hidden meaning.

He walks into his office without knocking, and the headmaster perks up from his desk at the sight of him. Ozpin for once looks like he actually lost a night of sleep over the matter.

"Ah, Mister Cedric, I am glad you could make it." He greeted with a small smile.

"Mmm, the work I am missing is being waived right?" Michael asked as he brushed his platinum blonde hair behind his ears.

"Of course," Ozpin answered right away. "I assume you are not one for small talk, so shall we get onto business?"

"Please." Michael said as he sat down, and Ozpin spun his computer around so that it faced him. On the screen was a paused video, which looks like the start of the fight, with Hector ready in his stance as he faces up against two familiar teenagers, and an older woman with half of her face covered by a mask. Mike gulps nervously as he mentally prepares himself to see what is no doubt about to be a ferocious battle, there was fresh blood in the room where they fought, and he hopes that it wasn't _all_ his leaders. "Go ahead, show me." He said in a monotone voice.

"Not yet," Ozpin said. "Do your recognize anyone in the picture here? Besides your leader of course." He explained as soon as he noticed Mikes scowl.

"The ones with gray and green hair, I think they are Emerald and Mercury, though their last names escape me at the moment." Mike explained to the headmaster how exactly he knows their names, and how his leader somehow knew that they were going to attack the bookstore and kill the owner, and at what time. Then how the escaped with the help of some girl named Neo, he doesn't know if that girl even as a last name, but he tells him that she is most likely criminally insane and seemed to have some sick interest in Hector, or at least appeared to. The headmaster absorbed this information and committed it to memory.

"I understand, thank you for sharing this with me, this will no doubt help with the investigation. But what about this woman?" Ozpin pointed to the masked woman with orange eyes.

"No idea who she is, and if Hector knew, he never shared anything about her." Mike answered honestly and with very little hesitation.

"Hm, look at your leaders face here." Ozpin said as he zoomed in on his features. "Tell me, what do you see?"

Mike leaned into the screen, and saw that Hector did not look scared, nervous, but not scared, and he didn't seem surprised to see her there, neither for Mercury and Emerald. He looked ready for a fight. "He seems ready for a fight, and yeah it does look like he recognized them…" Mike came to a sudden realization. "You don't think he used to work with them do you?"

"No, I know he hasn't." Ozpin said right away. He has no doubt that his student from another world is in fact not working with the enemy, he could tell that the young man has a pure heart. However, from his own observations, he now knows that he isn't the only one who has been keeping secrets. "It was just something I could not help but notice." He lied. "It seems like he knew them from _somewhere_ but I know that he has never worked with them, if anything they are old enemies rather then old allies."

"Yeah, I get that." Mike nodded, on the inside he was relieved, two out of four former terrorist's on his team might have been too much for him to handle if that was the case. "Can we get this over with now?"

"Of course, just press play whenever you are ready. I will give you privacy if that is what you desire." Ozpin said in a soft voice.

"No, it's fine, I've put this off long enough already, I just need to know what happened." Mike said as his finger grew nearer to the play button.

The headmaster sat in silent understanding as his student pressed play on the screen, and the video resumes almost immediately, and gets into the action right away. Mike watched on with increasing worry and concern for his leader as he began to bleed from his mouth, and fights for his life against three superior opponents. In terms of strength and speed, it appears that Hector had a major edge, but when it came down to skill, it was more than obvious that their enemies had a large advantage over him. He knew that his leader was not the best fighter as soon as he met him, but he more than made up for it in his spars because of his very powerful semblance. But as it shows here, he seems to have been relying on it a little too much, and the drawbacks of his semblance become even more self-harmful the higher he multiplies his power.

It almost looked like he was winning at one point though, so he had to hand it to him and his adaptability skills. But all that pride went away when the older woman in full black placed a hand on his chest and blasted him into the wall.

"What was that power? I thought her semblance were those glass swords…" Mike asked as soon as Hector hit the wall.

"That… is something I am hoping isn't what I think it is." Ozpin said cryptically.

Mike would have questioned why the headmaster answered to cryptically, but when he saw how Hector began losing the fight horribly, he focused on the screen. After another scuffle it seemed that they were talking a bit, and the woman called her minions off. So it seemed like she was the one in charge of everything that was going on there. He then saw what his leader was doing… and his eyes widened in horror.

From reading his lips, and the burts of large red flames that came from his aura, he could see that he went Kaioken times ten, and times five was horrifying to watch! As soon as he activated it Hector began to bleed, and even with all this power, that woman still seemed like she had such a huge advantage over him. That was until he broke through her swords with his gauntlets, and then punched her so hard that she nearly went through the four foot wall of stone, and then as soon as she hit the floor, it was revealed that Hector left a delayed explosion for her as a parting gift.

But after that his arm was dangling at his side, twisted and contorted in a disgusting unnatural way. Mike shut his eyes, and a grimace escaped from his lips. He knew that at that moment, even if he managed to beat that woman, Emerald and Mercury would have taken him down, and they did. They beat him down so much that he lost the rest of his aura and his semblance was barely able to work due to the strain on his body, but to his surprise it was still there. Don't semblances only work if the person has aura? Reggie and his lost horn was a prime example of that.

But no, it stayed up, probably at a very low power, but it _was_ there. After a few more shared words and the woman getting up from the rubble with nothing but a black eye, he scowled and growled heavily when he saw the Neo girl stab his leader through the leg, thus making him drop out of his Kaioken and cause him to bleed even more than he was no. With the amount of blood he was shedding it was a miracle that he was even able to kneel without passing out.

Lastly, Mike saw Hector spit in the womans face when she grabbed his own, and then earned a punch that knocked him out. After that he could guess what happened from there, they all escaped, and he saw himself stare on in shock as Neo teleported away with Hector on her back, and that was the last time that he ever saw him.

Once the video ended, Mike pushed the screen away with a choked sigh. That was hard for him to watch, and he can only blame himself, his leader, and Ashley. Himself because in the time of his leaders greatest need, he wasn't there for him, he just stared on in shock as he was taken away. Hector because the idiot went on his own to fight a battle he knew he probably couldn't win, and Ashley because of obvious reasons. That was another talk he has to have with her.

"As you just saw," Ozpn began. "Your leader was beaten, and taken away, now the biggest question we have is where he is. Do you have _any_ idea where he may be?"

"Heh." Mike chuckled once, one full of sorrow and anger as he thinks about the first person that came to his mind. "I don't have any idea, but I might have someone in mind, but I need to go ask her myself."

"I… is this person by any chance Ashley Cain?" Ozpin asked slowly.

"Yup, don't worry, I just have some things to discuss with her and Reggie." Mike said as he stood up and fixed his glasses to fit better on his face. "I'll talk to you later headmaster, thank you for letting me see this."

"Of course… but please, I do not know why you have a distrust for your teammate, but this is one of those moments to be there for her, not to be distrustful of her."

"Yeah… probably." Mike said as he let himself out of his office.

Ozpin could only sigh and return to his duties, hoping that in their leaders absence, Team HAMR won't tear themselves apart.

* * *

Mike walks through the halls of his dorm building, just a few doors down from his own room he stops in his tracks and leans against the wall. He sighs loudly and rubs both of his hands down his face, not looking forward to entering that room and get into yet another argument with his team.

"Are you okay?" A voice makes him jump slightly, before calming down at the sight of the red haired champion of Mistral.

"Im fine Pyrrha, just a lot of things on my mind." Michael said as he took off his glasses and wiped them with his shirt, more as a stalling tactic than anything.

"I can relate to you on that." Pyrrha laughed wholeheartedly as she leaned against the wall beside the temporary leader. "I hear you are the stand in leader of HAMR while Hector is… away."

"That's one way you can put it." Mike chuckled bitterly. "We don't speak often, what brings you here today?"

"We may not speak much at all, but I still count you as one of my friends, I was surprised when you didn't speak to me when you first saw me here actually. We did go to the same school together back in Mistral." Pyrrha said.

Mike just shrugged his shoulders, but did acknowledge her words. "I guess it just never crossed my mind, sorry, but I had a lot of my own things to deal with, I didn't really have time for many friendships ever since I came out."

"I understand, there is no need for you to explain yourself to me." Pyrrha thankfully changed the topic, his past was always and is still a sore subject for him. "How are you, really?"

Mike sighed, and shut his eyes, shaking his head. That was all Pyrrha needed to see to know how he is feeling, it has been a long time but she knows how to read Mike.

"Michael, there is no need to cut yourself off from your friends, I know for a fact that Team RWBY or worried for not only you, but your whole team. Hector was a friend to all of us, and even though he lied to me about not knowing about me before he met me."

"Wait, you knew?" Mike asked, cutting her off inadvertently.

Pyrrha chuckled lightly and nodded. "Yes, I knew, although it did take me a while, I eventually found out. He is not a good liar."

"Oh, trust me, I know that for a fact. You should have seen how he got when he denied having feelings for Ashley the first couple of times we asked him." Mike smiled at the memory, a rare smile that he hasn't been showing ever since the incident.

"I can imagine, he had good intentions though, I know that. I think he wanted me to just feel more comfortable around him, that's just his way of caring I assume." Pyrrha said. "He was the one who convinced Jaune to ask me to the dance as well."

"No kidding? You mean he wasn't joking about that 'Hector the Love Inspector' shit?"

Pyrrha laughed for a few seconds upon hearing that. "Is that what he called himself? Gods, what a jest he is. But yes, it is true."

"How'd that go?" Mike asked next, his smile fading away slightly, but not all the way.

Pyrrha blushed and played with her own fingers at the memory. "He is a very good dancer, and showed more confidence than he ever did before."

"Sounds like he did a good job then…" Mike's smile disappears completely as he thinks about the dance, while he does have fond memories of that night, it is all overshadowed by the incident that followed.

"Yes… he did." Pyrrha agreed. "Hector is going to come back, I know the kind of character he is, maybe not as good as you do, but I know that he is doing everything he can in order to come back to us, to his team."

Mike nodded sadly, his light brown eyes momentarily locking onto green before moving away from the wall. "I'll keep that in mind Pyrrha, thanks for the talk."

"Anytime, you know our doors or open to you and your team." She said with an appreciative nod.

Mike nodded back, and unlocked his door, looking back to Pyrrha one more time before stepping inside, immediately a pair of dark blue eyes is set on him, as well as Reggie's darker brown. His boyfriend smiles at him, sitting on where Hector used to sleep, and Ashley sitting on her own bed facing him, they were talking about something while Mike was gone, he knew that.

He glared at Ashley for a few seconds, before walking passed her and sat next to Reggie while keeping his eyes firmly locked on her. This continues for a few more moments before Michael finally broke the silence.

"So, tell me everything like you said you would _spy_. From the beginning." Ashley winced, and Mike did not make this sound like a request, but more like a demand. He hasn't been speaking to her ever since the incident, and she did tell him that she would explain everything after that whole debacle, he is now taking her up on that offer, and aims to get some answers finally.

Ashley sighed and shook slightly, her story is not a pretty one, and it is full of things that would probably make her new friends hate her, and they would be pretty justified in that. She steels herself, and looks back into his eyes. Her normally tied up hair falling over her shoulders, she looks less for wear, and Hector's kidnapping has hit her heart the most.

"My story begins the day my parents were killed… the person who saved me from their murderers was… Sienna Khan."

* * *

 _A ten year old Ashley runs through the damp and dark forest with tears flowing down her face, the sounds of gunshots and shouting making her push passed her own limitations even while exhausted, but she is nearly out of stamina at this point after running without stopping for a full hour. Her little legs are numb and in pain at the same time, and her lungs feel like they are burning from the inside. Until finally, she trips over an exposed root and faceplants into the wet dirt beneath her, getting into one eye temporarily half blinding her._

 _She tries to get up, but in doing so only falls back down, her small arms not having the energy left to push her body up from the wet dirty ground. To make things worse, the humans do not sound far away, and are getting closer with each passing second._

" _Mommy… I'm sorry." She said as she cried harder, feeling like she failed her mother's last wishes to get her out of harm's way. Her dog ears flatten against her head as she submits to her fate, and the humans finally catch up with her._

" _Ha… ha… you little bitch!" One of them yelled as he kicked her in the side. "Making us chase after you like that, you're lucky we don't kill you right away! Those ears of yours would go for a pretty hefty price, and we kinda need you alive for that." Ashley whined and gasps for air, terrified of these monsters in human shape._

" _Not that we need you alive per say, I heard that the young ones scream the loudest." Another monster said as he slid out a skinning knife from its sheath, and picks Ashley's head off the ground by her faunus ears. She uselessly kicks her legs against the man's knees as she is lifted off the ground. Her ears straining and stretching painfully as her own weight pulls her down._

" _No! Get away!" Ashley cried as the tears streamed down her cheeks._

" _Nah, I don't think we will." The man holding the knife said with a sick grin as he slowly drove the knife closer to her ear, until the tip of the blade touches her soft sensitive skin._

 _He then found out that he was missing a hand, and thus screamed loudly as the blood squirted out of his stump._

" _Get away from the girl!" A woman screamed as she kicked the man away and threw the blood off her blade with a swipe. Two other faunus soldiers, wearing White Fang colors show up with guns._

 _The humans are easily outmatched, and outgunned, none of them having aura._

" _Young lady." The striped woman called to Ashley as she knelt down on one knee. "Are these some of the humans that attacked your village?"_

 _Ashley looked up at the woman, tears still in her eyes and rimmed with red. She nodded slowly as she massaged her aching faunus features._

 _The woman growled lightly, and threw her blade into one of the man's throats, then pulls it out by the chain it is attached to, ripping out his throat. The other man who kicked her attempts to run away, but one of the other White Fang members shot him in the back as he ran. Lastly, the man who almost cut off the little girls dog ears was left on the ground, holding his stump of an arm and tears running down his face. He looks terrified as the tiger faunus stomped up to him, holding her chain with both hands and a murderous look on her face._

 _All that Ashley saw and hear next was the woman wrapping the chain around his neck, and slowly strangling him to death until she heard a sickening crack. The man stopped resisting, and his head fell back at an unnatural angle._

 _The striped woman then stood up, and holstered her weapon. Then looked back toward the young ashen haired girl with a soft look in her eyes. "What is your name young one?"_

" _A-Ashley… Ashley Cain."_

" _Hm, my name is Sienna Khan, do you know who I am?" Sienna asked as she once again knelt down in front of her._

" _U-uh… no."_

 _Sienna arched her eyebrow, and wonders what to do with this young girl. Her family is dead, and if she has any more, which she doubts she does since this is the first time she has heard the surname 'Cain', and she knows almost all of the faunus families that live outside of Menagerie, or at least most of them. She is supposed to become the next High leader of the White Fang in a few years after all._

" _You two go back to the village, help any survivors, I'll take care of the girl." Sienna ordered, to which her subordinates obey without pause. She then turns back to the scared little faunus girl, who has curled up like a ball with just her blue eyes peeking over her knees. "I am a high ranking officer of the White Fang, you know what we do yes?"_

 _Ashley nodded once._

" _Then you know that we fight for the freedom and equality for all faunus, do you have anywhere else to go?"_

 _Ashley shook her head, and begins to cry once more._

 _This time, as she cried, Sienna sighed and pulled her into a hug in an attempt to comfort the girl. She was no mother, far from it, but it was all she could think of doing at the moment. Then, she got a crazy idea._

" _Since you have nowhere else to go, the White Fang could and would take care of you, is that something you would like?" Sienna asked as she slowly wiped away one of her tears, a rare sight of her soft side that she hasn't shown to anyone in the White Fang, and certainly wasn't going to allow the two grunts she was with see._

" _I...I don't know." Ashley said with apprehension._

" _The way I see it you don't really have a lot of options, unless you would prefer I leave you in the woods to fend for yourself?"_

" _No! I'll go… just take me away from here please." Ashley cried into her chest, Sienna felt the moisture from her face dampen her shirt. She was about to pick her up when she saw the deep red mark on her left ankle, and realised that the girl must have been running barefoot for so long before her body finally gave out. If she hadn't cut that man's hand off in time…_

" _What happened to your foot?" Sienna asked as she pointed to her sprained ankle, by the looks of it, it's going to take a few weeks in order for it to heal up naturally._

" _I tripped… it hurts." Ashley explained simply._

" _Hm, I have an idea then." Sienna said as she placed one of her hands around Ashley's head, and began to concentrate. She chanted a tone in her mind, and her orange aura flared up as she began to unlock Ashley's aura, which glowed a mixture of dark blue and purple as Sienna unlocked it. With a bright flash, her aura was unlocked, and Sienna let out a breath she didn't know she was holding as she did so._

 _She felt… okay actually, usually when she does this it takes a great deal of stamina out of her, but this time she is more or less okay. She draws the conclusion that Ashley simple doesn't have a lot of aura, guessing by how she even looks like she has a thin aura, and even her accelerated healing isn't working to its full potential._

" _You don't have a lot of it, but your aura is unlocked, I'll explain to you what it means when I take you back to camp and feed you. You must be famished." Sienna said as she carried the girl and walked in the opposite direction of her village._

" _Mhm." Ashley hummed as she instantly fell asleep, utterly spent after everything that has happened on this emotional night._

 _Sienna sighed for what feels like the hundredth time that night._

" _What did I just get myself into?"_

* * *

 _Years later, and Ashley is now seventeen, she has been trained in the ways of the White Fang, and while she is not yet an official member by her own and Sienna's choice of course, Sienna herself has been training her to fight and use her aura in combat. But today, is going to be her first ever mission, and one that would last for years to come._

" _I have to become a student at Beacon?" Ashley asked as she sheathed her dual swords. They were gifted to her by Sienna, and she cherishes them every day._

" _Yes, you are to train there and become an 'Official' huntress, but really you are going to be working with the Vale commander of the White Fang, Adam Taurus. I only trust you with this mission, because it will be a very delicate one. The students of Beacon may sway your heart, but it is important that you keep your mission a priority."_

" _So… you're finally sending me to school, and now that I am, I'm not allowed to make any friends?" Ashley asked with a perplexed tilt of her head._

" _Don't be a smartass, of course you can make friends, just be ready to abandon them when the time comes. And for god's sake don't fall in love with anyone." Sienna said with a laugh._

" _I haven't even seen a human ever since the night you found me… how do I react?"_

" _Your indifference against the humans is why I didn't want you in the White Fang, you wouldn't be able to bring yourself to harm them like we have to, and if you did I would never forgive myself for allowing you to be forced into that situation in the first place." Sienna explained with a shake of your head. "You're too kind hearted for your own good."_

" _I… thanks?" Ashley said with a laugh as she leaned on the table. "So when do I leave?"_

" _Well, initiation starts in a few days, and you have already been accepted into the school via forged but not inaccurate means, and we are on the other side of the world at the moment."_

" _I have to leave right now don't I?"_

" _Yup, don't worry I had Tammy packs your bags for you, you'll be going on a very fast Bullhead."_

 _Ashley sighed, but accepted her terms anyway, she trust Sienna with her life, the woman that played a big part in raising her. She is forever indebted to her and will do what she says without hesitation._

" _What do I do when I get there?"_

" _Whatever Adam tells you to do, I've already given your scroll his number, just message him when you get in range and he'll explain to you what he will have you doing." Sienna explained simply as she stood from the table and spread her arms out._

 _Ashley hugged her right away, and they held it for a few moments, a tense emotional silence takes place between the two young women as they hold their embrace._

" _I am very proud of you Ashley, and I have no doubt that you will complete this mission with flying colors, my only regret is that we will not be able to see each other in person for years to come." Sienna said as she let her go, but kept her hands on her shoulders._

" _Yeah… I am going to miss you." Ashley said with a smile. "So what do I do if I guy asked me out?"_

 _Sienna laughed and pushed her away playfully. "Then they better know what they are getting into."_

" _Ha, as if they would get that chance…"_

* * *

"My orders from Adam were to stay undercover at Beacon for just this year… and to send him information about Hector for whatever reason, he has been being ordered around by someone, I don't know who, and you know the rest of the story." Ashley finally ended, and sagged in her seat on her bed, ashamed of herself for two reasons, for betraying Sienna and the White Fang, and for betraying the team she has come to love as her own family. But she had to make a choice, and she made it at the moment she realized that Hector knew of Cinder's plans, now she has to live with it.

Michael couldn't say anything besides pinch the bridge of his nose, while Reggie was more sympathetic than his partner.

"I… I don't know how to feel about you right now Ashley." Michael finally said. "Everything you just said just revealed the lie that you told us every day before the dance. Is it really something as stupid as young love that got you to turn on them all?"

"Yeah… I guess." Ashley shrugged, honestly not having a lot to say on the matter.

"I for one think that it is important that Ashley chose us over them anyway." Reggie spoke up. "In the end Mike, she did choose us and her friends over the White Fang and Sienna, I don't think it was _just_ Hector that got her to change her mind."

"I know that Reggie, but Hector was _still_ kidnapped, Hector was _still_ beaten half to death, one good deed doesn't just overshadow all of her wrongdoings." Mike said while looking at Ashley. "Im sorry, but my forgiveness isn't going to come as easy as everyone else's, I have quite the burden now as leader on top of that."

"I don't expect you to… I don't think I deserve it either." Ashley said with a sniffle. "All I can say or do right now, is that I am sorry, and I _might_ know where Hector is being kept, only that it is somewhere where huntsman and police can't get to without a big fight on their hands."

"Where then?" Mike asked as he leaned in with his elbows on top of his knees.

"Somewhere by Mountain Glenn…" Ashley answered slowly but immediately.

Michael placed his hands on his face and groaned loudly, while Reggie widened his eyes and sagged back in the couch with a defeated look on his face.

"Well fuck…" Michael groaned into his hands.

Ashley couldn't say anything… and was just as defeated as they were.

"Wait." Reggie said suddenly, leaning forward on his knees again. "What about the training missions coming up?"

"What?"

"The training missions Mike! There has to be one that leads us to Mt. Glenn, what if we just take one of those missions, and we can look for him there with a professional huntsman!?" Reggie explained excitedly.

"Reggie… thats a great idea and all, but Ashley said that he _might_ be there, and even if he is, it is going to be at least a week, probably even more because of the incident before the missions are even available to us first years, which would leave Hector on his own enduring whatever the hell they are doing to him right now for I am guessing at least a week and a half." Mike downcasted.

"Well I don't see anyone else coming up with ideas, Mt. Glenn is our best option right now, maybe I can get RWBY or JNPR to join us even, maybe both of them, the more the merrier." Reggie said. "But doing _nothing_ but being depressed is the worst thing we can do right now, I mean, I know for a fact that if it were one of us that was taken, Hector would not _sleep_ until he found us. I think we should do the same for him."

"I do to." Ashley declared, before shrinking down when the attention was placed back on her. "I mean… if you'll let me."

"Technically, as of now I am the current leader of Team HAMR." Michael stated truthfully. "So I get the decision in the end, and right now I can't make it, I have too much to think on."

Ashley was about to protest, but held back on it, she doesn't want to cause even more problems for her team then she already has. And Michael definitely has his reasons for his actions.

She can only hope that Hector is at least alive…

* * *

 **Tunnels beneath Vale**

 **Robert's POV**

After our little group of survivors woke up and had a decent breakfast of some provisions, rats and cockroaches we started walking further down into the tunnels, we encounter more of "the pits" going down, the rooms of the pits were definitely interesting. The bottom of the pits where on a pond (or more than one in some cases) surrounded by massive dust crystals stuck to the floor and walls that gave away a light blue light, all in all with the reflection on the green water and the darkness and silence it gave a feeling of being underwater, the tunnels between chambers were much the same, the deeper we went the more the tunnels filled with water. There were sidewalks to avoid the sewer like canals, incredibly the tunnels didn't smell anymore, however filthy the water was it didn't actually have any bad smell, that or my nose had stopped working, which was entirely possible, it was never the best nose, but even the water was consistently greenish or bluish in color.

There were however other issues at hand, after the night and after a lot of thinking I had decided to come clean regarding the Seer, not matter how many or how skilled and strong were we, the chance of death was real, I was nervous, and I also didn't know what was going in the surface, I didn't have to ponder in it either, the goal right now was to get out of here... and I couldn't handle all of this alone. I thought some people needed to know, more specifically the Huntsman level fighters off Venom Fang since well... I trusted them to some extent. Right now we were walking a little up ahead from the rest of the group, out of earshot.

"So the cult has an actual Grimm capable of… what now?" Verdant asked.

"Capable of expanding negativity, also capable altering reality somewhat, and create illusions, let's also not forget have some influence in other Grimm." Elena explained to Verdant as we kept walking, they had taken the news with relative silence, for us the idea that the cult was a threat to Vale wasn't new, the only thing that changed with the news is that now Seth, Miara, Mackie and Verdant knew that the cult had a chance of actually endangering the Kingdom with a Grimm capable of coordinating other Grimm and make the negativity grow inside of Vale… They knew that portion now… and yet it didn't change much, it didn't really change much the fact we were stuck here, and I also wasn't the only that knew beforehand, Elena knew too apparently.

"So… they are capable of controlling Grimm then?" Mackie asked a little worried.

"Not really, the Seer can, and the Seer is most likely using the Chorus to it's advantage, they do have some telepathy apparently, it must be able to communicate with at least the leader." Elena answered

"So they are really willing to let negativity grow, and for Grimm to nest beneath the city then, to take down Vale, the entire Kingdom and leave it as an infested Grimm ghost town, just like Mountain Glenn?" Seth asked.

"That Is what they believe isn't it? A world without the Kingdoms "corruption", they always said they'll bring that vision, I mean, what better way to tear down a Kingdom than to let turn on itself and let the Grimm do the rest." I said, they all looked at me and then at each other while walking for a brief moment.

"He's right, they always said they were going to do that, and we all heard the leader, he seems like someone with a bone to pick, wouldn't put it past him." Miara said.

"How did both of you knew about the Seer, 'specially you Urra, how did you know?" Vedant asked.

"I uh…" I pondered my next words.

"Well after being a huntress for a long time you hear of all kind of Grimm, even the most uncommon ones, and I've never faced a Seer never even encountered one, but I've heard of them from before even this particular job, and was told by the higher ups as soon as I enlisted." Elena answered.

"That makes sense for you mam, what about him?" Mackie asked referring to me, they all eventually looked at me for an answer.

"Well, Ozpin had to with it, I work with him, and he told me about the Seer and also asked me to be part of this mission." I answered.

"You work with Ozpin? How exactly?" Miara asked me.

"Uh, that's because dear 'ol cowboy here works at Beacon." Seth said as he clapped a hand on my shoulder.

"Really?" Elena asked me more directly.

"As an assistant professor, I work with directly for Goodwitch, I'm also her apprentice, and she works directly for Ozpin, you can see the connection by now." I said.

"Huh… the old hag finally decided to personally teach someone, well that explains why she always talked with you before and after missions, and how capable you are." Elena pondered.

"Is it really hard to believe that I'm competent?" I asked.

"Not at all, you just happened to be the youngest here." Verdant began.

"You also look like someone that hasn't got his huntsman license or been part of something like this before." Mackie continued.

"To be fair I bet there's a lot of people that haven't been part of something like this before." I said in return

"Exactly, and you are handling this pretty well." Mackie said

"Uh… what?" I asked.

"It's not that it is a surprise that you are competent, the surprise is that you are way more than competent, you are way too good for even the like of fourth years at Beacon, you being Goodwitch's apprentice helps explain it a bit." Miara said to me.

"Uh… thanks?"

"Don't get us wrong, I personally am very glad you are with us, hell I'm happy with anyone else having me and Verdant's back, but between you and Seth have been a big help overall." Mackie said. Seth decided to give me a pat on the back as a way of saying I was doing good I guess.

"Well… when you put it like that… you're right I guess." I said scratching the side of my head.

"I did think at the beginning that you were some arrogant kid recently graduated… but you didn't have the marks of an arrogant fool, and later you started showing you could handle things, I mean the first time you entered the tunnels you and Goodwitch ended up killing Cedric Vaseer." Elena said.

"... You guys are feeding my ego a bit too much." I showed modesty.

"Well I'll give you kudos for doing something I couldn't even decide if I should do, tell people about the Seer." Elena said.

"Huh… does that mean we should also tell the others?" I asked, we stopped for a brief moment, Elena was thinking… until she raised her head.

"I don't think so." She said.

"Why?" Asked Mackie.

"They… I don't think it will be the best for their morale if they know that they are fighting some ancient Grimm that is also working for now with a cult, they are already scared just being trapped here, not all of them have aura, and the ones that do… they are not at the level of Huntsmen or Huntresses… they know their chances are already low, hell chances are already low for us, theirs are even lower… but they don't really have to know about the Seer, I'm sure you all realized it hasn't changed our situation much, we are still trapped, and we are still proplay going to go in the direction of more Chorus, knowing or not about the Seer also doesn't change how the Chorus trapped us, doesn't change the fact the Chorus is doing something we already knew could be a threat… in fact, if there's a point where we have to face the Seer, I don't think it was ever planned for them to face it, and they shouldn't, they are not ready for it, but we are, and we know, if the time comes we'll face the Seer, and they will make sure nobody else intervenes." Elena finished explaining… it was honestly a very fair reason, best case scenario is that they'll never have to know about the Seer, and she's right they are not supposed to face it… were we honestly?... Well maybe it was too late to ask, it was maybe better if we faced it, I didn't knew exactly all a Seer could do, but we still had the bigger chance of survival against it, and if the indeed fought the Grimm or the Chorus while we fought the Seer, then it wouldn't be like they were doing nothing.

"Hmm… maybe you are right." Seth said.

"You both said it could affect mind and reality… what do we do if… it tries to you know, affect us, like even before we have to face it." Verdant asked.

"Well… we don't exactly know each other that well, but if it comes to a voice telling you to do something or that someone is conspiring against or you start hear the voice of someone talking behind your back… assume it's not real, assume it's the Seer and also don't pay attention to it." I said.

"You are totally gonna start talking behind my back now right?" Mackie asked.

"Totally!" Me, Seth, Miara and Verdant said in unison.

"Heh heh." Mackie couldn't help but laugh "Honestly doesn't seem that hard, by that logic if one of you besides Verdant start talking about my personal stuff behind my back then I'll know it's fake." He said.

"Hmm… what about the others, what if the Seer gets to them?" Miara asked.

"Well… then we'll isolate those cases and deal with them as they come, we'll explain the situation as the need arises and tell them just the same, to assume the voices are false, maybe we should tell them soon, but not so soon, another reason for telling them is just so that they are a bit more calm, that way the Seer might not get to them as easily, if they need to know about it, they just need to know the Seer is dangerous, that they shouldn't get close to it and that it can affect their minds to confuse them… maybe not that it could potentially destroy Vale, but even then it's still just a Grimm, a smarter Grimm, but just Grimm." elena said, she sounded convinced on that last part… I wasn't, but then again she probably didn't knew about Salem… considering what we just talked about, maybe that's for the best, it is also easier to fight something you believe, and it was true that in way a Seer was just another Grimm.

" ***Sigh*** It is what it is then." Seth sighed.

"Yep." I said. Soon we heard movement up ahead, Elena gave a sign for the rest of Venom Fang and the other survivors to stop, there were Chorus members patrolling up ahead… no, they weren't patrolling, they were running from something.

"What's happening?" Jack, another member of Venom Fang asked once everyone reached us.

"Either the Grimm are hunting them or they are retreating even further down because of something else." Miara said.

"Maybe it could be someone else that survived the flood." One of the officers said, she sounded rather hopeful, better than pessimistic really, and it was true, the Grimm were not actually going to hunt the Chorus due to the Seer, so it might be some of our people.

"It's possible…" Elena said thoughtfully.

" _RAaargH!"_ Came in a distorted voice at the end of the hallway, we saw something akin to a figure going after the Chorus, we didn't recognize the voice, it didn't sound like a person either.

"I don't know about any of you but that didn't sound friendly to me." Jack said.

"You can it again, still it's after the Chorus and the Chorus is retreating, possibly to a base or something." Seth said.

"And that may have map." Elena said. "Alright, everyone stick to your formations an be wary of what that thing might be, stick together." She said and so we started advancing.

 **Moments later**

We followed what we had saw, and whoever or whatever it was it had left nothing but a path of destruction on it's wake, there several bodies of members of the Chorus, some seemed like they have been crushed by a mace, others looked like they have been drowned… and others were nailed to the walls with what seemed to be harpoons, weird looking harpoons, almost like pieces of them were covered in dust crystals.

"I don't think we had anyone with some sort of harpoon gun." One of the police lieutenants said.

"I'm pretty sure I'll also remember the work of someone like this." Said another and they were right, it was pretty clear by now that whoever this was, it was not someone we knew about and honestly I was wondering if "enemy of my enemy" could apply here, I doubted the guy will stop for a second to talk.

"Be alert, we are getting close to another pit, he seems to be going in that direction as well."

"Roger that leader." Mackie said. We kept going forward, the displays of carnage ever present, we reached a massive pit, this one looked also had a tower at the middle it's top connected to different pathways and entrances, but it also had pathways a couple floors down, it was honestly bigger than the tower where I had fought Vaseer, the water also flowed from other entrances like if they were water falls down onto the pit, the glow of the dust crystals below giving illumination to the chamber… and the middle of the top of the tower, in front of us there was a man surrounded by dead members of the Chorus, he appeared to have something similar to an armored scuba gear with some shawls and a torned cape, he also had something that looked like a modern scuba helmet… but that was not the strangest thing, it was how violently he was twitching, and the dust crystals that seemed to stuck to him… coming out of him. He turned around and looked at us, his visor didn't give a hint of how he looked like, it just glowed green… unnaturally so.

"Who are you?" Elena asked, she had stepped up ahead and told us to remain slightly behind, the officers had gone to different bridges to have different angle to shoot at this guy, some huntsmen from other squads that were still with us went with them, me Seth and the rest stayed close to Elena.

" _Huff, Uhh Huff… you… also don't feel it, the pain, the rancid feeling of it all."_

"Excuse me but-"

" _You come here like them… and you won't just let us rest… you are a huntress… huntsman… hah haha, Huff you, we were you… you sent us…. You shattered us…"_ Elena instinctevely steeped back, everyone aimed their weapons, everyone became ready to fight what seemed to be someone that had gone mad.

" _You left us… hah… you… left us here, me, my team, my friends for so many years… and now you came back, with us filled with dust, bones crumbled and broken."_

"What is he talking about… what does he mean years?" Seth asked in a low voice.

" _We just wanted to rest… for it to end, the hurt, it corrupted, it spread, we spread it in us, we want to rest, and you just Can't. Let. Us. REST!"_ The guy screamed as he kept twitching violently… his voice always distorted… broken.

"...Elena?" I called her, but she seemed thoughtful, I got a better look and her eyes were slightly wide, she was looking at the massive dust crystals at the bottom of the pit.

" _THE MOVEMENT, THE NOISE, IT WON'T STOP, you brought it here, I'll make you feel it too, it keeps growing in the dark, she talks, she wakes us, wakes me AND SHE WON'T JUST SHUT UP, SHE HURTS US, YOU HURT US…. ME! I'LL MAKE YOU FEEL THE SAME… YOU'll BE LIKE US! AHAHAHA!"_ The guy just crouched and before anyone could shoot him, came an explosion of dust crystals that went in all directions.

"Look out!" I yelled as I created my shields around my gauntlets and set up a lightning barrier for good measure, the needle like projectiles shattered on both of them, other people avoided them or blocked them with their own shields or whatever weapons they had, we started shooting the bastard.

" _EEEAGH"_ But soon he vanished into something like a puddle of water leaving behind an explosion that was a mixture of fire, ice and earth.

"How the fuck?!" Someone asked.

"Dust Wraith!" Elena shouted, what the fuck was a Dust Wraith? "Everyone to the center of the tower!" I honestly didn't know where it had gone or how it disappeared, neither how it had done those explosions.. Dust Wraith was beginning to sound like something problematic, if it could control that dust coming out of its body… almost everyone looked the same as me, confused, however there were some that seemed scared… more scared than from normal life or death scenario, Elena looked focused, so did Mackie… but they both had that nervous look on their faces. They didn't seemed worried when it attacked… they were worried the couldn't find it now.

"Where is it? Did it leave?" Jack asked.

"I doubt it, keep looking everyone." Verdant commanded. There was just silence for a few seconds, just steps and the sound of the water falls., there was no sign of the wraith…everyone looked over the edges of the tower, ready for it to just jump up. It didn't come back up…

"Are we clear?" Jack asked, just as he asked behind him appeared a mass of water that took the form of the wraith, he materialized and with a gun that looked like an Anchor shot a harpoon right through Jack's head. It was so fast, people barely were able to try and shot it, it dashed forward, it was going for me and Seth, it tackled both of us and brought us with it past the tower into a canal connected to the tower, the canal was going down at and angle into the wall.

"Robert! Seth!" I heard Miara scream after us, but the rest happened really fast, the water from the canal dragged me, Seth and this… wraith trough I could only guess was another pathway into another chamber or tunnel, the wraith tried to smash my head with his Anchor gun I slid to the side as the water continued to drag us, it tried to swipe at me with it again but I unsheathed a lightning blade and blocked the Anchor, before he could push down I slashed at its leg with my other blade and used my own legs to kick him into the the air and flip him over me, Seth took the chance to shot him in mid air, and he hit him… or it.

" _Daagh!_ It screamed before launching several needle dust shards and a harpoon our way, we barely avoid it all of it, the wraith disappeared, and soon the slide ended, me and Seth rolled on the water of a new pit chamber and we stepped up quickly, this one more flat and also with light blue dust crystals… the wraith was nowhere to be seen.

" _AHahHA… HAHAH… HAHAH...HAAaaa… He feels it... You'll feel it too… I'll make you feel it."_ He's voice echoed on the chamber.

It was safe to say it was with us, and it wanted to fight us.

* * *

Hector has been awake for some time now, he has been alone in a dark room bonded to a steel chair by his arms, legs, and chest. And a _great_ feature of this chair is to electrocute him every few hours in order to keep his aura low, or gone, at this point he can't tell.

"What is the point of kidnapping me if you're just going to leave me in a dark room until I die of thirst?" He asked with a sigh, the feeling in his hands and feet all but a memory of a the past. "I understand Neo wanting to see me suffer, but come on Roman, I thought you liked me?"

"Would you just shut up!?" The same voice that Hector has been hearing speaks up for the upteenth time, one that certainly does not belong to Roman or anyone else Hector is familiar with.

"I mean I could, but then that would mean that I wouldn't be able to hear your voice!" Hector cheered back, in all honesty, just hearing another voice was enough for him to keep his sanity. "Can I get a shirt at least? These chains are really making my nipples hurt."

"Shut. Up."

"Good to see you to Rufus." Hector said as he leaned his head back in the chair, thankfully they at least let him keep the ability to turn his neck.

He honestly has no idea if Rufus was anywhere close to his real name, but that was the name he has given the unknown man that has been unfortunately ordered to stand guard in front of his cell, or dark room, whatever this room he was stuck in was. He hasn't been able to see any light besides the one that seeps through the hatch of the door that gives him a steady supply of air.

When he first woke up, he freaked out and was worried about what was going on, then he almost instantly remembered everything that happened the day of the dance, and fast forward a few days of soiling starving and dying of thirst here he is making it his mission to bother Rufus to the best of his ability.

That is until the lights in his room suddenly snap on, nearly blinding him with how long it has been since he has seen the light. His broken arm is still hurt, but the bone was set back in place, and with no aura, he has to heal the old fashioned way, which can be pretty painful when you consider the hourly electric shocks. After a while, he finally reopens his still flickering eyes that go back and forth between red and brown, finally able to see the room he has been locked in.

Hector looked down to see the state of his own body, and sees many scabs and scars that haven't healed fully since he hasn't been able to regenerate his aura enough to heal his body. His skin also looks much more pale, his usual tan skin now the color of Yang's, or maybe even Weiss', he comes to the conclusion that he is either sick, or has lost a lot more blood than he thought he had before.

He gets snapped out of his stupor when the door flings open, and the smiling man with a bowler hat and a cane walks in, and a plate of food and water in his left hand. Upon locking eyes with the Beacon student, he smiles and kicks the door closed again.

"Well, well, well! So you're the one who has been causing me so much trouble these last few months." Roman Torchwick said as he pulled out a chair and sat in it, being careful with the plate full of food and bottle of water.

"Is this the point where I get ravaged?" Hector asked while keeping his eyes locked on the food, it is all but mere instinct telling his body that he needs to eat, and he knows that, but he also knows that with the way he is looking at the food and water that he is showing weakness, and that he is desperate for sustenance.

"Haha, no. Neo would be more willing to do that then I am." Roman said as he leaned back in the chair, letting his cane lean against the arm rest.

"Somehow I am not surprised…"

"Knowing you I am not surprised you would know that either! I've been told many things about you Big Red."

"Are you really going to call me that? Really?" Hector winced at the nickname he has been given by the criminal mastermind.

"Well, to be fair, little Miss Rose has been a thorn in my side as well, and she wears red, hence the nickname Little Red, and then there's you." Roman nudged his foot. "A much larger thorn in my side, and one who _also_ wears red, not to mention you are much bigger than the little girl. It fits you see?"

"Alright, I see your point." Hector agreed, much to Roman's genuine surprise. "Now how about we get to the part where you tease me with the food while asking me questions you know I am not going to answer?"

"Nope, not here for that actually." Roman declared, setting the food and water on the concrete floor. "I just want to talk, get to know you. What is it that the younglings say these days? Hang out?" He laughed and leaned his elbows on his knees. "So, tell me about yourself."

Hector could only stare at him with a suspicious and perplexed look on his face, that was certainly a weird interrogation tactic. He surmises that Roman is playing him here, so he has to play it cautious with his next words.

"So where you from kid?"

"You could say I am from a different dimension where this world is just a tv show that I watched on the internet, and one day I suddenly got pulled in by some bullshit magical portal, and somehow ended up as the leader of my own team at the most prestigious huntsman academy in the world." Hector told the very unbelievable truth, and the roll of Romans eyes told him that he did not believe him in the slightest. "Other then that I am just a normal guy trying to play hero."

Roman's eyes lit up and he snapped his fingers out of excitement. "Ha! Finally someone admits to it! You _are_ different than the other children and huntsman. I couldn't put my finger on it until now though. You're not causing us trouble because you want to are you? Just because it is just 'The right thing to do', am I right?" He laughed.

"Eh, more or less sums it up." Hector shrugged to the best of his ability.

"Great! Now we get into the terrifying stuff." Roman picked him his knee and slammed it on Hector's toes, causing him to yell out in pain.

"Why did you lie to me Big Red? I really wasn't looking forward to this, but alas I have been given the task to find how what you know, and how you know them." Roman said as he twisted the cane into his foot, causing dark red blood to flow out of his wound.

"Here I thought we were having a moment." Hector groaned as Roman took back his cane.

"You idiot kid, just make this easy for the both of us, how do you know about Cinder, how do you know about our plans?"

"Making a lot of assumptions there."

Roman backhanded his cane across his face, knocking a tooth loose and making Hector spit up some blood that ran down his chin and onto his chest.

"Don't make me have to hurt you more, I never was fond of torture, or of hurting kids." Roman said with a grunt.

"You should have thought about that before agreeing to work with her." Hector spat out a glob of blood and spit. Only to find himself at the end of Roman's cane pushing up into his chin.

"You see? Words like that is what got you in this position in the first place, how did you find out all you know?" Roman asked again.

"Im from the future."

"Ugh." Roman rolled his eyes and grunted, taking his cane back and leaving the food on the ground where it is. "Fine, you can play around with your jokes all you want. Neo!"

Neo appears out of nowhere, appearing in a small shimmer of white light right beside Roman, upon entering the room she smiles and leans forward, almost as if she is asking Hector if he missed her at all.

All he could do is shut his eyes and mutter a curse, already knowing what is about to happen to him. "Shit…"

"Shit indeed my friend, if you thought I was bad, _Whoop_ I can already hear the screaming." Roman chuckled darkly, even if it sounded forced.

"I just have one question before Neo gets started." Hector said before he could leave the room, raising just one finger on his left hand just high enough for it to be noticed.

"Make it quick kid." Roman said as he leaned against the doorframe.

"You and Neo." Hector wiggled his eyebrows, and smiled a bloody toothy smile. "Y'all fucking? And if so how hard does she fuck you?"

Roman narrowed his eyes, as Neo giggled silently, before holding her sides and giggling just a bit harder.

Roman could only sigh exasperatedly and walk out the door. "Hope that was your best quip kid, because I doubt you're going to be in the mood to make them after she's done with you. Have a nice weekend!"

"Worth it." Hector said, then jumped when the heavy steel door slammed shut, making him jump and tense his body in response.

He was alone in a room… chained to a steel chair… alone… with Neo of all people…

It didn't help anything that Neo was taking her sweet time sauntering over to him, a blade in hand and a grin on her face, her mismatched eyes staring almost lovingly into his own, this continued until Neo was nearly sitting on his lap with the knife pushed up just below his belly button. For all his bravado, he couldn't help but feel fear in the face of his torturer, and grimace as the blade slowly cut into his skin and drag up, cutting through it and leaving a red long cut down his chest as it rose to his pecs, before stopping at his neck. She tilted her head when Hector's eyes turned red again, usually that only happened when he used his semblance, but he has no aura right now, and no aura meant no semblance. Not only that, instead of screaming in pain like most of her victims did, he just scowled at her like he wanted to kill her.

Neo smiled as she flicked the knife out from the few millimeters of skin it was penetrated in and threw it across the room. She then pointed to the wall with three questions written on it.

" _Who are you?"_

" _How do you know of our plans?"_

He wasn't able to see the third one, because all he could do was yell out in pain when Neo kicked his still injured arm.

Neo could only smile at finally getting him to make a noise.

"You know… you don't have to be stuck working for Cinder. I know you don't want to and only doing it for your own survival." Hector partly growled his words out.

Neo rose her eyebrows at his pretty spot on analyzation.

"You work for her because of how easily she can kill you right?" Hector asked with a grin.

Neo crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at him, so this was what they meant by him knowing things that he shouldn't know.

"I mean… I think with another year of training myself up… hell maybe even a couple of months, I might be able to take care of her myself." His black hair hung over his eyes, but Neo could feel them still locked on to her. "Especially with how _angry_ I've been recently." His voice started to get choppy, and hysterical. "I don't know about you Neo, but I am feeling a little **murderous right now.** " His voice suddenly got deeper, and much darker. And his red eyes seemed to glow from behind his hair.

He stared pulling at the chains, even though his body roared with pain and strain as it begged him to stop, and to Neo's great surprise. They cracked.

"AAGAGAGH." Hector yelled in pain as the chair electrocuted him once again, with a higher voltage this time and continues to make his body involuntarily squirm for the entire duration of the electrocution.

Neo was about to kill the person who did it when it stopped and Hector lost consciousness, but Romans voice over an intercom stopped her.

" _Sorry Neo, but I didn't want to take any chances with this kid, seems like he's been hit with the crazy stick one too many times."_

Neo pouted but understood, it looks like she'll have to play with him another time, and teleported out of the room when White Fang grunts came in to fix and strengthen the chains. They stopped when they looked at his once broken arm.

"Wasn't his right arm broken just yesterday?"

"Yeah… now it's healed up and almost looks undamaged. I thought this guy had a power semblance not a self-healing one."

" _Just shut up, and do your jobs you damn animals."_ Roman ordered through the intercom.

Roman was worried, those chains would have been able to keep a Goliath down. He could only sit back in his chair and wonder what the hell he has gotten into agreeing to the plan to kidnap him. In a way, he liked the leader of Team HAMR from Beacon, as much as you _can_ like someone who gets you into a heap of trouble every time he shows up.

Hector could only sit in pained dreamless sleep, even as a dark voice spoke to him from within his head.

" _ **Wake up."**_ The voice demanded of him, and so he did just that in a sweaty terrified mess a few hours later.

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 **Yet another chapter in the history books, even more set up this chapter, and even more foreshadowing, I wonder what will happen next? What do you guys think of Mike taking up the mantle as leader, and thus becoming a more important character overall? It is time for him to shine! I hope to hear your thoughts on what is going on, and your theories on what you think is happening with Hector here and that little voice in his head.**

 **Got some news for you guys, and it ain't exactly good news. Crowskull has been really stressed with school exams recently, and still has plenty coming up, this story is going to be put on hold so he can get better, I am sorry but his health comes before this story, and I do not want him stressed out all the time for not only school, but for this story. I can't say how long the hiatus will last, so I am just going to guess three weeks or so, then this story will return, I feel like a hiatus for this story is due after all since we've been pumping chapters almost every week for the past few months.**

 **I am sorry for the inconvenience, and for those who love the story as much as we love writing it, please be patient with us, we will return and we will return with a high quality and probably another long chapter like this one is.**

 **Look at the bright side though, we will have plenty of time to plan things out in the meantime! Before you know it Volume 3 will be upon us, and me and CS plan to make it a good one! - Genatools**

 **Please review, and let us know what you think of the chapter!**

 **Disclaimer- We do not own RWBY in any way, shape, or form.**


	25. Rwby: Team HAMR chapter 25

**Well, it has certainly been a while. But the wait is now ending! After what happened last chapter with the slight cliffhanger that I sort of left, I am sure that at least some of you were waiting for this chapter. Since it has been such a long time, this is probably going to be a long one. Maybe not 15k words long, but definitely up there, not like the past ten chapters have been 10k+...**

 **Let's get right to the reviews!**

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 **Zeldawolffang: We will have to see what happens than don't we?**

 **Soul109: Thank you for your kind words! The whole situation with Ashley and Hector is something that is going to have to be resolved in order for the team not to fall apart. We'll just have to see what happens.**

 **Guest: Probably, possibly, nothing is confirmed.**

 **Thank you all for the reviews!**

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 **Again, I am sorry that it took so long for this story to be updated, it has been quite a ride so far. Ups and downs, followers not really up to par in comparison with my other stories, but it is no matter. I stick with things all the way. I thank anyone who has returned to this story after the few weeks it has been since the last update.**

 **The reason for the hiatus is because Crowskull and I have been very busy with IRL things, such as tests, work, more tests, and then me writing my other stories. I don't know how I was managing so much like I was before, but later on this month the semester is going to be ending, and when that happens we will hopefully have more time to write. Thank you for understanding! -Genatools**

 **Now let's get straight into the story!**

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RWBY: Team HAMR

Chapter 25- Darkness, Madness, Voices

 **Tunnels under Vale**

" **Pit Chamber"**

 **Robert's POV**

" _You think you can run... you cannot... you cannot hide, you cannot hide from the water here, ha ha hah ha."_ Said the wraith… he was hiding from me and Seth at the moment, his. It's voice still distorted and echoing around the chamber, Seth and I got up in an instant after the water slide, now we were ankle deep in the massive pond at the center of the chamber back to back looking for the wraith, Seth with his guns out and me with my arm on guard and blades sheathed for the moment. The bastard had just vanished again, he was probably just a mass of water again.

"Do you see him?" I asked Seth as we pushed our backs against one another.

"Not yet, but I just need to spot him once, and then I can-"

" _You feel the fear don't you?"_ The wraith cut him off _. "No one can hear you, so far underground in the dark down here, under the water there's just darkness and void, it will consume you, I will consume you… I will drown you BOTH."_ As soon as it screamed that last word out, the massive dust crystals on the walls flashed brighter and little sparks of energy emerged from them.

"You know you could just let us go, we don't really want to bother you." Seth said, as if that would actually convince this creature to let us go.

"We are after the same people you were killing after all, if you just want to rest we could help you. Technically we are already helping you, just let us go and you could rest, and we can handle the rest." I added, might as well see if it would actually work or not.

" _No… no no no NO…. You don't feel it, you can't feel it, he does but you can't. Why…?"_

What did it mean by that?

" _You abandoned me, and my friends here… and you just don't get it, it doesn't end… it nibbles at the back of your head… it just doesn't stop… she just doesn't stop… her noise, our heads… the pain, your NOISE… STOP IT."_ The crystals kept flashing _. "You created me... left me here… you are here too...heh heh hah ha ha… don't worry, I'll end it for you, you'll understand… you'll be like us…"_

"I'm fine being alive thank you very much." I said as I readied my weapons.

"I second that notion." Seth said as he flourished his revolvers.

" _I was condemned here, they condemned me here… they sent a man with an ability perfect for this place, the water hides much… but my friends… they couldn't survive, I couldn't help them… eventually I succumbed to… the sweet glow, the eerie cold… I swam, and I swam and let the water take me for years… I was no more, and you wake me, they wake me, she wakes me again, you are HERE with ME, if I couldn't survive then you won't be able either… YOU ARE CONDEMNED WITH ME!"_ The creature cackled maniacally, and Seth and I heard some sort of weapon being cocked back. It was the only warning we needed to know what followed next.

A harpoon was fired in our direction, a harpoon covered in what looked like fluorescent light blue dust crystals, I unsheathed my blades, and with an upwards slashed knocked the harpoon out of the air, making it fall into the pond with a dull clank. More harpoons came I knocked another two with horizontal slashes while Seth knocked another away with his own dust bullets, I sent an explosive ball of lightning in the direction they came from but it hit nothing, there was no scream, no humanoid form covered in lightning spazzing, but we _did_ see a mass of water move awkwardly for a second though.

"Did you tag him?" I asked Seth

"No, he's one with the water… water that barely reaches our calfs and he's still swimming in it." Seth said as he kept his eyes scanning over the surface of the water for any signs of the creature.

"This will be a lot easier the sooner you-" I didn't get to finish.

" _Raawwgh"_ the wraith came out of the water close to us, it tried to crush me with his harpoon gun now in it's anchor form, I side-stepped the blow, and Seth managed to roll away in time. I went for a slash with both blades that the wraith blocked with it's anchor, I threw more slashes, both high and low trying to catch him one slash came close to it's head, but he bent backwards avoiding it. I spun around and came with another slash that he blocked, I threw kicks his direction, a round house that he evaded, and a backtrip kick that he backstepped before I lunged at him with both blades coming down, he blocked both of the slashes with his forearms, and forced them passed him and towards Seth, he tried to whack him with both with his revolvers, but the wraith blocked both strikes before going in with giant swings of his own. Seth evaded just in time and shot after the second swing but the wraith blocked the shots and sent a harpoon, Seth dodged it by tilting his head slightly just as the blade entered the space his head once occupied, all the damage he took was a minor cut on his cheek as it barely grazed him.

I joined Seth in his fray, jumping in literally trying to just stab the damn thing through the head with a lightning-infused dash, however he became a mass of water that dropped and disappeared.

"Fucker." I spat as I once again scanned the waters for any sign of our enemy.

" _DIE!"_ the wraith screamed, his voice muffled by the water. He launched himself out of the water high into the air sending various harpoons our way and in other random directions, some of them entirely made out of dust, and others metallic in nature. We deflected them just as before, when the wraith dived in for an anchor swing I met him with my own slashes, we exchanged blows him with vicious swings, me equally as vicious but with more precise strikes and kicks. We blocked most of the initial blows from each other, then I jumped over him with a spin and strikes from both my blades that made him block and also sent a lightning bolt his way that forced him backwards, even his defenses were having difficulty with the mix of water and lightning, as far as I knew only I could withstand the mix and that was only because the lightning I created didn't affect me, but whatever small chip damage I did to him didn't compare to the shot he received on his back by Seth.

" _Aagh!"_ He screamed as he got shot and as he sent his anchor into the ground sent a big explosion like wave of fire into the ground, just as he did the dust attached to him glowed red… of course. Seth jumped out of the way of the wave and I back flipped to evaded it, I charge in while the wraith was busy with Seth's concussive shots, it was evading and getting close, I reached him before he could get close to Seth, I went in with a flying kick that the wraith easily evaded, but I propelled backwards with my blades at the ready. I went back and forward trying to slash him, he blocked the first three slashes but the then I opened him two roundhouse kicks that he didn't expect, Seth also came in whacking him once and shooting him in the chest before I went for the forth slash, but then the wraith became water again and my slash missed.

"Shit!"

" _Waarrrgh"_ came in in the distorted voice again behind, he didn't seem to let up, that's fine we won't either. I spun around and met the wraith with spinning flying kick, he went flying to the side and I sent a lightning missile his direction, he went under water again however, and soon appeared again to our side.

" _Hue ha ha, ha ha."_ He drove his palm into the ground and from the water came in a spike of blue dust next to us, we jumped away to not be impaled, he sent more harpoons too, I lighting dashed to the sides to evade them and close the distance, he wanted to meet me with big swing of the anchor. But Seth fired a concussive bullet that stunned him, and I got finally a good hit with both my blades that sent him backwards with a glowing blue X down his chest. I didn't stop, I couldn't stop when I finally dealt some damage.

I went for more slashes, and strikes that he blocked, after an uppercut slice, two horizontal slashes and one with a spin and both blades he tried to counter me with a surprise harpoon shot, a mistake as I dashed to side and not only evaded but also give Seth a clear shot of the guy's face, Seth landed his shot and was enough to stun the thing before I went in with a slash that connected, and a surprise knee, and afterwards a flying hook kick.

As soon as he landed he disappeared again, but soon appeared this time in an explosion of ice and rock, I jumped over the explosion while Seth rolled away, while in the air I sent several lightning bolts his way, he evaded them all and disappeared again. When I landed I was met with a few rising spikes of dust, I evaded the first two and jumped up the third but a barrage of rapid fire harpoons came my way, I blocked them as soon as I created my shields using my semblance. They did knock the air out of my lungs still however, and sent me rolling to the ground, I stood up quickly and ducked as the figure appeared by my side and tried to clobber my head with the anchor, we exchanged blows again and he started to appear, and disappear to evad each blow and every time he appeared he was already mid-swing. I countered one,then two, three, four, five strikes like these, most of them with my own blades, one I blocked with my shields before trying to use a shockwave of lighting to hit him… it didn't hit him… fine if he wanted to play evasive, I'll give him evasive.

As the next swing came I lighting dash away, he landed awkwardly expecting the hit to land and I went, and managed to get a hit with my blades before I side kicked him and went for a strike with both blades, he parried the strikes and we were matching our strength now.

" _Tut tut… ah ha ha ha."_ I then saw that he had the barrel of the harpoon gun opened and aiming at me… shit this might hurt a bit, however unexpectedly Seth came to my rescue and shot him in the head, whatever he had whether aura or something else protected him. It stunned him, and gave me the chance to slash at him with both blades roundhouse kick him twice and sent him upwards with a high back kick at his chin, Seth slid under him and shot him while in the air, he got up quickly and threw a small ball, a fire grenade with small radius, he shot it and the small explosion kept the wraith in the air long enough for me to jump and slash him with both blades and sent him far away with a lightning palm.

" _AAAagh!… Ugh."_ the wraith shout in pain. He went back down into the water with a dive.

"Tell me that after all that you managed to tag him." I said to Seth with a raspy voice between pants.

"You think I didn't? Who do you think I am of course I got the damn thing!" He said back to me with a offended look on his face that managed to make me chuckle.

"Awesome, so?"

"Hmm…" Seth looked around. "Your left!" He warned as he shot point in the point to my left, I followed his lead and fired a thunderbolt at that exact point.

" _Agh!"_ The wraith screamed as he came out the exact spot where we had shot he looked surprised for a second before crawling backwards like a spider.

"You said it yourself, you can't hide here." Seth taunted as his eyes gleamed slightly, Seth's semblance allowed him to keep track of people he "tagged" with his eyes, he needed to concentrate to tag someone but it tended to be fairly quick when he could keep track of his opponent.

He could spot you and for a period of time, he could see you even through walls, once he tagged you you couldn't really hide if he could see you, and apparently it also didn't matter if someone was on an alternate form or not, it helped him to hit far away targets, and also to keep track of where people were going… a bonus to his already impressive marksmanship. The only downside is that it only works for three people at a time, and it takes a few seconds longer for him to use it on a specific Grimm.

We shot lighting and bullets before the wraith could try to hide or run again, but this time he evaded normally, shifting into a water form to move faster, I launched a lightning missile, and Seth threw a grenade to try and catch him, but he dove and dodged the explosions, and closed the distance. With a vicious snarl he exploded in a wave of dust shards and disappeared. I put a lighting barrier to block the shards, they were small and looked sharp but mostly harmless to an almost fully trained huntsman, and an police lieutenant with aura, but appearances can deceiving, and besides, the less damage we took against this guy the better. We were already hurt slightly and he didn't seem to go down with after how hard we hit him, nevermind how hard he was to hit.

"Below, no behind us." Seth said quickly. We spun around and and the wraith came in driving his anchor into the ground letting out an explosion of fire, I lighting dashed back while Seth jumped back, the wraith rushed me at an incredible speed, I avoided and parried three swings before he spun around and launched harpoons towards Seth who dodged to the side and started shooting, he blocked the shots and disappeared before I could slash him on the back, he appears behind Seth and tries to hit him but Seth slides to the side while shooting, a couple of the shots get past his guard, I went in with drop kick, that the wraith blocks and pushes me back before sending a dust spike beneath Seth and a harpoon my direction, Seth runs out of the range of the spike before it can come and I slash the harpoon out of the air, however the harpoon exploded as soon as I cut it and knocks slightly away, out of the smoke of the explosion come in the wraith that with his anchor swipes my legs suddenly and knocks me on my back, he goes for an overhead strike to my head but I react quickly making my shields and stopping the blow… I could feel it on my bones however.

Seth tosses a grenade that hit's the guy head before shooting it and stunning him.

" _Ugh… stop it!"_ The wraith screams, I stretched my hand fired lightning at his head before before doing a handstand kick-up, and slashing at the wraith while in the air, the wraith went towards Seth, who catches the guy and throws him to the ground but before he can shoot his head he turns into water and the shot misses, the wraith appears at at his side ready to strike at him he dodges the swing of the anchor and ducks another to shoot at the wraith from below but the wraith jumps away and as he lands sends another explosion of fire and rocks that get launched in all directions, Seth and I run dash, dodge and roll to avoid the flaming rocks flying on all directions, not to say the harpoons that the wraith shot to us, I jumped over and slide under several, Seth did too, we were both running in circles avoiding everything coming our way and shooting at the wraith, he blocked Seth shots and build barriers of fire ice and rock to block my bolts of lightning, after dodging another harpoon made of dust, I lightning dashed in, avoided another dust spike by side stepping it and jumping up another and going in with lightning charged punch towards the barrier, with a small explosion I went through the ice barrier and landed a punch directly at the wraith.

" _Diaagh.. Ooh… you noise it just HURTS!"_ The wraith spat at me as he disappeared and reformed behind me, I was ready, I caught the strike of the anchor with my blades and retaliated with several cuts some from the front some after dashing to the side to avoid a counter, after a few clashes I heard a gunshot and saw a bullet hit the wraith.

" _Eegh aaah!"_ The wraith was clearly not having a good time, Seth had climbed the rock barrier and jump down shooting, giving me windows to strike, I lighting dashed to the side to give him a good angle, he hit and was forced to dodge a harpoon, but I came back in with a strong strike with my blades coming from the side, it hit and it was really satisfying to just hit him, I continued with more strikes coming from the side the top and from below, he blocked some but also got hit by some.

I blocked the anchor with one of my blades and with the other I spun around and slashed at one of his legs, it hit and brings him low, gave me the chance to slash with both my blades from the side, roundhouse kick him and and spinning hook kick his face, he stumbled back drived the anchor to the ground, but I dashed away before the explosion could catch me Seth also took some shots and hit him, then I dashed back him with a punch and sent him towards Seth. Who whacked him three times with his guns in quick succession, push kicked him and shot a concussive shot at his stomach, forcing him back I went in while Seth was reloading with both blades strike him three times before side kicking him and giving Seth a good shot, he shot him twice and I went back with other four strikes two roundhouses in the middle, and ending left hook and a spinning hook kick, the moment I stopped he strikes back with all his speed and almost go me, but I dropped to the ground with a split, Seth shot him another three times.

I then split kicked his legs, bringing him to one knee, and the next thing I did was handstand kicked him into the air, me going up with him, and I was about to shot him with a point blank lightning missile, but he shoots me with harpoon that I don't get the time to block properly. I put my hand up but couldn't get my shield in time, instead I take most of the damage with my aura. I bounced away and hit the ground, luckily my aura was high enough for the harpoon to just bounce off and not impale me… but it was a certainly a heavy hit.

The wraith landed on his feet as I rolled on the ground and got back up again, he was about to shoot me when Seth shot him, and closed the distance with two whacks of his revolvers, a kick to the knee, a duck under an anchor swing and spinning kick into the air right at his chin, Seth landed on his back shot wraith in the air with all the bullets he had left. The wraith landed on his back and stood still for a second

" _EEEaagh!"_ The wraith shouted stood up with a small explosion of energy, the dust of the chamber glowed brightly again, he disappeared again sending various projectiles towards us, not just harpoon but also rocks and small dust shards Seth dodged and I deflected the projectiles with my blades.

" ***Huff*** Where? ***Huff*** " I asked between heavy breaths.

"The… ***Huff***... right!" Seth shouted.

" _I'LL MAKE YOU SEE THE TRUTH!"_ The wraith spat as he appeared out of nowhere, and swung his anchor at Seth. He dodged but the wraith disappeared just as fast as it came, and went for me, with a loud clang that followed as I parried his attack with my blades. I tried to counter back but he was already gone, that continued for several moments. Seth, and I dodging and counter attacking to the best of our ability while the wraith kept swinging and disappearing. He eventually shot yet another harpoon at Seth. He evaded, and shot the bastard in the heart. I dove in with both blades to take advantage of the opening that was created, and pushed him trough one of the jagged dust spikes he had left behind before he could do anything else, he disappeared again however before he could make contact with the tip of the spike.

" _RAAAGH!"_ He came from above with several swings furiously, I blocked them with my blades and the final two with my shields. Seth shot him in the back and he disappeared and went for him.

Seth avoided the first swing but couldn't avoid the second one to his stomach, when he recoiled from the pain I went in to cover him, I striked back and we exchanged blows. Seth managed to shoot him while he was down to give me windows of opportunities for attacks.

"Left!" Seth yelled to me.

The wraith came pretty at me fast, I put my shields up but the blow made me fly through an exposed ore of dust. I recovered mid air, and landed on my back and rolled to stand up in a swift motion. Seth was going up against the wraith close range, and he was doing fairly well, he hit him once or twice with the butt of his guns, and with a roundhouse kick he evaded and counter a swing, the wraith disappeared but Seth saw where he went.

As he appeared to try and smash him down he shot him in the air, the wraith disappeared again and appeared to his right, Seth dodged and smacked him again, before firing two concussive shots with both his revolvers… but the wraith disappeared again and reappeared behind him. Seth wasn't able to dodge the swing at his back that pushed him through the last remaining rock barrier.

"Shit!" I exclaimed as I lined up quick lightning grenade and lightning bolt, the bolt missed both he failed to notice to notice the grenade, he exploded in a cloud of electricity and smoke with a vicious screech… he disappeared again and came from the side, we exchanged two strikes before I side kick him on the face and landed two slashes to his chest, he was really worn down now, but he went forward despite his injuries and with the anchor hit me on the leg and brought me to a knee, that stung like a bitch, and he was about to drive the anchor trough me with all his might, I created my shield just in time, but as my shield were holding the anchor at bay he launched and explosive rock harpoon point blank, it created a cloud of dirt and knocked my shield away, it was a serious force, and then golf clubbed me with the anchor and sent a couple meters away, it really hurt now, my aura was now on the forties, he jumped towards me with the intention to drive the anchor trough me again, only this time I blocked with my blades, I used on leg to push and kick him away… or at least hold him at bay, but he then he stepped on my head and forced it under the water.

" _Heh heh hah ha, meet the darkness."_ He cackled as he tried to drown me, I tried to push him away but he kept pushing me down…

 _No! not like this_. I thought as I kicked his knee and he recoiled slightly, I then surged forward and contested his strength, I managed bring one eye above the water, just then he got shot in the back of the head, I took the chance, and pushed the anchor away and slice at his legs, I hooked one of my legs behind one of his and brought him down and punched him, several times. I kept punching kicking and kneeing him, slowly standing back up, my fists and legs were surrounded on sparks now, I roundhouse kicked him three times, decked him across the face two, elbowed his stomach, spun and went with and offhand backhand slashed with one of my blades and uppercutted him away.

He landed and started skidding on the water, he launched several harpoon underwater… of this not so deep pond… how?

"Incoming!" Seth shouted, we avoided several harpoons that came from below, several reached the surface with elemental explosions, I rolled away from another explosion, Seth jumped over one but got his by another that came right after.

"Fuuuuck!" He yelled, I was going to help him but I felt something on my feet, immediately I was dragged down under water… only the surface looked really far away, I looked up and could see the pond but it was really far away, around it was all dark the only light coming from the pond… was this what the wraith saw when he went underwater? Is this one of those pocket dimensions semblances came make due to perspective? It was really dark and just… massive… I was far away from everything, I tried to start to swim upwards, doubting if I could make it but someone grabbed me from behind and started choke me with an anchor… the wraith.

" _I'll drown you, you'll join me in darkness!"_ He laughed, I drove my elbow backwards multiple times, he was was not letting go, I tried to grab his head to choke him but I couldn't, then a shot came from the pond directly into the wraith, that give the chance to shock his head with one hand.

" _AAAHGEEEAAGHH!"_ his screams resounded all around us, I spun around now free from the anchor and started electrocuting his head with both hands, as soon as I did we were brought upwards incredibly fast and came out of the water with enough momentum for both of us to fly into the air, I started falling first and took the chance to land a lightning missile, it hit and kept the wraith in the air, then Seth tossed a grenade and shot it to send the wraith flying away. It went against the end of the pon really hard and we both heard a crunch as he had snapped his back.

"Are you okay?" Seth asked as he helped me up and smacked my back to help get rid of the water on my system.

"Im… ***Cough***... I'm hardly breathing and full of water… ***Cough*** but I'm fine, I'll be- * **Cough***... fine." I answered "You?"

"With some back pain but other than that I'm just dandy." He coughed. "Thanks for worrying Sparky."

"Sparky- whatever… ***Cough*** I-Is he dead?" We both looked over and saw him against the edge of the pool, it's back bent on an unnatural way, and then he stood up and with various bone snaps his back corrected itself… he really wounded however, and the fluorescent dust crystals that were coming out of him looked like they were about to shut down.

"He doesn't seem to want to stay dead… you know I didn't sign up to fight the undead." Seth said to me. "Didn't really sign up to fight Grimm neither, what happened to just taking down mugger with tasers Seth?" He asked himself.

"I don't think anybody signed up to fight undead, Seer or not." I said back to him as we both stood up.

" _She…_ _ ***Huff***_ _You know her… her sound… You don't feel it… he feels it… We'll make you. We'll… We'll undo the BOTH OF YOU!"_ The wraith shouted, all of the chamber glowed brightly and he emitted a fluorescent glow too.

" _WRAAAAGhHH!"_ He roared as he stretched his arms out and sent a beam of fire our way, we dodged it.

"The fuck was that?!" Seth asked.

"Really powerful shit that's what it was." I expertly deduced for him.

The wraith sent another beam of fire from his hand, then one of ice, he started to launch explosive harpoons that I deflected with my blades and Seth shot out of the air, he sent another beam that we sidestepped and finally sent two controlled beams towards Seth, he couldn't dodge both… only through instinct I was able to stepped and draw my shields, and put a lightning barrier before us, it was enough to stop the attack it seems but I was still being pushed back. I kept the shields up while the wraith tried to push through, but Seth took the chance and just shot him while he was vulnerable, knocking him on his own ass.

" _Huh… RAAAgh"_ he made mad dash for us, and we together went towards him too, he came with a massive swing, I slided and kicked both his knees, Seth whacked him three times and shot him four times on the stomach I stepped up punched with hooks and jabs and straight punches, Seth came in with some kicks and two whacks from his revolvers, I sliced at him with my blades and kicked him upwards once in the air Seth sent two of his lasts grenades and shot them, making a huge explosion, the wraith was still on the air.

"Get away!" I yelled to Seth, he listened and guessing what I was about to do he ran outside of the pond, as the wraith was coming down I stretched my hands and the I went slightly down flexing my legs and putting my arms beside me, concentrating energy and lightning all around me, from the ceiling a single lightning strike came forcing the wraith down into the pond and continuously electrocuting for just two seconds.

" ***Huff.*... *Huff*** " That took a lot of effort out of me, I was breathing heavily and my entire body burned but it was a chilling cold burn, it felt really exhilarating to gather up all that adrenaline and charge on a fight and then release it… and my adrenaline had gone through the roof on this one, specially at the end… fighting like that, with everything you got and with friend by your side just whooping ass was just… really just awesome.

"Hah… ha ha… oh god… please tell me he's now dead." I said to Seth who had now walked back in the pond.

"God? Nah, no gods down here. But he should be…" Seth didn't sound so sure when he said that.

As in to give us a massive fuck you the wraith stood up... but only to its knees, he looked pitiful, completely broken and just gasping for air.

" _ ***Gasp***_ _..._ _ ***Gasp***_ _... You'll feel it… the voices just… aaagh!"_ He stumbled forwards and tried to swing his anchor, but Seth caught it, and held it and the arm of the wraith in place, the wraith tried to move it's left arm but I grabbed it twist it and holded in place, he was unable to move, and I unsheath and use the blade on my left arm and stabbed through the chin and the head.

" _ ***Gasp***_ _Uh… Aaaaah."_ Was his final gasp for air, the dust crystals on him finally just turn off… he was dead, finally, then when pull my blade out part of the helmet comes off due to the damage, we see it's face… and he has no face at all, it was just a skull surrounded by dust crystals, it was deformed and part of the dust seem to be sticking or growing out of what must have been his brain long ago… he really was an undead wraith skeleton in a way. We dropped the corpse right that moment, we were both honestly surprised that he was just a skeleton with dust growing out of him.

"I found them!" we head behind us… it was one of the officers, the rest of our group, then we saw the others, the member of Venom fang and Rhoda… and also other squads, impeccable timing.

"There you are." Elena said as she spotted us. "I'm so glad you both are okay." She said, she then looked over to the corpse, she started analysing it.

"Don't worry mom, we are okay… ***Cough***... uh fuck, _Hrrk_ -" I coughed out some water that was still in my lungs and stomach.

"Are you sure you both are okay?" Miara asked as, worried and concerned.

"I'm fine… oh… the bastard just tried to drown me, nearly drowned me… I punched him in the face though." I said with a small smile.

"I got hit on the back… but I should be fine, I didn't exactly break anything, save for some pride. We both should be fine, no permanent or crippling injuries." Seth said, in part speaking for both of us.

"Phew, you had us worried." Miara said.

"Really? And even then what took you so long?" I asked with a hint of irritation in my voice.

"Well yes really, and reaching was harder than you might think, your slide took several floors down, we also had to face a pack of Grimm on the way here." Verdant said

"Huh." I said in response, there was a brief silence between all of us, we all looked towards the corpse, Elena and Mackie seemed particularly interested in it.

"So tell me… what's the fuck is a Dust Wraith?" Seth asked, me Verdant and Miara were also expecting an answer, Mackie and Elena looked at each other, then Mackie spoke up.

"Honestly, until recently I thought they were a myth to scare mining companies." Mackie started as he crossed his arms to think.

"Mining companies?" I asked.

"As you can guess a Dust Wraith comes from Dust, but it is said that Dust Wraiths are the "vengeful" and "mad" spirits of people that succumb to The Taint, you know what that is right?" I did hear of it recently.

"That spot between my balls and asshole?" Seth asked, I honestly didn't know if he was being serious or not...

"The disease of people that are exposed without protection to unstable dust for far too long." I briefly explained, ignoring Seth's chuckles in the meantime.

"Normally Dust is either raw, which is it's crystalline state, or refined which is it's powdered form, that's what most people use. There aren't really any side effects of using Dust like that, otherwise every single person that used dust would be sick… but unstable Dust… it's difficult to say what makes the way it is, but some crystalline Dust... carry too much energy and turns into some sort of… toxic variant, it's more explosive, it can create some nausea and headaches... people with aura interact with Dust through it, they are basically using their soul to interact with it, unstable Dust strikes back at people Aura's and harms you, poisoning you body and your mind, and it doesn't' really care if you have your Aura unlocked or not, overtime it starts affect one's reasoning, people claimed to start hearing voices, being sensitive to certain things." Elena explained.

"The more extreme cases said people had Dust appearing inside of them and basically eating them… but… nothing like this."

"He was basically a ridiculously stubborn zombie with a control over Dust that's not normal." I pointed out. "We broke his spine, and then he snapped it back together forcefully."

"He also seemed to have a semblance, the ability to turn into a mass of water at moments notice… he pulled Robert down to… somewhere." Seth pointed out next, that explained the annoying water shit he was doing.

"It was basically a dark underwater void… how does that Taint make you soul into a vengeful spirit?"

Seth couldn't help but laugh again, but everyone ignored him.

"Like Mackie said, the extreme cases had people with Dust inside of them, the Taint is very slow, it take many years to have severe cases and even then it can be cured, the wraiths… those are beyond extreme, a ridiculous, unnatural amount of exposure would be necessary, that's why they are a myth, even if this was and old Huntsman dead for many years… and his equipment seems to suggest that... the Taint should have left nothing… it should have even corroded his bones and left nothing, the state his is now he seemed to have died of with taint but not because of it… the most extreme of exposure occur there, no… he must have starved and the Taint should have started feeding on just his flesh and bones… something unnatural must have happened for the taint to just… snatch pieces of his soul back together." Elena said, in a tone that said she merely speculating, she didn't have an answer… but…

"Like something that can affect reality." I said. They all looked at me and understood, the Seer.

"He kept saying her… that "she waked him", and "He feels it," weird stuff like that. Maybe the Seer is a female or something, maybe when it goes into you head that's the voice you hear." Seth said. I knew the reason why it was the voice of a woman… but that detail I better keep it for now.

"It's possible… it could have, affecting reality… grabbing at lost souls… the sad thing is is that is not hard to believe, there other Grimm that can affect your mind and soul in… similar if not worse ways." Elena said.

"What about the he feels it part?" Seth asked with an arched eyebrow, actually involved with the conversation for once.

"Well… maybe there is more than one of those things that you fought." Elena guessed. "I myself don't really know what it means, but that is my best guess. There must be someone else like that or is being affected by whatever else is down here, or maybe not down here who knows."

"... Oh this going to just get weirder isn't it?" I asked with a shake of my head, already feeling sick.

"Yep, but don't worry we are about to reach the peek of crazy… welcome to the big leagues everyone." Elena said with laugh, well this certainly looks like it will be though.

"Could it do the same to us?" Verdant asked.

"I don't think so actually, this seemed more like something convenient to stir up."

"That's actually reassuring." I sighed a sigh of relief.

"If we die down here, and our bodies are left down here, then maybe we would turn into what we just fought." Seth helpfully piped in.

"And just like that, I am no longer reassured."

"We should start moving, we still have ways to go." Miara said.

"Yeah, we should… we're not gonna get out of here otherwise." Elena said, her voice and demeanor sounding looking and sounding far more determined. "Only move in pairs or groups of three, we have no idea what could be hiding in the shadows, and if you see any red eyes staring at you from the darkness, fucking kill it."

"Yes mam!"

We might actually make it through this hellish mission.

* * *

 **Three days later**

 **Beacon**

Michael Cedric held a bored expression as Glynda lectures the class about team strategy. Secretly, he knew that this was happening because of what happened to his leader. The main point of the whole thing being to fight with your teammates if you have the opportunity to do so. Especially against an opponent you are not able to defeat on your own.

Ashley especially took it hard, blaming herself for what happened. She has been quiet recently, not herself. Or, in Mike's perspective, more herself than ever before since he's know her.

Reggie has been trying to keep the spirits of the team together the best he can, the only one on their team even attempting to be positive. But even he has his limits, and he has slowly begun to lose hope for the team to ever be made whole without their leader.

He was really the one that kept the team together, he was the perfect balance, or as close as you can get to it, for serious and Nora-like. Yes, she has her own category. It was like Hector was able to swap to whatever mood the situation called for without any difficulty, making him very flexible and patient with all other members of his team. He was able to chat with Reggie about anything, always willing lend an ear, and not one to judge him for either his faunus status or his sexual orientation. He was Reggie's best friend he has ever had.

Michael never saw him as someone worth talking to casually before,a nd only did so because he was his leader and was expected to respond when spoken to. At least that was the case until the incident at the docks. Ever since then Hector grew on him faster than anyone before. He was very understanding, and when he didn't understand something, he listened intently on the explanation of what that something was. Hector also managed to convince him one day to just go to Blake and talk to her about the stories they have a mutual taste for. That ended up being a very amusing day when an embarrassed Blake caught him eavesdropping and slapped him in front of everyone and claimed that her book was not in fact, porn. Hector ended becoming one of his closest friend.

Ashley… always admired him in secret, his strength, his ability to make friends with almost anyone he meets, his charm that he managed to let out accidentally to steal the hearts of plenty of girls, including her own. She did not lie to herself and think that she didn't have a grudge against humans because of what they did to her parents, and fellow villagers. But she was also logical, and knew that not _all_ of humanity was to blame for the actions of a few, that was the main reason she denied Sienna's offer to join the Fang when she did. She never asked again, bless her soul. Despite the White Fang viewing her as a violent and worthy leader, she was actually very kind to those close to her. In private anyway. Hector though… he showed her that humans were not just worthy of friendship, but were worthy of love. Even if she did draw that conclusion herself before she met him, but he just amplified it as soon as he started to grow on her.

From across the room, Ruby looks at Team HAMR with a worried look on her face. She feels bad for them, they lost one of their teammates. He's not dead of course, he wouldn't let himself die, he was just like that. She couldn't imagine what it must feels like for them to have lost such a valued member of their team, not to mention the fact of Ashley's incredibly obvious crush on him that even she was able to catch. It sucked that on the day that they got together, they were torn apart.

"Psst." She vived for her partner's attention, Weiss strategically doing her best to ignore her as she pays attention to the teacher.

"Psst." Ruby gave up and grabbed her sisters attention, who leaned down toward her to hear what she has to say without a second thought.

"I wanna help out Hector's team." Ruby whispered to Yang.

Yang looked at her with a sad look in her eye. They have tried to help them before, but two out of three of them won't accept, and the one that does is too busy trying to help out the other two to really worry about himself. Thus making it three out of three people who are rejecting their help.

"I know Rubes, but we have tried already. If we try to force anything we'll just make things worse." Yang whispered back to her sister.

"Weiss hasn't been doing her best…" Ruby pouted.

" _Weiss_ has other things to worry about." Weiss interjected, startling Ruby. " _Weiss,_ is too busy worrying about her own team to worry about others. I've tried Ruby, but I can tell when people just want to be left alone."

"I-I'm sorry." Ruby said with watery eyes. "I just… hate seeing my friends seem so… broken." She sniffled quietly. "A-And I'm so worried, and they won't let me help, and I'm sad from seeing them sad."

"Oh Ruby." Yang took one of her hands to her sides and squeezed it for comfort. "I know how you feel."

Glynda noticed this coming from the first year team, but for once didn't say anything about it. They had a valid reason to be acting as they are now, and even in class and against her better judgement, she will let it slide for now. Since she herself also had a friend that she was worrying about, and while Hector was among them, Robert Urra was her prime worry within her mind.

"Well, we are nearing the end of class, but we have time for one more spar today. Do I have any volunteers or must I once again select a pair of my own?" She asked the class.

Only a single hand rose, and it belonged to the last person she would have expected.

"M-Mister Cedric?" Curse her stutter. "Are you sure you are okay to spar? Mentally I mean."

"Yes." He answered simply, his voice void of emotion, just as it was near the beginning of the year. "I haven't participated for a while."

" _For good reason."_ Glynda wanted to say, but held her tongue.

Glynda couldn't think of a way to deny her student the opportunity to fight, it was the first time he volunteered though, which both pleased and worried the teacher. But with a mental sigh, she accepted his participation and let him come down to the arena, letting his chained blade stab itself into the ground as he does some quick ballistic stretches.

"Any other volunteers?" Glynda asked as Mikes aura count was displayed on the screen.

No one dared to raise their hand, out of fear, and pity for the hurting the temporary leader of Team HAMR.

"No one? Very well." Glynda randomly selects a student from her scroll. "Mister Darius, you haven't been down here in quite a while either, I choose you to be his opponent."

Darius gulped and nervously made his way down to the arena, his team whispered to him their wishes of luck. Which did little to calm his nerves since he knows he is up against a loose cannon, and a very dangerous one at that. He has never sparred with someone like Mike who used such a unique weapon like a Kusarigama.

Mike eyed him down as he made his way to the arena with a unsettling neutral glare, the reason he decided to volunteer for the first time was to get some highly pent up steam out. He vaguely remembers this Darius person being put up against Glynda's assistant, Robert. Of course he lost horribly, but he got some pointers while he was doing it. Since he is on that topic, he hasn't seen Robert for a while now, but he doesn't think too much about it, he must be on a mission or something.

Darius connected his scroll with the aura gauge, and his green bar filled up to the right of Mikes. He then gets into his combat stance across from Michael, his sword in a specific posture to counter any long range attacks like his opponent is known for.

Mike doesn't get into a stance, he simply wraps his chain around his left arm and holds the hilt of the blade in his right. He just stands there, ready to pounce at a moments notice.

Glynda hesitated to start the match, leaving her hand raised in the air, even as the actual counter already hit zero. With a short prayer, she cut her hand down through the air.

"Begin!"

Neither of them moved, neither of them even started to move, Mike just stood there with an indifferent look on his face, while Darius was shaking slightly, not afraid, but ungodly nervous. He didn't know if he should make the first move, or wait until Mike makes his move, he didn't know if it was an insult if he waited for him, or a taunt if he were to attack first.

For the first time, there was no cheers, for neither side. Everyone in the stands were watching with their hearts beating so loud that it is the only thing that can be heard in their ears.

Finally, Darius had enough, and filled himself up with courage and charged at Mike, his sword still up in a defensive position as he aimed to get within striking distance before his opponent could take advantage of the distance they had. Once he got close enough, he struck.

As the blade grew nearer to Mikes shoulder, a dull flash of green is seen, and before he knew it Mike had just parried his attacked with his semblance without even moving thanks to his semblance, and there was a chain wrapped around his wrist. Again, before he was able to do anything about it, his sword was wrenched out of his grip, and he was kicked in the face so hard that his nose almost broke.

He writhed around in pain on the ground as Mike tossed his sword out of bounds. Darius didn't make any sign to forfeit, and so he decided that if he didn't want to surrender, than he would have to keep going until he did.

Everyone winced when Mike kicked the poor kid in the face, the sickening snap echoed around the room as his head slammed against the concrete beneath them, cracking it in the process.

"I-I surren-" Darius was cut off when Mikes blade slashed him across the face.

If he wanted to surrender, he would have to do it quickly.

"Mike!" Reggie called for him, but even his voice wasn't enough to stop him.

Michael still held his bored expression as he jabbed his right knee into his opponents back, while pinning his arm to the ground with his left hand. Than with his free hand, grabbed the back of his head and slammed it twice into the ground. Even with aura, with the amount of times he continued to slam his head into the ground, he managed to knock him out.

Darius' aura dipped beneath the red, while Mike still had a hundred percent of his. But he didn't stop.

Now people were screaming at him to stop, but he could barely hear any of them, he was in a trance. He had to get some of his pent up aggression out, if the kid wanted to surrender than he should have done it by now, it wasn't his fault that he was doing this to himself.

"That's enough!" Glynda roared with anger, and Mike found his body completely enveloped in black and purple. He couldn't find the strength to move, or even begin to move. He could only shake as he attempted to break free of his bonds.

"You! Take your teammate to the infirmary." Glynda ordered Darius' partner, and she followed it without hesitation.

"Everyone, class is dismissed, what happened here today will _not_ be a topic of gossip." She barked out, and no one dared to even think about disobeying it as they hurried out of the room.

The only ones left in the classroom was the other members of HAMR, who ran down the steps and started holding Michael back once Glynda freed him from her semblance, and Team RWBY, who despite her death glares, remained in the classroom, horrified expressions on their faces.

"Michael, just calm down!" Reggie begged as he hugged his boyfriend from behind, and not in a way that either of them enjoyed.

Ashley wanted to say something, but the moment she opened her mouth, he glared at her with a silent threat. She simply stayed quiet as she ripped his weapon out of his hand.

Ruby was the first to come down, than Weiss and Yang. Blake hesitated, but she did come down in order to support her team supporting HAMR. Mike did eventually calm down, squeezing his eyes shut and letting his body relax, when he opened his eyes again however, the first person he looked at was the very livid teacher Miss Goodwitch.

"Care to explain yourself for your actions?" She demanded to know, making it sound more like a demand than an actual question.

"..." He remained silent, but kept his gaze on the older womans face.

"Do you have _anything_ to say for yourself for what you did to that poor boy?" Glynda asked next, not any less angry with him.

"I had to let out some steam, and he didn't surrender." Michael said with a shrug.

Glynda's eyebrow ticked up, but not with anger, with disappointment. Mike is better than this, he knows it, she knows it, and his friends know it.

That didn't mean he wouldn't get in trouble however.

"You will go to the headmasters office immediately, your teammates may go with you. Team RWBY." She suddenly snapped her head to only other team of students in the classroom.

"I hope you will not be late to your next class." Is all she said, but none of them moved, glancing toward HAMR every now and again in a not so subtle manner.

Glynda sighed, this was really not what she expected when she woke up this morning. "If you wish to join them on their way to the headmaster, than so be it, but I expect Doctor Oobleck to let me know that you four were in his class today, am I understood?"

"Yes mam!" Ruby answered for her team.

"Good, now begone." Glynda ordered as she slapped her riding crop into her hand, making it sound like a whip that got everyone moving. Even Michael while he was in his bad mood. If beating another student into the ground literally could be categorized as such.

Once they left, Glynda pinched the bridge of her nose, and her mind wandered off to the leader of Team HAMR, who most certainly wouldn't have let that happen. No, it wouldn't have happened if he was here. His kidnapping has not just been affecting the morale of most of her students, but it was only made worse when it was stacked on top of her apprentice's group of policeman and other huntsman losing communications, she was told that they traveled too far underground, and once they got get closer to the surface to be able to get into comm range, they'll be able to see what is going on. It didn't make her worry any less.

Damn them both for getting under her skin, in a good way. Because now she is worried about their safety. One going into a battle he damn well knew he had a very slim chance of winning, and the other on a mission meant for older huntsman when he himself was younger than even a fresh Beacon graduate. When she gets them within her grasp again, she is going to make sure they pay for making her like this.

Like the fools they are.

* * *

 **Unknown location**

" _ **Wake up!"**_

Hector snapped his eyes open, back to brown like they have been all of his life. The voice scared him right out of his surprisingly comfortable nap yet again. Surprising because the last thing he remembers was being electrocuted after saying some pretty shady stuff to Neo, speaking of Neo…

"Were you watching me sleep? Again?" Hector asked with a scoff as he settles himself in a slightly more comfortable position.

Neo shrugged, and then pointed to the questions with her parasol again. This time letting him read all three of the questions.

"Who am I… How do I know of your plans… and what am I!? The hell kind of question is that one?" Hector asked, a bit offended despite knowing exactly what situation he is in.

Neo pointed toward his wounds, or at least the healed scars of them. He didn't even realize that he was healed, he didn't feel the pain like before. Of course, there still _was_ pain, but heavily dulled since he was more or less healed up, and his aura was allowed to regenerate a very small amount before they sapped it out of him again. His broken arm, which should have taken months to heal because of the low amount of aura he was constantly in, and still is in, is now unbroken and back to normal. A bit sore, but back to normal. He couldn't feel the cracked and shattered bones like he very easily could before when he punched Cinder in the face.

He then looked back up at Neo, who still has her arms crossed and is wearing an annoyed expression on her face. He doesn't know _how_ she could be annoyed, since she literally has him right where she wanted him, all of her sick dreams can come true if she wanted it to. So what's the hold up?

" _You're wondering why she isn't going to hurt you today?"_ Roman asked through the intercom, the location of said intercom probably behind him if his hearing is telling him the truth.

"I mean, yeah, I thought I would be missing some fingers by now." Hector said as he shrugged one shoulder, than winced when the chains dug into his shoulder and pinched at his skin, drawing some blood in the process.

" _Yeah, I agree with you on that one, do you remember the last time we tried using the more… common means of 'advanced interrogation'?"_ Roman asked with a bit of intrigue in his voice that Hector barely managed to catch.

"What kind of question is that? All that happened was you beating me trying to get me to betray my friends, and then you knocked me out with this damn electric chair i've been chained to for god knows how long." Hector explained what he remembered from just a few hours ago, or days, he doesn't know anymore.

He stopped caring.

 _He doesn't remember that he almost broke his own chains a few days back…_ Roman noted, that would be something to keep in mind. Whatever state he was in before, it made his physical strength on par with a Goliath at the very least. Probably even surpassed it. He could tell that he was being genuine, being a master criminal _does_ have it's quirks after all. _On top of that, he is back to those brown eyes that are much more appealing than that other color._

" _Nevermind that than, we decided that we're going to be a bit… nicer, with our approach to you. That sounds better right?"_

"I mean, I've been sitting in my own piss and shit for however long I've been chained up to this _goddamn_ chair, so it's a mild improvement I guess." Hector shuddered as he felt said shit brush up against his own asscheek.

" _Charmed, on my way Big Red~."_ Roman said as he got off the intercom, the sound going out with a soft click.

It took no time at all for Roman to get back into the room, this time with a pair of chairs, one for himself and the other for Neo. He even has a plate of food with him, and hands it to Neo for _her_ to eat.

Hector's stomach growled sharply, and his mouth started watering with his minds permission. He cursed at his own body for this poorly timed natural response, and forced his eyes off of the food and into Roman's green eyes.

"Hungry Big Red?" Roman asked as he let Neo feed him a piece of chicken, and he swallowed it with an exaggerated moan.

His stomach answered that for him.

Hector realized what they were doing right away.

Instead of beating him, they were going to starve him out. If he didn't die of thirst first that is. How far would they go however?

"Yeah, thought so." Roman burped, but brought a cup of water to Hector's mouth, and let him roughly drink out of it. It didn't seem like they would let him die of thirst…

 _I gotta hold out for at least a month without food then…_ Hector thought to himself as he took in a deep raspy breath after drinking half a liter of water all in one go. The cool water being felt as it went down his throat and into his stomach. He couldn't help it, his mouth was parched, and his lips were dry. The saliva being more than welcomed back.

"So, who are you Hector? Really? Huntsman in training?" Roman asked as he smiled, he was winning this so far, and he knew it.

" _ **Don't talk."**_ The ambiguous dark voice surprised him, making him jump in his seat and rattling his chains. Roman mistook this as him trying to free himself yet again, and tightened the chains even more than they were before. They bit into his skin and threatened to rip it with every small movement he made.

"Agh." Hector groaned as the chains bit into his skin even more, feeling like they were a part of him now rather than bonds.

"Don't try that again please, those chains were specifically designed to hold down the strongest of Grimm, one human like you isn't going to be able to break them." Roman said with a frown. Intentionally leaving out the information that he almost did do just that just a few hours ago.

"You look like you're not enjoying this." Hector pointed out with a weak smile, and his left eye flickers red before returning to brown. "What's wrong? Isn't your whole shtick being selfish, and wanting to keep yourself alive?"

"Yes, yes, keep digging that hole." Roman sighed. "As much as you might think otherwise, _Hector_."

"Ooo, using my name now." He sarcastically acted like he was scared.

Roman ignored him, and continued. "I do not get pleased with myself for hurting kids, but that doesn't mean I won't if my life is on the line."

"So," Hector interjected. "Is that part of the reason you have Neo with ya all the time? So she can do the killing and dirty stuff like that for you?" He asked, genuinely curious.

"Eh, close. You're half right, but even Neo doesn't take _too_ much pleasure in killing kids." Roman chuckled when he saw the look of betrayal on Neo's face. She took plenty of pleasure in all of her kills! "But that isn't what we're talking about here, let's talk about you some more eh?" Roman got comfortable, and rested his feet on top of Hector's knee.

" _ **Kill him for that."**_

"Urgh!" Hector coughed, and he could taste blood from in his own mouth. He realized that he had just bit his own tongue soon later.

"Ignoring that, let's talk about that semblance of yours." Roman crossed his arms.

"W-What about it?" Hector asked, only slightly paying attention to him. His heart rate sped up tremendously and he doesn't know why.

"I've seen semblances a plenty, from lightning, to fire, to clones, speed. You name it, you have a power semblance, that much is undeniable." Roman explained, and Neo silently agreed with him. "But, you my good sir, have something _I_ have never seen before. That… what was it? It's got a stupid name. The Kaio-whatever."

Hector sighed, everyone called it that. He couldn't help but name it that though, it was just so perfect. "Kaioken."

"Yeah that one, the stupid thing. The hell does it even mean anyway?" He asked.

"I… huh." Hector calmed down slightly as he thought about what Kaioken actually meant. "I never really thought about that."

"Whatever, it's not important anyway." Roman shrugged. "Wanna know how exactly your semblance is a kind that I have never seen before?"

"You're just going to tell me either way, so go for it."

"Ah, that is why you are my favorite prisoner." Roman laughed shortly. "Correct me if I am wrong, but your semblance is basically something pulled out of a comic book or something, increased strength, speed, yada yada, you get the whole deal."

"Yup."

"And you can bring more power forth as you wish, or passively use it in any one of your limbs."

"Yup, you can figure that out just by watching me fight, it's kinda hard to hide bursting red flames."

"Agreed. But that is not the only thing that I've noticed from you." Roman leaned in, taking his foot off from atop Hector's knee, and stared into his eyes. "Your eyes change, and no I don't mean like that blonde girl."

Hector shut his mouth, his quip losing any merit because of Roman's intelect.

As if on cue, Hector's eyes flicker from brown to red for a split second before going back to brown. Roman took note that this was similar to the blonde girl, Yang he thinks her name was. Were they related? Possibly, but no, he doesn't think so, her red eyes only comes into fruition when she gets angry or uses her semblance, very similarly to Hector.

Thanks to the little mole that he was getting information from, he knows that Hector used to not get red eyes whenever he was using his semblance, but ever since the night under the bridge, he has been getting them anytime he would even feel negative emotions, or use his semblance up to a certain power level. But than at the dance, they turned red, and stayed red for a whole night and than the next day, without any signs of fatigue. Unlike Yang's, which was full with anger and rage. His were full of malice, hatred and bloodlust, there was a good chance that Hector didn't even realize his own emotions felt that way, since it came so naturally to him.

Another thing was that he lost his memories of the other night, where he seemed to be at his angriest that he has ever been before. He nearly broke through the chains, and it took enough volts of electricity to kill five grown men _just_ to knock him out, he had to put it up to full power.

"You've been staring into my eyes for an uncomfortable amount of time now." The subject of his thoughts snapped him out of his train of thought.

"Hmm, just thinking about what we should do with you." Roman expertly lied. "This is going to be one of our last meetings you know, at least in person. Since neither Neo or I are having trouble getting anything out of you. The… professionals are going to give it a shot in a few days."

"Oh, goodie…" Hector sighed, already not looking forward to it.

"Now, now, we still have a few hours with you. Don't get too upset." Roman said as he sat back down, the plate of food he brought in now completely empty, and the cup of water being kicked over and spilling all over the floor. "As I was saying… where was I? Oh yes, your semblance. I saw the video of you fighting my three associates." He leaned in to whisper loudly.

"Don't tell anyone, but I was rooting for _you_."

"Lips are sealed."

"Anywho, imagine my surprise when I saw that you were able to stand up to Cinder of all people. Boy, oh boy, has she been _eager_ to speak to you after that little scuffle." Roman chuckled, but it sounded empty and unenthusiastic.

Hector gave him a thumbs up with his left hand, which was barely able to move enough to get into such a position.

"So you can forgive me if I think that semblance of yours is a little fishy." Roman finished, allowing a moment of silence before Hector realized it was his turn to talk.

"Wanna know my secret?" Hector asked with a smirk on his face, it leaked blood, and that was easily noticed by Roman and Neo. He leaned in as much as he could against the chains, and stared at him with an unsettling gaze that looked like it was practiced.

"It's called plot armour."

"Tch." Roman scowled and stood up with a hard grunt, planting his foot into Hector's chest and driving the air out of his lungs. The heavy metal chair sliding back with few sparks and even more blood being spit from his mouth. "Can't you see that I am trying to _help_ you? You damn idiot, you just keep digging your own grave with every little thing that comes out of your mouth. You're going to get yourself killed over this, is that what you want?"

" _ **He won't be able too."**_

"You won't be able too." Hector repeated the voice's words in a dark voice, he stopped fighting it for a moment, and he spoke the very words it just told him to say. He turned his head up to look at Roman, who stepped back after hearing a different voice than he was used to.

"Hmph, all that bravado is going to go down the drain, I don't know when you'll give up, or when _they'll_ stop." Roman said in a much less cheerful voice.

Neo just sat back, observing.

" _ **Pain, will only make you stronger."**_

"Pain, will only make me stronger." Hector once again repeated it's words, and with a blink his eyes turned to an almost glowing red color.

"Oh trust me, I've figured that one out already." Roman chuckled and crossed his arms, seemingly unafraid of the strange young man before him. "Why do you think we haven't been feeding you?"

"Huh?" Hector finally snapped out of his trance, and blinked his eyes, the red color dulling down to how it is normally when they are red.

"You were unconscious for the first day we got you here, so no food there, than yesterday you still had no food, and today you are still going to get no food. You catching on yet?" Roman asked as he made a gesture with his hand.

"Wait…" Hector suddenly felt much more nervous than before. "The plates of food you kept bringing in and eating in front of me… that was part of the torture, wasn't it?"

"Ding, ding, ding!" Neo made a bell gesture behind Roman as he said that. "We got a winner! Good on ya for figuring that one out, it's my own little tactic of getting people to talk, when physical pain won't work, and I am not one for drugging mind you, the mess they leave behind is atrocious. I go for the long con. Sweet ol' ketosis."

Hector was confused for a second, not knowing that that word meant. He swore he heard it in class before though…

"You don't know what ketosis is?" Roman asked with a tilt of his head. "Oh, this will be my favorite part than, where that smile is wiped off your face. Let me explain." He cleared his throat, and fixed his own chair to sit back down in it.

"If you haven't eaten for a few hours, everything is pretty much normal. But after six hours without eating, you get hungry and angry, the popular term for this is hangry, I'm sure you've heard of it." He has, but he was really not looking forward to what else was coming. "Then two or three days later, that's when the fun begins. Ketosis begins or has already started to settle in, your body maybe now, maybe earlier, maybe later, is going to start cannibalizing itself for energy."

Hector's heart skipped a beat, that explained the stomach pains, and the fact that he hasn't really peed or defecated all that much for quite a while now. His smile was gone, and nowhere to be seen.

"Oh, but there's more!" Roman, like the sick man he is, continued. "During Ketosis, your brain isn't going to function properly, and then after a week, your immune system is going to go to shit. You'll probably be shitting and pissing yourself at that point, if you still have any meat on your bones that is. I heard that if hunters don't eat enough to sustain their big and strong bodies, _bad_ things happen."

Hector hung his head in defeat, he has lost yet another battle, this one of wits, not to mention that this voice in his head just won't shut the fuck up. He began to tremble, not able to suppress himself. It was going to be even worse for him because of his body's large size, six foot two-three inches, around two hundred and twenty pounds… there was almost no hope for him.

"And this Neo, is the very moment when you sap the last bits of hope out of an aspiring hunter." Roman bragged as he stood up, and dragged the chair with him out of the room. He stopped in the middle and let Neo out first, who shattered into glass the second she touched his arm.

"Last chance Big Red, talk." He demanded.

For a few seconds, a few, long, agonizing seconds. Hector actually considered it, his resolve nearly breaking over the fear of watching his body destroy himself. Which was ironic, since he was so used to destroying himself in nearly every fight he was in, even if it wasn't up to this extent. But as soon as he opened his mouth, he thought of all of his friends, Team RWBY, Team JNPR, Robert Urra, his mentor and friend, along with all the teachers he has become fond of… his own team, Team HAMR, Michael, Reggie, and yes, even Ashley, despite what she did. If he talked, than they will suffer the consequences for it, all just because he couldn't handle the pain, or even the thought of feeling any worse than he is now.

" _ **Pathetic, you're better than this."**_

He agreed with the voice this time, perhaps more than he should have, and shut his mouth just as fast as he opened it, nearly biting his tongue against in the process. He looked down to the chains piled up on his lap, and remained silent. Forcing himself to fight against his body's natural instincts to protect itself.

Roman was disappointed, that last act of sadism and maniacal tendencies usually got to most of his prisoners, he was a good actor like that. But not this one, evidently. He respected him for that in a way.

Roman shut the door behind it, clicking every lock back into place. Hector winced as the sound of each metallic clank echoed within his ears.

He cared for his friends, even though one's betrayal landed him here. He could respect that. He _does_ respect that selflessness from him. There aren't many people like that left in this cruel world.

It didn't make it any less stupid though.

* * *

 **Well there we go, what a returning chapter! An intense fight to start it off, some unsettling things happening to Hector, and now HAMR is having some trouble keeping themselves sane and from lashing out like Mike just did. It took a while, but we are back baby! -Genatools**

 **This no the longest chapter we have made but certainly one in which I went all out with the fight scene, it was fun. I personally had a blast, maybe one of the longest fights behind the one of Hector vs Cinder and company. -Crowskull**

 **Yeah, and I edited the whole thing, which took more than a few hours. 13k words is a lot once you read through all of it. -Genatools.**

 **We are back baby!**

 **Please review and let us know what you think of the story so far!**


	26. Rwby: Team HAMR chapter 26

**Well than, here we are with another chapter of Team HAMR, unfortunately, I am here by myself this time to write the whole chapter. Crowskull has some issues going on with himself right now, so that leaves me in charge of the chapters until he is able to start writing again. For the sake of my friends privacy, I will not be disclosing what is happening in his personal life right about now.**

 **That is why if chapters come out later than expected, I will do my best but unfortunately I do not know** _ **all**_ **of the plans CS had for Robert and their whole underground mission. I will do my best however.- Genatools.**

 **I am still helping however, in my own way, so technically I'm still working on this, and honestly, I think it will work out, after all we are still planning chapters together and I will read and check everything too.- CrowSkull**

 **Anyways, I shall thank and respond to the reviewers right now!**

* * *

 **Zeldawolffang: Yeah, no one is having a good time right now sadly.**

 **Poaling12: Awesome! No worries though, the anxiety will only probably get worse from here.**

 **Soul109: Hector has been through some shit man, it is about time he can sit down for once, even if he is being starved to near death.**

 **Who's Brandon?- CrowSkull**

 **Oblivious Ninja IJ: I… tried to understand what you just said, and I think I got it. Thank you.**

 **Thank you all for the reviews!**

* * *

RWBY: Team HAMR

Chapter 26- Unleash the Monster

Michael and his team, along with the four girls from Team RWBY all walk together as a group. Headed toward the headmasters tower to get to his office. Even though they are all silent, they are all tense. Most of them want to speak up and say something regarding the very uncharacteristic brutality that Mike displayed against his opponent just a few minutes ago. He walks ahead of them with about a three foot distance between himself and his worried friends.

He's not mad at them, not by any means. He is just stressed to all ends of hell there is.

"So, what's going on with you all?" Everyone was surprised when Mike was the one who stopped walking, and turned to face them. They were at the doors to the tower, but it seemed like he felt empathetic for them all. He did feel bad that he was doing this to them, in the past twenty minutes or so of walking, he was thinking about how wrong he actually was to do this to his friends when only there was just one of them who made him angry to look at.

"We're all worried about you." Ruby, of course was the one to speak up first. The good friend that she is, she always put friendship above anything else in the world. It was very idealistic, but it was pure, people like that aren't all too common these days.

"After what happened earlier, I was even convinced that you needed help." Weiss spoke up next. "Because in all honesty, this whole "Leave it up to us" facade has gone on long enough."

"You were the first one to give up on them." Blake pointed out.

"D-don't tell them that!"

"Anyway," Yang stepped up. "We're all worried about you, Team JNPR wanted to come to, but Miss Goodwitch scared them off, so here we are."

"Yeah, we know what's wrong, and what happened to Hector… And we're going to help you save him!" Ruby cheered, and her team nodded in agreement accordingly.

"You will!?" Reggie questioned, despite already knowing the answer. Even if the rest of Team RWBY didn't want to help out, Ruby would have made them anyway. That was just her _Rosey_ charms as Yang would call it. "It's a hunch, but we think that he may be around Mou-"

Ashley slapped a hand over his mouth and hissed something incomprehensible at him that he was actually able to understand, if the loss of color on his face said otherwise, nobody commented on it.

Michael sighed, and leant up against the wall as his boyfriend spouted out apologies to their other teammate. Really though, did he really think that Team RWBY would have not questioned him on _how_ they knew that Hector could be being held in the Mountain Glenn base that Ashley _thinks_ is still there. It was just a hunch, and the only thing they really had going, but still… why?

"We may have a hunch," Mike continued for his partner. "But nothing is confirmed yet, we have to do a mission outside the city itself though."

"He was captured by the White Fang, right?" Blake asked, with a small hint of surprise in Mikes features, he regarded and nodded to her. "At least, that is what they told us. I would assume that you three would know what really went down that night right?"

"Yes, but we came to the same conclusions that you had."

"In any case, I… I used to be a part of the White Fang myself." Blake revealed news that Michael and Reggie already knew, but Ashley didn't.

"You were…?" She asked, more surprised than anyone else there.

"Oh, there was actually someone you didn't tell behind my back?" Blake asked her team.

Yang simply whistled a tune while Ruby refused to look at her, Weiss gave them the same scolding look she did. She certainly didn't have a hand in other people finding out about her true nature, that much she was sure about. It was something that Blake didn't really expect from the white haired woman she has as her teammate.

Really it was a wonder that Ashley didn't know Blake, being so close to Sienna, the high leader of the White Fang herself, she heard plenty about Adam Taurus, but she hasn't even heard a whisper about the Belladonna girl. She knew she existed, since it was rare for any faunus to not know about the Belladonna family, but a part of the White Fang? That she did not know. She contemplated telling everyone right now about her technically being family to Sienna Khan herself, actually, you know what? While she wasn't _officially_ part of the White Fang, she is sure that if she declared herself as such, no one would really deny her. Michael and Reggie certainly didn't deny her claim of being close with the high leader of the Fang at all, for whatever reason that may be.

"I was also a part of the White Fang." Ashley half lied, and the shocked looks on all of Team RWBY's faces brought a subtle amusement to all of Team HAMR. "And why didn't anyone tell _me_ that Blake used to be a part of the Fang?"

Reggie nervously whistled and turned away, and Michael simply shrugged. "Guess you're not as popular as you think you are."

"What!? You dickhead." There was the Ashley that Mike knew, all this waddling around in her self guilt made her seem like a much more pathetic person than she really was.

"Why didn't anyone tell _me_ that she used to be a part of the White Fang?" Blake asked literally everyone else.

While everyone else was claiming that they didn't know about it, or that it just never crossed their minds. Yang thought this was the _perfect_ opportunity to make a quick quip. Because that is just how she is.

"It looks like Hector attracts _all_ the ex-terrorist's."

Blake and Ashley both glared at her with such intensity that it made Yang Xiao Long herself shrink in on herself.

"The fact that Hector has a strange sense in women," Michael started.

"Hey!" Ashley complained.

"Is not important right now." He continued, even as Ashley huffed and crossed her arms. "She's told us that she thinks that he may be being held captive in or around Mountain Glenn, and yes, that is the city that was doomed to fail a few years back." He added when he saw Ruby raise her hand.

"Hm, that was a place that I thought the White Fang may have been holding up in, but a base in a Grimm infested city like that is very dangerous, it must be temporary if anything." Blake explained.

"Yeah, and in the missions coming up, I did some more digging, there are going to be five missions that lead to Mt. Glenn."

"We were going to try and get one of those missions so we could lead a fully trained huntsman over there, and potentially rescue our leader." Reggie finished for him with a happy smile on his face, his usual bubbly mood finally returning after three days of being suppressed due to depression.

"Hey, that actually isn't a bad plan!" Ruby smiled as well, high fiving Reggie in the meantime. "We'll help you!"

"You… will?" Mike seemed surprised, even if he really shouldn't have been. This was Team RWBY after all, he quickly realized who he was talking to. "I mean, I understand why most of you would do it, because of Yang and Blake's affection for my leader, as well as Ruby being very good friends with him. Weiss is… something with him."

"Hey! Why do I get my own category?" The heiress asked, a tick mark forming at the corner of her forehead.

"Pfft." Yang stifled her laughter. "You thought I was into him?" She asked.

"Well… you did sort of offer to meet with him alone to _train_." Reggie pointed out with air quotes. "Than Ruby had to go ahead and tell him that it was meant to be a date."

"Wait… you mean it wasn't!?" Ruby shrieked, utterly horrified with herself that she accidentally made one of her best friends think that her sister was into him. "Why didn't you say anything to me!?" She asked her sister.

"Because it was hilarious, ever since you mislead him like that I was having a blast teasing him about it." Yang's snickering blew up into full blown laughter.

"Wait… the whole time you were… pretending?" Ashley asked.

"Yup."

"Why did you ask him to train with you than, on your own no less?" Reggie asked next.

"I wanted a good fight with him, one on one. I didn't want any teachers to pull us apart if things got too intense, we never really settled the score ever since we fought for the first time anyway. It wasn't my fault that you all let your minds run into the gutter." Yang explained with her trademark smirk. "Besides, if I was _really_ into him, I wouldn't have waited so long to go after him."

"That… actually makes sense now that I think about it." The way Weiss said that suggested that it took a lot of willpower to actually speak those words.

"Sheesh, talk about faith." Yang rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I didn't hear Blake denying her feelings for dear ol' Hector~" She put both of her hands on her shoulders, trapping and preventing her from escaping from her current position.

"I… don't think this is the correct time to talk about such things." Blake cursed how hot her face felt.

"She's right." Mike, her saviour and fellow lover of her favorite book series, Ninja's of Love, came to her rescue.

"Yes, she is." Headmaster Ozpin, her other saviour came to her- oh no… "Oh no, don't let me distract you all from your planning." The bastard even had the audacity to smirk at all of them. "I simply need Mister Cedric here to please speed things up, we do have an appointment together regarding a certain sparring match that happened earlier. In all honesty I thought you all were going to speak of that rather than conspiring to break the rules of the upcoming missions." They all winced at that, they _did_ have a very easily swayed top priority that was constantly switching around. "You _do_ know that the missions into Mountain Glenn are restricted to only second years, and above correct?"

"We know, we were going to break them." Reggie replied honestly, and thus earning a elbow being jabbed into his chest as a result.

"Hm, well then," Ozpin cleared his throat. "Perhaps I can be convinced to _bend_ the rules for you all, if Mister Cedric would come this way please." He opened the door for him, and turned his body enough so that he gave him more than enough space to squeeze through.

"Perhaps, I can achieve such a feat." Mike said with a flat face, and a thin line with his lips to represent his neutral emotions.

"Perhaps." The headmaster smiled as the boy walked past him, waving a two fingered wave back at his friends behind him, his eyes strayed over the ashen haired girl, and the _very_ interesting bit of information he… overheard, was ever present from within his mind. His duty as a huntsman demanded that he bring the girl in for questioning, so that they may pinpoint where not only his missing student is located, but the leader of the White Fang herself.

Instead, he let her be. Because it seemed that she was already willingly helping with the search for the missing student, and it wasn't like Sienna Khan's capture would do anything to stop the White Fang from continuing their reign of terror. If anything, it may only get worse from there.

Without a word to any of his other students, with only a nod, he shut the glass door behind him and headed back up to his office with Michael to have a very unpleasant conversation. His actions could not go unpunished after all.

"W-well… that was a thing, eh?" Reggie stole Yang's line, and earned a betrayed look from the blonde as his only response.

Weiss, with a sigh, took Ruby by her hood and started heading back in the opposite direction. "I think we've spent more than enough time helping our dear friends, we should get to class." It wasn't really a suggestion, since she was dragging a flailing Ruby even as she tried to dig her feet into the concrete tiled floors and failed miserably.

"Yeah, wouldn't want to make Double G angry right?" Reggie asked with a chuckle, using the nickname that was given to her by his leader near the beginning of the semester. "You coming Ashley?"

She snapped her head up from the floor, and quickly caught up to her teammate. "Y-yeah, coming." She was thinking about the look Ozpin gave her, he knew, that much was certain, he must have overheard their conversation. She wouldn't be able to do anything about it anyway, she deserved it if Ozpin did decided to incarcerate her. There were more important things to worry about however, such as the case of Hector Rivers, her first love, and her first real human friend. Even if she was to be jailed, the last thing she would do would be to save him.

She made a vow to herself, and to him, even if he didn't hear it himself, it would be the last thing she did.

For him.

* * *

"Ah, Mister Cedric." Ozpin said as he took his seat, cracking his knuckles as he rested his hands atop his desk. "I trust you know what you are here for yes?"

"It has crossed my mind once or twice." Mike said as he traced a finger over the armrests of his chair, he couldn't help but notice that his chair paled in comparison to the chair that the headmaster sat in. He must be very comfortable, he has to be if he wants to keep his sanity while doing so much paperwork, along with the occasional scolding of a hormonal superpowered teenager every now and again. Actually, now that he thought about it, his leader was up here a lot of the time. It wasn't really important to think about it at the moment, because of the whole him being kidnapped thing going on, but still, he makes a mental note to ask him about it in the near future. If all went well, then it would all be in just the next few days.

"Anyways," Ozpin seemed to notice him being in deep thought, and instead of forcing his attention back to himself right away. Let him finish thinking whatever he was thinking about and look back into his light brown eyes. "Mister Darius will make a full physical recovery, aura boosters and the school nurse's treatment will more than assure that. But that does not mean that what you did was not only extremely uncalled for, but could also call for your expulsion."

Michaels eyes widened, Ozpin finally got a reaction out of him. If he was expelled… he would have nowhere to go, he guesses that he could stay in Vale and his team would be more than happy to help him out, but that would still leave them as literally just half of the team still in Beacon, not anywhere closer to saving their friend. The thought scared him, and he even began to get emotional at the thought.

"However, Mister Darius has personally requested that you are _not_ to be expelled," Michael exhaled a sigh of relief, but was also extremely surprised. After what he did, he would be so easily forgiven? "His reasons were simple, he did not believe you were in your right state of mind, and thus forgiven you even against his teams judgement, there was one condition however."

"Of course there is." Mike said underneath his breath. "What would that be?"

"Well, there's the mandatory detention for two weeks for attacking another student unescerally, and lastly," Ozpin smirked and chuckled lightly. "You are to do his homework for him for those two weeks."

Mike widened his eyes and visibly sagged in his seat. While all he would have to do was complete his own homework and than copy, they were both first years so that made things much easier, but it would be ungodly boring to do on his own, which he is sure he would have to.

"Do I… _really_ have to do that?" He pleaded.

"Unless you prefer the expulsion, then yes, you do." Ozpin stated simply, leaning back in his own chair as victory came easily to him.

Mike sighed and rubbed a hand down his face. "Fine, whatever, I'll do it." He surrendered, not having the energy to fight back and ask for a lighter sentence.

"Fantastic, now for that the most important topic at hand, I believe it is time that we discuss what I… overheard before I came personally to take you to my office." Ozpin cleared his throat, and carefully chose his words. Out of all of Team HAMR, Michael Cedric was often boasted by the leader to be the most intelligent, not in just terms of academics, but in terms of combat as well. He vaguely remembers when Michael sparred against Nora, and came _very_ close to victory, more so than anyone else could have before him. She only won because he drained his own aura with his defensive semblance.

"So you eavesdropped on us than?" Mike asked needlessly. To which the headmaster simply shrugged his shoulders. "I assume you already know of my female teammates past transgressions then…"

"If I faulted those who have done regrettable things in their past, not even I would be able to live without bars being a very well known factor in my life." Ozpin said with a small smile. "To answer your assumptions… yes, I know of her _interesting_ relationship with the White Fang and the high leader herself. She was never a part of them herself until recently after all, though I think we both know that her loyalty lies somewhere else."

"Yes, I am aware of that. How Hector managed it, I have no idea." Mike sighed and leaned even further back into his seat, the back of his neck resting atop of the cushion the chair provided for him. "I swear, half the things he does are just by accident or completed just by pure luck. Like his fight with Pyrrha for instance, throwing his weapons at her didn't seem to be a good idea at first."

"But it ended up working in his favor, since her semblance was now rendered useless as a offensive ability and much for the defensive. I believe that Mister Rivers deserves more credit then he gets." Ozpin finished for him, he has already drawn those conclusions himself.

"I suppose so… it didn't help him against that woman though."

"No, I suppose it did not." Ozpin's smile transformed into a thin line of neutrality, the news came unexpected, and hard. Before even he was able to do anything about it, it was just too late.

"What is going on in the search for my leader?" Mike asked next, a hint of anger and raw hatred ever present within his voice.

"Unfortunately, the police force itself cannot begin the search for him due to signs of Grimm activity in the undergrounds of the city itself, I have a team of fully trained huntsman searching for him however." He quickly added when Michael slammed a fist on his desk, cracking it slightly.

"And?" Mike asked for more with just one, simple word.

"... We have come up with nothing yet." Ozpin told the truth.

Mike's other hand wrapped around the armrest, his green aura flaring to protect his fingers from damaging itself. He looked to Ozpin with anger in his eyes, he might have even attacked out of blind anger if he didn't have such good self control, in this situation at least. He must have known that Ozpin was far beyond his capabilities.

"Damn it." Mike stood up. "You know what I want to do Ozpin, it will either be with your approval, or without it. Not only my team and I, but Team RWBY want to save him as well. We want a Search and Rescue missions in Mt. Glenn, is there anything else I need to demand."

"You seem to be mistaken." Ozpin stated calmly, his hands still held out on the desk and around his mug. "I am the headmaster here, and I decide who can and who cannot go on a mission. I am afraid I cannot _officially_ give you all clearance for such a mission, since there are so many of you, I am sure you know it is one team paired up with one fully trained huntsman. I would have to sacrifice another teams mission in order to grant you this request. We simply do not have the numbers to do such a thing, not to mention just how dangerous it would be for you all." He explained.

"Then sacrifice another team's mission," Mike continued, headstrong. "It's just a training mission right? It's not like they wouldn't be able to just go on another one, or why not have that guy, Robert Urra I believe his name is, just be an assistant to the huntsman?"

"Because Mister Urra is busy with his own mission at the moment, and it is unknown when he will return. I am sorry Mister Cedric, but I cannot in good heat authorize such a mission in such dangerous conditions for just first year students." As Ozpin said this, he typed away at his computer, and just as Mike was about to yell at him even more, his scroll vibrated.

"Not to first year students, anyway." Ozpin said with a wink, and when Mike looked down to see what his scroll wanted to tell him, his eyes widened.

' _Team HAMR, and Team RWBY have been moved up a year due to an drastic increase in experience and skill in a short period of time. As of now, they are all considered second year students of Beacon Academy. Effective immediately, overridden by [#1 Headmaster.]'_

Mike widened his eyes even further, and stared at Ozpin, and then back to his scroll, than quickly back at the headmaster, his smirk was ever present.

"Do be careful not to let anyone else know of this… _sudden_ promotion. I would not like to have Glynda barging in here with a spike with my name on it." Ozpin even managed to shiver as he thought of it. "I believe you understand why you are being dealt with these repercussions?"

Mike almost didn't play along, and he nodded his head. "Yes, thank you for allowing me to stay in this school." He nodded and smiled at the headmaster.

All Ozpin did was nod back, and allow Mike to turn around and enter the elevator, already typing away at his scroll to send a text to his teammates and his sister team in a group chat, while also putting in full caps to not tell _anyone_ about this, and they could all get into major trouble if anyone did find out.

Ozpin smiled to himself as his student left his office. He stood up and walked towards the full body window that leads to a three hundred foot drop. He looked into the distance, to Mount Glenn itself, and then to the direction of the Grimmlands, his eyes narrowed.

"Whatever your interest is in my student, Salem, I will not allow you to have him."

* * *

"Alright boys, and girls, lets saddle up." Elena ordered to all non aura users, and they immediately started to throw on the last of their gear and got ready to travel. "Due to the help of our huntsman here." She placed a hand on Roberts shoulder, who stood alongside her and the rest of Venom Fang. Seth had a stupid grin on his face that Robert desperately tried to not look at. "We found out that the Seer is nearby, all we have to do is swim through some piss and shit to get to it."

They heard all sorts of groans, moans and complaints. Elena had decided that it had been time to tell the rest of the people, they took rather well, it was emphasized on it being just another Grimm, which it was in a way, back to the sea of shit though, they had no idea how bad it smelt over there, Robert had to go over there himself and scout out a path for them all. Seth of course stayed behind, with simple words being " _Yeah, fuck that."_ and let Robert do all the scouting around the ocean of extricate.

"Enough of the bitching, I have to swim through it too." Elena said with a grimace. "Tell them what you managed to find out Robby."

"Please don't call me that…" 'Robby' begged as the attention was then placed on him. Really, it was enough that the Urra pun was a thing, but Robby just became something recent, and it was not clever, he thought. "Anyways… yeah, there is a pretty decently sized lake of piss and shit, and no, I do not know how deep it is."

"I tried convincing him, but he was too pussy for it." Seth quipped, earning himself a elbow being jabbed into his gut by Mackie, who nodded toward me to continue.

"Thanks for that Mackie, anyway, I don't know how deep it is, and I couldn't find any other way that didn't lead to a dead end. Assume that it is as deep as the ocean to be safe, and just swim as fast as you can. We don't know what could be in that… I don't want to say water, but you know what I mean." Robert explained as he pointed down at the map down at his feet, it was hastily drawn, only showing the path they needed to take in order to get to the word 'Seer' which circled in a red crayon. He didn't want to know where Seth found it.

"What are those lines going across the water for?" One of the non aura users asked.

"Yeah, what _are_ those lines Seth?" Robert asked his partner, who simply shrugged and grinned at him in return.

"I did spot some makeshift bridges made out of some flimsy pieces of wood." He revealed. "It can hold a few of us at the time by the looks of it, I would say three at a time to be safe."

"You didn't bother to tell me about this _sudden_ discovery?" Robert asked, irritated.

"Eh, you were the one who insisted I be the one to hold the flashlight because you were scared about dropping it in that shit."

"That's not the-" Robert cut himself off and facepalmed. "Okay, so we got some bridges, so we don't have to swim in that stuff."

Literally everyone sighed in relief, even Elena. Even Robert, and he was the one to say it.

"There you have it, are we all ready to go now?" Elena asked everyone, and they all _reluctantly_ nodded to her. "Great, then let's go. Robby, lead the way."

"Okay, Seth, you still have that small Grimm we found locked on right?"

"Of course, I ain't no amatuer Sparky." There goes another dreaded nickname… at least that one was a bit clever.

It didn't stop Robert from sighing heavily however. "Whatever, I remember most of the pathing anyway."

" _I_ like Sparky." Miara teased from behind him.

"Shut it Miary." 'Sparky' teased back, earning a a irritated groan from the intentional mispronunciation of her name that Seth started a while back.

"Quiet down lovebirds, we're already almost there." Elena, luckily the most experienced of them ordered, they listened right away of course.

"How do you know? Even I didn't know that, are you cheating!?" Seth sarcastically gasped and placed a hand over his heart, utterly terrified at the thought.

"Only in your wildest dreams Seth." Elena rolled her eyes. "Maybe it was the smell of shit and piss growing in intensity with each step?"

"Huh, I see your point." Seth said as he sniffed the air, and pointedly started coughing his lungs out and pinching his nose. "Yup, definitely _smell_ your point now."

"You're an idiot." Robert chuckled softly.

 **Roberts POV**

After a few more minutes of walking, chatting, and boosting moral as well. As well as we could anyway given the terrible smell of what could not be mistaken as a dumpster scented air freshener as Seth called it. We made it to the pit chamber we found earlier. Him and I are still a bit sore from out fight with the Wraith three days ago, but after a few hours of rest we were able and ready to move and fight again. This particular pit was much larger in size, and as Seth told everyone earlier, the bridges were now there.

We let the non aura users set up some light for us all, and we were met with the sight of flimsy looking bridges that were definitely not able to fit more then three people at a time. There was a small lip of stone that people could shimmy across, but they would have to be in really good shape in order to make it all the way to the other side, which seemed so far away right now.

The last pit room that me and Seth found was nowhere near as big as this one, and big was an understatement, it was _massive,_ and the water, if anyone could call it that, must have been very deep.

They set all the lights up quickly, thank god, so now we can start going by one at a time. We let some of the aura users go first, such as Elena, reason for that being obvious, then Miara, Seth, myself, and so on. We left a few more in the back, and let most of the non aura users in the middle of us aura users so that we would be able to protect them from both sides.

It all seemed to be going well, Miara, with her agility, quickly made it to the other side first, and had her crossbows at the ready in the case of any Grimm attack.

Everyone was going well… too well.

I turned around just in time to see one of the bridges collapse under the weight, and for five of our weakest to fall into the piss mixed with shit. They started to panic and scratch at their eyes and spit out god knows what out of their mouths, we started helping some of them out, put we noticed that three out of five of them were no longer on the surface.

"Stop! Everyone!" Elena barked, the negativity they were all giving off would only lead to Grimm, and that would only make things worse. "Stay still, don't move a muscle until we can find a way to get the rest of you across safely."

I was still in the middle of everything, with Seth in front of me. We stood on opposite ends of the piece of wood we were standing on in an attempt to balance it out, it seemed like things were calming down.

That's when I heard the screams.

Something black, armoured, and with evil glowing red eyes bursted out of the shit beneath us, with one of the people that fell in its territory. It was a fucking Grimm shark, and by the way that the poor guy in its jaws head was missing, and several of his limbs being torn apart, it was safe to assume that he was dead and not savable

"RUN!" I screamed. Seth and I not only ran, but sprinted across the pieces of wood, doing our best to dodge smaller sharks and using the shattered stone pillars to get ourselves across.

As we ran, I shot off some lighting bolts into some of the sharks that were attacking my friends, most hit their marks, but others whipped past and hit the wall on the other side. Miara was doing her best shooting all that she could, but there were _so many_ of them. We couldn't use or semblances or weapons to their full potential, because it could lead to friendly fire.

I made it to the other side just after Seth did, and when we turned around it was like something pulled out of a horror film.

One of the sharks jumped out of the water, I pulled Seth out of the way and sliced it in half just before it's many rows of razor sharp teeth could get close my friend. The two pieces of the monster fell back into the water and sunk to the bottom, leaving a black mist in its wake.

Seth nodded his thanks to me, and we looked back to the mess we got ourselves in.

People were dying left and right, being torn apart, the rest of the bridges were destroyed, cutting off the rest of our aura users and aura less officers. It was insane, and while I stood by in shock, Seth whipped out his revolvers and started shooting all over the place, killing both the Grimm, and some of our own comrades.

"What are you doing!?" I asked, expressing some of my anger. "You're shooting our allies, our friends!"

"I'm saving them from a painful, agonizing death!" Seth barked at me with a tone he has never really used before. I stepped back and let him do what he thought was right.

"Seth, how good is your aim right now?" Miara asked him as she shot and killed another with a stream of neon red.

"Twenty-twenty as always, why?" Seth answered as he reloaded his guns with a flourish.

"Jump in the water and swim for your damn lives!" She screamed at the top of her lungs to our trapped allies.

Most of them did as they were told, uncaring for the mouthful and noseful of excrimate that filled them up. It took some hesitation from the others, but the sound of Grimm snarling from behind them, along with the heavy vibrations of something much larger motivated them to jump in after their allies.

Now we had another situation on our hands, my close range weaponry was all but useless in a situation like this. And all my lighting would do is makes things worse, all I could do was help that people who made it up to safety.

Mackie and Verdant made it first, their superior training and aura being unlocked giving them the edge they needed to make it to safety, with all the aura users out of the water. It that was left was the ten or so non aura users to get to safety….

It didn't look like they were going to make it, at least not all of them. Even while exhausted and nearly blinded from the liquid they just swam through, all who made it started shooting at the Grimm that chased them.

But just when I think things couldn't get worse, a Deathstalker stomped up from behind them all. It screeched angrily at us all, and stabbed it's stinger into the liquid the rest of our allies were in. Slowly turned the piss and shit into something venomous and lethal, and it was catching up to them.

So far, we had about give auraless people who made the swim, than most of Venom Fang plus myself, and it didn't look like the rest of them were going to make it. They were slowing down even, the poison quickly going to work on them and destroying their motor functions of the brain.

Time moves slow for me, and it seemed like everyone else knew it, some of the grown men started to cry, Seth was desperate and cursed when he ran out of ammo in one of his guns, than focused both of his hands on one. Miara was no different, even her semblance seemed to be reaching its limits.

Elena looked to me, and we knew what we were both thinking at them time.

I charged up both my hands with as much power as I could muster, crackling with electricity as I prepared to stab them into the thick liquid in front of me. I take one last look to everyone else, and they sadly nodded to me.

I shut my eyes tight, and with a scream, I pushed my hands into the water. Right away, everything in the water was crackling and dying from the overcharge I was giving them. Everything, including the poor souls that didn't make it. It was a merciful death, or as merciful as they could have gotten regarding the situation we were all in. The Deathstalker on the other side ripped it tail out of the water, and screeched at me from the other side, before disappearing back into the darkness.

Then, it was quiet, I took my hands out of the water, and the room filled with black mist that made the chamber smell even worse than it was already. I was pulled back up to my feet, and all the survivors ran out of the chamber, when we were a good distance away, Elena started to make a headcount. She ended it just as quickly, rubbing both her hands down her face as she thinks about how many people they had just lost…

Too many people died, a lot of our force has been killed. We still had most of the stronger ones with us, but we had a lot of families to tell about the deaths of their beloved.

It was a crushing defeat.

"What now?" Seth asked as he reloaded his guns, paced back and forth. "The _fuck_ do we do now!?"

"We continue with the mission." Elena barked back. "It is our only way of getting out of this fuckfest. We continue the mission."

"We just lost about _half_ of our forces!" One of the other survivors needless pointed out.

"We fight with what we have!" Elena screamed, silencing everyone else. "We can't stop here, not now. Everyone pick yourselves up, and let's move."

No one resisted her demands, it wasn't like we were in a safe spot to huddle up in anyway.

Seth walked up to me, the only part of him I saw was his legs from between my arms as I gripped my hair so tightly it started to hurt. I looked up at his hand that was outstretched toward me, and I took it with my left. I was helped up with a quick huff, and we nodded to each other. A silent message passing between us.

We walked together side by side behind Elena, with Miara behind us, than the rest of the aura less people we were working with, and then Mackie and Verdant in the back, protecting our caboose with their riot shields that they managed to save from earlier.

* * *

After a few more minutes of walking in silence, our morale utterly crushed along with our spirits, we began to hear voices, I thought I heard a familiar one, and it was confirmed when we all snuck up and hid around a hastily set up camp by what looked to be members from the Chorus of the Dawn. I quickly realized that that voice I recognized belonged to that kid, Shane. What he was doing somewhere deep in the sewers of butt fuck no where with hardly any protection along with him? I had no idea.

"Seth, tag that one, the youngest one." I say to my partner while subtly pointing to Shane.

"Tagged." Seth nodded, it was good that he was being serious now. I guess that was to be expected after everything that had just happened earlier.

"Good," Elena placed a hand on both of our shoulders, and whispered quietly into our ears. "We can all attack at once, I got Mackie and Verdant on the other sides, if we charge at them now, they would have nowhere to run."

"When do we charge than?" Miara asked.

"As soon as Seth loses patience with us all."

Right after she said this, Seth just shot one of them with an incapacitation dust round, making him fall to the ground like a sack of potatoes, unconscious.

"Right, lets go!" I scream as I tear out my electric blades from my holsters and charge into something that could not even be described as a battle.

"We surrender!" They all rose their hands above their heads, surrendering before I could even catch up to one of them, I just managed to stop myself when I noticed that they weren't going to fight back, and now that I looked around with a more keen eye, these Chorus of Dawn cult members didn't quite look like Chorus of Dawn members. I turned to Shane, who didn't recognize me but knew what was happening well.

"What is going on here?" I asked him with a flat voice, it's tone alone being enough to let them all know that I was not in the mood for bullshit or half assed responses.

"O-our leader has gone crazy!" He exclaimed, visually terrifed. "He has been _feeding_ us to the Grimm over some delusional dream that he had, and he is exempting the zealots.

"Why would he feed the Grimm?" Elena asked, stepping up. "Grimm don't need to eat, that much has been known since time began."

"Like he said, he's fucking nuts." Another one spoke up, taking down his hood so we would all get a good look at his face. "I knew something has been going on with him, he even started chanting the name of someone we've never even heard of. Two of them actually."

"What are these names?" I asked, pointing one of my blades at him, I expected an answer from him, and if he didn't deliver, there would be problems.

"S-Salem," That alone made me widen my eyes in shock, Salem!? Already!? This is all happening way too soon, I shouldn't have even _heard_ of the name until much later on in this life. I managed to calm myself down before any of my comrades can notice, and I simply hardened my gaze at the man I held my sword at "A-and someone with an odd name, it isn't derived from a color and it doesn't sound like he came from any kingdom at all, not even names before the war." He explained briefly, but when Seth made a clicking sound with his revolvers, the sound being him cocking back to hammer to fire the bullet, making the poor guy wince and step back, right into Mackies shield, which he used to push him back toward the gunslinger.

I was more than curious to know this name, since it had a striking resemblance to mine and Hector's names, us being from a different planet technically and all. But something about what he said made me think, if Salem was involved here, and I _know_ Hector isn't some Grimm in disguise, than who or what could this new person be?

"His name is… Aaron." Shane answered for him, and again I showed a small bit of reaction to the name, it wasn't from around here for sure, even for names that weren't colors, Aaron was a name I haven't heard in Remnant… only on Earth… if that was possible, was it possible? Shit... that opened a whole new realm of possibilities that I would have to keep in mind. If there was another human from Earth here, and he was helping Salem of all people?

It might actually be smart to let Ozpin know about this one.

"That's all we know, we swear!" Shane pleaded, and I lowered my blade against them and deactivated the electric charge flowing through the gauntlets. I believed them, it was probably too easy for me to believe them, but I looked toward Elena, and nodded to her.

They could be trusted, for now at least, and to not stab us in the backs while we're not expecting it.

"How far are the Chorus?" Miara asked, having her crossbow pointed to the ground but still ready to fire just in case any of these guys got any bright ideas.

"Not far really, we could show you the way to them, you're after the "thing" right?" Shane asked, hitting it right on the nail on the first try. We knew what he meant.

Elena nodded to him, but said nothing else.

"Not only could we lead you to them, the crazy fuckers that they are, but we could also lead you to an exit." Now we all perked up at this one, a way out of this hell hole? Sign us all up for that one.

"Oh thank goodness, I was getting sick of having to be near this one." Mackie quipped, nudging Verdant.

"Fuck you too then."

"Can't, that'd be incest and illegal."

"You're fucking disgusting."

"Alright you two, knock it off." Elena ordered.

"Aw, I was just starting to enjoy that display of brotherly love." Seth crooned. "Oh well, hey Miaca, how are you doing-"

"I'll kill you, you know." She cut him off with a glare, making him turn away from her and whistle a tune that suggested he had no idea what was going on.

How they were all able to joke around like that, despite everything that has happened so far, was beyond me. I appreciate it nonetheless

Shane reached into his back pocket slowly, and with one hand still raised, I was eyeing him down and making sure that if he pulled out a weapon, it would be the last time he pulled anything out with that hand. Instead he pulled out some sort of paper, which made me sign out of relief when he offered it to Elena.

"What is this?" She asked as she inspected the very well drawn map.

"A map of the surrounding tunnels." She allowed him to touch a part of it with the tip of his finger. "This is where we are, and this," He traced his finger over a paper, and rested it on top of a thick black X. "Is where the "thing" and the rest of the cult members are, I doubt that the rest of them can put up much of a fight, but that thing…" He gulped. "It makes you see things that aren't there, terrifies you, awakens something you have tried to bury for so long. It's deadly, and a master manipulator."

"We already knew most of that." I said, stepping up beside Elena. "We've gone over it more than a few times, we know what we are running into."

"I really hope you do." Shane muttered just loud enough for me to hear. "Anyway, if you all want to rest up, go right ahead. I can tell just by looking at you all that you must be exhausted."

"Oh really?" Seth rose one of his hands, which was still covered in shit along with most of the lower part of his body. "What gave you that idea?"

"Er… forget I said that last part." Shane stammered nervously.

"How do we know you're not going to take advantage of us while we're asleep?" Miara asked, subtly showing that she was ready to shoot the guy right then and there if he answered incorrectly.

"I don't think it would even be worth it, even if we did, we would only get one of you before the others woke up, and none of us have aura. In a battle, you would slaughter us entirely. We're not working with them anymore, I should have realized how crazy they were the moment I saw them attack that kid…" Shane shook his head and squinted his eyes.

I wouldn't call myself an expert at it, but I liked to see myself as a good judge of character and could see when someone was lying or not, and this kid here, I could not sense anything from him to indicate that he was trying to play us. He was being genuine, and for that, I was the first to sit down and try to get comfortable against the wall that was scraping away at my back.

Sleep was already on it's way the second I closed my eyes, even as Seth and Elena asked me what I was doing. I was just… so tired, so sleepy. I just wanted to rest. I tuned out everything else, and before I really cared to know it, the others were also resting, sleeping, eating, and getting ready for the night. Mackie and Verdant offered to take first watch, even though they were the ones that seemed to be the most tired. I didn't really have the willpower to suggest for them to go to sleep and let someone else take the role.

I could have sworn though, that as sleep took over me, there was something whispering to me. I didn't think of it at first, but for some reason…

I started to think about my family.

* * *

 **Several hours later...**

 **Unknown Location**

Hector hung his head low, his chin resting on his chin. His chest not moving as he breathed, his skin was paler, and his hair strangely enough was also getting lighter. Instead of black, it was now more akin to a very dark grey. It has been yet another day without any food, and his mind was taking it the hardest.

He became unresponsive to Neo, and even Emerald and Mercury when they came in Cinder's stead to interrogate him. Not even to cuts that were meant to be all painful when they thought that he was just asleep or pretending. Roman started to get a bit skittish, and was starting to consider to actually feed the kid. He was already showing signs of shutting down, and he was no good to him dead. As he watched the camera that showed the kid still chained up to the chair so tightly that it was biting into his skin and starting to cause some blood to spill, he didn't even react to that.

It was an overnight change from the day before, a drastic change, he overestimated how long Hector could actually last, he _was_ a pretty big kid, and he _was_ striving to be a hunter. All that combined with the fact that he isn't letting his aura regenerate, and the fact that it stopped regenerating at all!?

It was enough to make him worry, and he did _not_ worry about his prisoners, he simply didn't allow himself to.

Neo was still in the room with him, and grabbed him by his hair that has grown long enough for her to be able to lace it through her fingers in the first place. She hoisted his head up to get a look at his face, and a glimmer of hope and relief shine when his eyes opened.

But they were dashed away when he couldn't see even a spot of white, they were completely bloodshot to the point that it nearly matched his eye color. Which was still a deep red. He didn't even resist when Neo dropped his head and flicked her hand to the side to get rid of some of the sweaty grime that was stuck to his hair.

She teleported out of the room, and right back to Roman's side. She sighed silently and shook her head, she had nothing to do with him, with no reaction and seemingly enough no will to even go on. He was just going to die soon if they didn't do anything about it soon.

Roman finally caved.

"Fine, the kid won this round. You two!" He looked over his shoulder to two armed White Fang members. "Give the kid some food, stuff it down his face if you have to, but do _not_ hurt him understood?"

They grumbled out their okays and whatevers, and headed out of the room to go grab some grub for Hector.

When they left the room, Roman ran a hand down his face and groaned. He just _had_ to make it more difficult than it needed to be didn't he? He leaned into the screen he has in his own private room, well, as private as it can be when you have Neo around most of the time.

The two grunts he spoke to came into the room Hector was being held in with a plate of actual human food, as they were ordered. One of them did the same thing Neo did, grabbing him by his hair and hoisting his head up, he saw something weird, and leaned in to get a better look. He shook his head and sighed, and then checked his pulse just in case. When he was satisfied with himself, he looked up to the camera and by extent, to Roman.

"He's dead." He said with a shrug.

"God… damnit!" Roman yelled, and then leaned his face into his hands with his elbows resting on the table. That fucked things up tremendously, Cinder clearly expressed that she wanted him alive, for whatever reason that may have been. But not, all he has to answer for is a dead seventeen year old kid who only got where he is now because he thought what he was doing was right. "Fuck."

"He doesn't really _look_ dead though." The other grunt pointed out as he got closer to Hector's body. "I mean, he doesn't look like he lost any weight, but he does look paler, and his hair does too. He looks like he stayed inside for one too many months but other than that he should still be alive by the looks of things."

"What does it matter? I was wondering why we were holding a human of all things captive anyway, we were allowed to kill the rest of them before." The first grunt said with a spit to the side.

The chains rattled loudly, scaring both of the faunus out of their skins and forcing them to jump back with a startled look on their faces. Roman looked back up at the screen after hearing the noise through the computer, and widened his eyes when he zoomed in on the chains…

They were cracked.

"Get the hell out of there and lock the door!" Roman screamed into the microphone.

"What? Why? The kids alive like you wanted, how he's alive without a beating heart, I don't know." One of the grunts said with a chuckle.

"Hehehe, wouldn't you like to know?" Hector said with a scratchy evil voice, a tone that none of them were used to listening to. He constantly pulled at the chains, and they soon began to notice that the chains were cracking, the pressure of just his raw strength being too much for the chains to handle on their own. All up until, one of the chains snapped and decked one of them right in the stomach, making him fold over in pain while writing in it and holding his stomach. Without aura, the blow definitely ruptured something.

The other was about to run and slam the big heavy metal door shut, but as soon as it was just about to click shut. A foot slammed it right back open, crushing the faunus between the wall and the steel door, killing him on impact when his skull cracked open.

Hector still had some of the chains wrapped around his arms, he was shirtless, his pants were a mess, soiled with everything that has been piling up for days now. His skin was much paler than before, his usual tan skin now more akin to Weiss' skin color. His hair was still dark, but lighter than it has ever been before. But the most frightening thing about him, was his boldly colored blood red glowing eyes, with a simple black pupil in the middle of all of it.

He laughed when he saw faunus train guns on him, about six of them all against one starved person, it seemed like the odds were in their favor, but when they saw what happened to their comrades, one with his skull cracked open and the other being seen behind Hector in a puddle of his own blood, they weren't about to take any chances.

"Get back in your cell, and close the door." One of them ordered. "This is the only time we're telling you this."

"O **h** , i **t** s **e** e **m** s **l** i **k** e **t** h **e** c **h** i **l** d **r** e **n** w **a** n **t** t **o** p **l** a **y** ~." His voice sounded like a blend of two, one of them clearly not being his, but some kind of monsters. They turned off the safeties on their weapons, and gave him one last warning to stay back and away from them when he took a step forward to what seemed like a death sentence. "U **h** o **h,** i **t** s **e** e **m** s **l** i **k** e **I** a **m** g **o** i **n** g **t** o **h** a **v** e **t** o **p** u **t** i **n** T **H** E _**EFFORT.**_ "

The second Hector snarled that out, he was riddle with bullets. They opened fire on him, and the bullets imbedded itself into his body as he still stood, once they stopped. They thought that he was dead for good.

The bullets feel to the ground with a light clank, and the one that hit him dead between the eyes was the last to fall. They were stunned with what they had just seen, shocked, not able to move due to some sort of fear paralysis.

"I **c** a **n** s **e** n **s** e **y** o **u** r **f** e **a** r…" Hector whispered just loud enough for them to hear, before smiling at them sickly as he looked the one closest to him dead in the eyes. " **S** o **t** h **i** s **i** s **h** o **w** i **t** f **e** e **l** s…" He cackled.

He sprinted ahead, and cries were heard when flesh was ripped, bones were broken, and spirits were shattered. They weren't dealing with some huntsman in training anymore, they were dealing with an animal. The room they were in, which Hector now knew was actually the inside of a train car, was now splattered with blood on all four walls, floor, and ceiling.

He had blood dripping from his hands, from his mouth when he bit one of their throats out, and only one remained. His arm was torn off, and he was desperately trying to crawl away from him. Hector smiled crueling as he placed the bottom of his boot that they so generously left on his feet, and was relishing in his victims groans of pain.

"W-what the hell are you!?" The faunus choked out between pained gasps.

Hector, or whoever this person was now, widened his smile. Than leaned down to get closer to the mans face.

" **W** h **a** t **a** m _**I?**_ **H** a **h** a **h** a **, y** o **u s** a **i** d **i** t **y** o **u** r **s** e **l** f…" He pushed his foot down harder, and he hummed when he felt and heard his ribs cracking. A thin black and red aura surrounded him, and he was only getting stronger as he put more force into the pressure on his chest.

" **I** _ **am**_ **Hell."**

The faunus died with a choked gasp, and blood exploded out of his mouth as he felt his lungs and heart be crushed. He died shortly after.

The slaughter is just beginning.

* * *

 **Well, here we are. Rated M stuff finally getting started here, so yeah, a lot of things happened here, I wrote all of it in about two days, my fingers hurt. And now I got editing to do! Yaaaay, anyways, it was my first time writing Robert and his fun little group down in the sewers, hopefully I did well. I am used to writing by myself but for this story it is much different because of the fact that Crowskull was always here to write his own parts. But do not worry, because all it takes is a shit ton of communication in order for me to get this done on my own.**

 **A lot- CrowSkull.**

 **Please review and let me know what you think of the story so far!**


	27. Rwby: Team HAMR chapter 27

**Alrighty! Here we go, (Cracks Knuckles)Time to write about ten thousand words or so. This chapter is going to be quite the doozy for me to do on my own, but once I get this little arc of suffering done I should be able to get the rest of it done on my own. So, without any further adieu, I'll respond to the reviews, and then kick off the chapter!**

 **You make it sound like I wasn't here- CrowSkull**

 **Because I was the one who wrote 90 percent of this chapter- Genatools**

* * *

 **Soul109: Hell is** _ **kinda**_ **here and** _ **kinda**_ **not, can't really explain it right now, but next chapter or maybe this chapter if I am feeling brave I'll explain what this new split personality for Hector is. Also, Aaron is a character we have been planning for a while, and I'll leave it at that so I don't give too much of it away.**

 **Zeldawolffang: Well, Hector is still Hector, he is just a little insane right now. Just give him time to cool down.**

 **Stomper621: Thank you for the compliment! We understand Rob's problems as a character, and I will do my best to make him more interesting to you and everybody else.**

 **Empress Astra: Holy shit, ignore the PM's we sent each other and let me ask Where the fuck have you been? Welcome back Astra, let's strap in for another legendary response. *Clears Imaginary digital throat* very little to say after being absent five or seven chapters? Damn, don't know if I should be offended or not. (Joking) JNPR isn't invited to dangerous stuff like that because they are just side characters for right now, HAMR and RWBY are the MC's right now, but you know me.** _ **Anything**_ **is subject to change when it comes to my fanfics. Yeah Jaune's Ursa moment did happen, but nothing changed so it happened off screen. You got me, that was Blakes and Ashley's plan the whole time, but now they are like "Oh shit I'm not alone!" In their minds, that's a fun friendship waiting to happen. Ozpin is weird like that, just let him have his fun. He isn't having much anymore in the main storyline or in UH, locking himself away like he did and all that betrayal nonsense. Darius made one appearance before, I forgot when but I am sure Crowskull remembers!**

 _ **Sigh…**_ **-Crowskull**

 **Do second years go on their own missions…? I've got no damn clue, but in this fanfic uuuhhh. Let's go with kinda? Grimm Sharks probably do have their own names, I haven't written it down yet though. You know Crowskull wanted to pull some Sharknado shit and have them fly as well? Yeah, I managed to override that one.**

 **It can totally work and be awesome! -CrowSkull**

 **No, no it can't. You may be surprised about how interdimensional travel works, can't deliberate more on that because spoilers, so you'll see… they always see… Anyways, I will go fix that mistake when I can, thanks for pointing that out. I just slapped myself in the face for that, I was too busy thinking about Chins apparently… I meant to say Chest by the way. The whole Hell this time around is going to be vastly different to how Hell is in UH, you'll see, but for now he is just a mental disability that turns Hector into doom incarnate, and no not the video games, he isn't** _ **that**_ **OP. I can safely say that Robert and the gang are in fact** _ **NOT**_ **going to magically end up in Mt. Glenn, that much I can say for certain. Finally, and thank** _ **you**_ **, for returning with those long af but fun to read reviews, I look forward to your next one!**

 **Thank you all for the reviews!**

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 **Seems like this story is finally blowing up a bit, just hit over 8k views, so this month is the best for Team HAMR so far. About time, it took so much effort for this to become possible. Thank you all for joining us on this journey!**

 **Now let's get** _ **TO THE SLAUGHTER!**_

 **Just letting you all know now, you might want to put on some hardcore DOOM music for Hector's fun time, I don't know why but I was thinking about that game as I was writing this, enjoy.**

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RWBY: Team HAMR

Chapter 27- Genocide

Hector exhaled deeply, moving his tongue around his mouth, tasting blood that is both his own, and his enemies. After removing his bloody dance shoe that he still has on since his capture, he makes his way to the joke of a door that is blocking his path.

" **Oh Roooman~"** He called out to his captor with a voice much too calm and bashful for his bloodied form. " **I want my weapons Roman, where are they? I might consider saving you for last if you give me some directions."** He flicked some blood off of the chain that has bitten into his skin so much that it is stuck there, and his added muscle growth that seemed to have come from nowhere is keeping it there. But unlike before, he welcomed the pain.

" _Yeah, forgive me if I am not too keen on giving away that information."_ Roman said with a tone of voice that betrayed how hard and fast his heart was beating. He saw everything that… _thing_ , what did it call itself again? Hell?

This Hell, kicked the sliding door off of it's hinges, and into a well fortified room with several White Fang members all training their weapons on him. He smiled despite how vastly outnumbered he is, his heart may be beating with excitement if it was able to beat. " **Heh, you've made a good choice."** He said with a grin as he ducked and dodged the bullets that came at him, some still hit him and caused some bruises, but other than that, he was completely fine.

He fell to all fours, and with unimaginable strength that didn't feel like it actually belonged to his human body. Launched himself into the closest faunus.

He could see his eyes, no, his _prey,_ widen his eyes in fear as Hell itself grinned at him, before bringing his fist, still wrapped up in chains, up and hammered it back down onto his skull. His weak aura flared as it defended his body against the attack, but it still made a large gash in his scalp, and knocked him out.

Bullets hitting him in the side with a burning pain stopped him from finishing him off, and Hell turned to see a terrified looking faunus who had lost his mask firing at him with a pistol. Pathetic. Hell sprawled down on all fours, and charged at him, before redirecting himself and bashing someone into the steel wall, indenting it while also shattering their aura.

" _ **It looks like these ones aren't as pathetic as the last."**_ He thought to himself as he bit down on the woman's neck, before ripping his teeth out along with much of her jugular. He then grabbed the woman by the bicep while she gurgled on her own blood and uselessly tried to stop the blood from spilling out of her neck, and threw her toward two other faunus, who fell to the ground with their sisters blood spewing all over them. They screamed in horror as their prisoner looked at them with evilly shining red eyes. He smiled a bloody smile as he stood up on his two legs, and let a brave faunus bat him over the head with his gun.

His brain shook in his skull, but all he did was laugh. Even as the faunus screamed and called him a monster before bashing his head with his gun again, this time gasping when he found his wrist being crushed in a vice grip.

" **Hahaha, so pathetic! This pain only makes me stronger!"** Hell taunted as his flexed his arm, tightening his grip on the White Fang grunt's wrist so hard that he broke it. His pure red eyes staring into the very soul of his captive, who went from screaming his defiance to screaming in pain as he tried to get his wrist out from his grip.

He shut him up by slamming his other hand around his face, silencing him while also forcing his jaw open by pushing his thumbs into his cheeks. His fingers burned his skin as his latent power began to be released.

" **Do you want to know what death tastes like?"** He asked cruelly as his hands and arms immolated with a black and red flame, and the muffled screamed of the faunus warrior was heard throughout the entire trancar, terrifying the other fighters into fear induced paralysis. His screamed stopped when his entire face and head caught flames, and he died quickly when Hell squeezed down even harder on his face, forcing the bone up into his brain.

" _Don't you think I've tried that? The Kaioken, and my aura just don't mix, I don't know why. But I don't think that I need aura in order to use it."_ A distant memory of his own voice came back to him from one of his previous training sessions, making Hell smile in response as he looked upon the flames coming off his own body.

" **Heh, looks like I was right to think that."** Hell said as he discarded the body to the side.

He looked to the other White Fang members, the only ones remaining being the ones who just got themselves out from underneath their fallen sister. "W-we surrender!" They cried out when Hell started running toward them, stopping as soon as he heard those words.

"Oh, you _**surrender,**_ **huh?"** His voice returned to normal for a second as he begun that sentence. " **Just like I surrendered to the pain? And all you did was watch until my heart stopped beating? Hm, something tells me it's time to return the favour…"** Hell backed away for a moment, even turning around slightly to give them false hope. Before turning back around and kicking one of their heads so violently that his neck snapped. The other screamed in horror as he got up and ran away, Hell let him get away, laughing hysterically as he entered the next train car.

" **Yes, ru** n away, let them know I'm coming." He said with a much more normal voice as he chased after him with nothing but a slow walk, even resting his hands behind his head and whistling a tune as he treks through the bodies he left behind, and the blood soaking into his shoes. "I don't need these anymore." He kicked off his shoes, and let his pale feet slap against the steel floor as he sped up his pace.

Before he could even make it to the next car however, his voice beated once, violently, causing him to reel back in pain and clutch his chest. His eyes flickered back to normal for a second before going back to the shining red this part of him is much more accustomed to.

"No, I've been dormant for far too long, I need to enjoy myself just a bit longer." Hell told himself as he powered up with dark flames. "Now, let **us** _ **begin!"**_ He shouted and cackled as he shoulder charged into the next room, and was met with nothing but an empty room with just one person in his way, one with a chainsaw and a head of short black hair.

" **Ah, seems like the useless ones have gone to cowering behind you now, am I correct?"** Hell asked, recognizing the chainsaw wielding member of the White Fang. " **If I recall correctly, you die anyway, so it doesn't matter if you die now or later."**

"I see that Roman was right about you, you are not as you were when we capture you." He said as he revved up his weapon, the chained blade steaming as it revolves faster than the eye can see. "I was told to leave you alive, but I am sure you don't need _all_ you limbs." He taunted as he got into a stance.

" **Ooo, i'm so scared."** Hell taunted. " **The big man with a chainsaw is threatening me of all people, it's almost enough to make me laugh."** He chuckled. " **I mean, what's your name again? Do you even have one or were you just that irrelevant?"**

"Tch, screw his orders. For the faunus you've slain brutally, I'll be cutting you down here and now!" He screamed as he charged at Hector, his all-red eyes narrowing menacingly as a grin curved up slightly.

" **You'll die trying."** He said as he charged back at him, leaving a trail of black and red flame behind him as his feet touch the ground.

Hell fell to the ground, running on all fours before animalistically snarling and attacking his prey head on, the pain of the chainsaw scraping against his wrist was almost enough to discourage him. To his surprise Hell pushed away the blade of the chainsaw and used his other hand to claw at his face, his nails peeling off as he attempted to literally claw out his aura.

The lieutenant winced at the sharp pain he felt in his face, but knew that he couldn't afford to be succumbing to the pain against an enemy such as the one he is facing now. He leaned back to avoid the follow up swipe, and did his best to ignore the blood of his fallen comrades splattering on his chest as he kicked the shorter beast away.

" **Ack!"** Hell coughed as spit was forced out of his mouth along with the air from his lungs, he landed ungracefully by slamming into the wall. He smiled when he felt the pain string throughout his body from his back, even when the back of his head slammed into the metal wall. He bounced off and immediately went back on the offensive, surprising the White Fang Lieutenant as he appeared in front of him, firing up and uppercut that he barely managed to block with the engine of his weapon, but the force of the punch was still enough to blow his hands out of the way, leaving him open to get clawed at the stomach, ripping open his shirt while also making his aura flare to protect his belly from any damage.

He slashed horizontally, Hell not even attempting to dodge the attack and let the chainsaw bounce off of his toughened skin, even if it did cause a minor bleeding cut. He snarled as he tackled him to the ground, and mounted him and threw his fist down at him with the intent of crushing his skull. The Lieutenant grunted and twisted his neck to dodge the punch, the skin on his knuckles ripping off as he pulled back and launched his other fist, which yielded identical results. He was kicked off, and thrown to the other side of the traincar, giving the Lieutenant enough time to get back up onto his feet and rev up his chainsaw yet again. Hell's eyes shone in the darkness and he bursted out of the shadows, fainted an attack that fooled his enemy, and bit down on his hip.

He yelled out in pain as he bashed his elbow down on Hell's head, which only deepened his teeth and made the pain worse and blood begin to seep through. Aura did many things, but defend his body from the crushing strength of this monsters jaws it did not. Finally, he stabbed his chainsaw down onto his back, finally forcing him to let go and get dazed with a right hook.

The Lieutenant roared in anguish, anger, and rage as he slashed down at Hell with his chainsaw. Hell was forced to block, and the blades connected with his forearms. The chains wrapped around his arms sparking as the metal was being cut through by the chainsaw, and eventually it got through began to cut into his skin, making him bleed profusely as he tried to push the weapon back. But once it cut deep enough to get to his bone and cutting through his nerves, causing tremendous pain and a lot of excitement of the Lieutenant, he forced it off to the side and backed off. Jumping back, and looking down at his forearms, his bone was showing and was cracking under the pressure. He wasn't too worried about it, but the Lieutenant was much too proud of his accomplishment.

"Haha! How are you going to fight with two broken arms now?" He taunted, even as he pressed down at the bite mark in his side. "It seemed like Roman was right when he said that you can have all the strength in the world, but when it comes to skill you have next to none. Only animalistic movements that are much too easy to adapt to."

" **Is that so?"** Hell asked with a grin, and held his arms up.

Right in front of his eyes, the skin and flesh began to stitch itself back together, and in the next ten seconds all that was left was a deep scar. Hell punched his fist into his hand to show that he does indeed have use of his arms now.

"W-what the hell kind of semblance do you have!?" The Lieutenant asked as he got ready for combat once again, but wasn't able to hide the hint of fear he had. Hell sensed it right away. "How are you doing _anything_ right now!? Just a few minutes ago you were dying of starvation and barely able to move."

" **Hm."** Hell ignored him as he looked down at his own hands. " **What did you call this again? Or I suppose it is** _ **we**_ **now, Kaioken? A silly name but, it will have to do."** He smirked as his body flared up with a dark aura.

" **What am I, you ask? Hmph, I've learned that I enjoy these kind of questions."** He took a few steps forward, his demeanor much more calm and controlled, even as his eyes flamed, and left a trail as he walked. " **I am the unleashed beast from within, I am what I have been holding back for so long, I am the one that is committing a genocide on this train."** He scoffed.

" **I, am Hell…"** His eyes narrowed, and he began to shake with barely concealed rage, not able to hold himself back any longer, he roared. " **I'll allow you to see the Kaioken as you die!"** Hell screamed with hatred and laughter as he unleashed himself back on his prey, without actually saying it, his body flamed up with dark flames, much darker than it usually was. The flames of the Kaioken a mixture of black and red instead of the red and white as it was before. He bore his teeth as his muscles swelled up with strength, giving him more strength and forcing the chains even deeper into his skin, the parts of the chain that was cut by the chainsaw dangling off of his forearms as he sprints wildly on all fours.

The Lieutenant held out his weapon in defence, but Hell as he was now was much too fast for him to keep up with, and the next thing he knew his aura was broken, and he was face down on the floor with a deep gash across his back. He pushed himself up, a quarter of his mask falling to pieces, revealing a single yellow eye as he looked back at the monster he thought was human. He tried to reach for his weapon, only to notice that it was no longer where it was, and a pair of feet was in its place. His unusual pupils looked up and shook when he saw Hell was the one now wielding his weapon. His sickening grin and arms dripping with blood from both himself and his comrades as he moved his hand up to start the machine.

The dark flames died down as he let his power rest, Hell pulled the string of the chainsaw weapon, only for it to almost start, but turn itself back off. He did this on purpose to see the larger man flinch as he revved it up again, yielding the same results. But on the third time, he finally gave into the fear and screamed when his own weapon revved up and was ready for us, the engine steaming and the chained blade spinning so fast that it was nearly invisible to the eye. The White Fang Lieutenant tried to crawl away from whatever it was he was fighting.

" **You feel th** at?" Hell asked, his voice sounding much more calm than it really should be with a chainsaw in his hands. "That's fear. I've learned that fear can help make a person do many things." He cleared his throat as he pushed the blade closer and closer to his shin. "Fear can hold a person back, fear can paralyze you, and fear can cause wars. Among many other things I don't care to list off." He slashed across his shin, cutting the tendon and rendering it useless. The Lieutenant cried out in pain as he fruitlessly tried to stop the bleeding.

"In all honesty, fear was the thing that held _me_ back, unbelievable, I know." Hell chuckled. "Hector Rivers, the name we were born with. It is in a way my name, but at the same time its not. Paradoxical i'm afraid, you may not understand it as well as I do." He slashed at his other shin, cutting that tendon as well and earning another yell of pain.

"I was always here, I mean the one I am right now, I am Hector, and yet I am not. I am Hell, and yet again,I am not, very complicated I know, I barely understand it myself." He laughed. "But there are two things I _do_ know." He walked to the side of his defeated foe, and kicked him over. "We weren't born, we were created, and we are one. We are both Hector, and we are both Hell, we are **one**." Hell said as he pushed the chainsaw closer and closer to his face.

"But you, you are dead." He grinned as he pushed the chainsaw into the Lieutenants chest, ripping apart flesh and bone alike until it got to his major organs. For how gruesome the death was, it was rather quick. His arms went slack and his head fell back, and he breathed his last breath as the blade destroyed itself on the metal floor on the backside of his body. "There's your answer Roman." Hell looked at the camera in the corner of the traincar, knowing that he was watching. "That is the who, and the what I am."

He turned forced himself into the next train car, where his weapons were conveniently located. He ripped off the chains from his skin, splattering even more blood on the walls of the train, and put on the Dragon Fists. He locked the mechanism so that it wouldn't even begin to slide off his arms as he fought, and loaded flame dust into every single cartridge. The heavy weight of the weapons feel like nothing to him as he is now, and with one last look toward the camera to that train car, he blasted himself out. Creating a hole for him to jump through.

Dozens of other White Faang soldiers aimed their weapons at him, all they were was lamb to the slaughter.

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Roman sweatdropped when he started to hear the cries and sounds of something that might be able to be called a fight. But more likely a slaughter. He just watched his favorite faunus get killed with his own weapon, and quite brutally as well.

Neo looked excited, like the crazy bitch she was, so that didn't add any comfort at all. Emerald and Mercury who are still here after their try in extracting information from him, are gearing up and getting ready for another fight.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Roman warned his temporary subordinates. "You two might have been able to kill him in a fight on your own, but as he is now? Yeah, if I had it my way, I would be halfway to Vacuo right now."

"Why Vacuo?" Emerald asked with a hint of disgust present on her face.

"Because no one gives a shit about Vacuo, it's literally a continent made of sand." Roman said with a wave of his hands as if it was obvious.

"It is still part of our job to keep him contained, if he escapes around _here_ of all places. We may never be able to find him unless he wanted to be found. Cinder wouldn't like that." Emerald said as she loaded her guns. "We beat him before, we can do it again."

Neo sarcastically put a thumbs up, and then pointed it back down.

"Even Neo is going to nope out of that one, as wet as I think she is right now, she isn't _that_ excited to go see him." Roman chuckled when Neo pouted and slapped him on the shoulder.

"What should we do then?" Mercury asked. "Let's say you're right, and we can't beat him as he is right now. Cinder is still half a day away too."

"When Cindy gets here, she can deal with him herself. I might even feel bad for the poor kid if he tries to fight her again." Roman chuckled. "Anyways, I suggest that we just sit here and wait for him to leave, it's not like he needs to find us anyway for anything."

"I don't think that is that case…" Emerald said as she looked at her own set of cameras. "Look, he could have left a few times already, but he just keeps moving forward killing whoever gets in his way, and he looks like he is enjoying it. Urgh." Emerald gagged when she saw some poor guy get bit in the neck, and blood shooting out of his neck like a fountain.

"And he's going in the opposite direction thankfully." Roman said as he rested his feet up on the table. "We're safe as long as we are in here, as for those poor saps out there… their expendable, we can always get a recruit a few hundred more just by finding some overzealous faunus in the city."

"How many did we have by the way? Just curious." Mercury said as he kept his eyes glued to the screen, actually pretty impressed with how far a man's neck can be twisted.

"Well, we _had_ around a eighty of them, but now? Psh, It would be generous to say we have a little more than half of that left." Roman said.

"So… we're just going to leave him to do what he wants?" Emerald asked, she didn't like the idea, but she also didn't like the idea of her throat being bitten out.

"Yep." Roman said as he started to play a game on his phone. "Unless you want to go out there and get your head ripped off or something, it would surely save me a few headaches."

Neo seemed to agree, sitting down on the table with a bowl of ice cream that literally came out of nowhere, if they weren't so used to her doing that they might have questioned her about it. Mercury shrugged and sat back down, not really caring about the faunus who are dying for an already lost cause, honestly he thought that the ones hiding in fear and letting Hector rush past were the smarter ones.

Emerald was conflicted. She wanted to go out there and try to stop him, but at the same time she didn't want to suddenly start missing her head and throat. With all four of them together they surely would beat him, or at the very least that is what she would like to think. But with only one out of four of them actually wanting to go out there, that hypothesis wasn't going to be tested at all.

Reluctantly, she took her seat and went back to reading the same book that she has already read seven times in an effort to block out the sounds of people dying outside.

Roman's scroll began to ring just a few moments later, the caller being Cinder herself.

"Yello?" Roman said into the scroll. "How is the prisoner doing? Well…" He takes a glance toward the screen just in time to see said prisoner punching a hole through another White Fang grunt. "I think he's having the time of his life." He said, it wasn't a complete lie.

"...?"

"He's alive, and you won't believe the news I'll have for you when you get here." Roman chuckled, turning off his TV so he did not have to see what happened to the next guy Hector got his hands on.

"...!"

"Alright, yuh-uh? _Wow_ that is interesting. K, bye. No you hang up- Oh, she hung up."

"How far is she?" Mercury asked.

"Oh no she's not coming, but said that someone might though, and we get the pleasure of talking to him in a few days, doesn't that sound like fun?" Roman asked with a grin, no one else shared his enthusiasm. "Sheesh, tough crowd. Anyway, I'm going to take a bit of a nap and hope that when I wake up our pal Hector, or Hell, or whatever he calls himself is gone." He said as he tipped his hat over his eyes and leaned back in his chair.

"Neo, do make sure they don't try to kill me in my sleep." He added with a yawn.

Neo smirked and took her sword out part way, letting the silver metal shine in the light.

Mercury gulped, not wanting any part of that after the last time he thought it would be a good idea to test Neo's skills. He still has some bruises from getting his ass kicked.

The smart idea would be to wait it out this time.

* * *

 **Underground Sewers**

 **Robert POV**

 _ **One hour earlier…**_

I was sleeping, but I was still able to feel my body. I know something is wrong, but I can't seem to muster up the strength to move my own body. I woke up in a cold sweat, not able to go back to sleep and much less able to keep myself calm when I felt thunderous steps of something inhuman stalking up to us. I looked around with my eyes, seeing that I am not the only one in such a state. Shane seemed to be the only one able to stay asleep, or move around for that matter.

The whispers got louder, the names of my family that I have been torn away from. I forced my aura to flare up and I was able to move my right arm. I used that arm to prop myself up, still half asleep and trying to stay conscious… what was this. I look around just in time to see the glowing stinger of the Deathstalker from earlier pierce right into one of our aura users.

I widened my eyes in shock, the poor man who had just been woken up to find his body being injected with lethal venom and most of his chest destroyed, weakly fought back before falling limp. Something woke up from within me.

"NO!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, seemingly snapping myself and everyone else out of their stupor. I heard Verdant who was the second closest to the scorpion Grimm curse as he lifted up his shield to block the claw that would have cut off his head. Instead, it grabbed his shield and wrenched it out of his hands. Verdant saw his life flash before his eyes before two crossbow bolts and a hail of bullets and lightning were shot into the monster's eyes courtesy of me, Seth and Miara, blinding it and rendering it vulnerable to all other attacks.

People shot at the Deathstalker while me and Miara dashed in, Miara went underneath it, her hands began to glow and her fingernails became claws of neon that she used to cut the underbelly of it, she shot with her Crossbow to the exposed gashes, I lightning dashed to the sides and cut a couple legs before dodging the stinger and cuttin with slice with both my blades and, It screech in anguish before Seth jumped on top of it to shoot it, he got a couple of good shots in, I also climbed up and stabbed the thing through the head just as Miara slided and sent crossbow bolts to it's head from below, it was beginning to dissipate now.

"Everyone get up!" Elena order, running up to me and taking my hand to help me up. "We are leaving!"

I looked toward the now dead Deathstalker, it was dissipating away, but what worried me were the dozens of pairs of red glowing eyes in the darkness glaring into my very soul. I unsheath my blades again with their classic sizzling, helping everyone else up while also going on ahead with Elena to help defend the entrance to what we all thought was a safe zone.

"How the hell did they sneak up on us, what happened to the watch!?" I asked as I cut down a Creep horizontally as it jumped out at me, and shoved a deserted Chorus member out of the way of another attack and cutting a Beowolf in half and slashing and kicking about three more away

"No fucking clue, but c'mon." Elena slammed her forearm into my chest and started pushing me back with her. I followed as I saw more Beowolves and other Grimm being torn apart by bullets, I threw my own lightning grenade in for good measure "We gotta get out of here, Shane!"

"Y-yeah?"

"You know these tunnels right?" Elena asked as we both broke into a sprint,.trying to shake off the last of this weird pressuring Aura. Shane nodded quickly. "Good, take all the ones without aura and your own, and get them out of here!" She shouted. "Mackie, Verdant, Miara, and Seth, form a defensive position here and give them time to get away."

"Are you sure about this?" One of the still surviving police officers asked as he passed her, stopping at the entrance to a different tunnel to look back at her.

"I think I just gave you a damn order, or do I have to break your legs and make them carry you out of here?" She asked rhetorically as she held her weapon out toward him.

The man gulped and nodded, disappearing into the darkness of the tunnel, the last aura less member of our whole squad to get out of there. Shane stood by the entrance, and gave the rest of us a determined look, and saluted us with his fist on his heart. "As repayment for sparing myself and my friends, I vow that I will get them out of here. I promise!"

"Hmph." Elena smiled. "Seems like you finally grew some balls kid, we spared you because we aren't monsters who kill people who surrender to us, don't do it for our sake, do it for their sake. We still got a mission to complete."

"Y-yes mam." Shane gave us all one last look, I looked to him and he nodded to me. I nodded back, and he soon disappeared into the darkness, his footsteps fading away as the sound of Grimm howls took over once more.

"You know what to do team!" Elena shouted

I readied myself, and stood behind Mackie, the only one with a shield left, Verdant still had his spear however, we got ready and as soon as the first Beowolf got close he blocked the pounce and I bisected it, another one appeared and Vedant pierce through its head, Seth shot other pouncing Grimm out of the air, Miara stabbed a Creep with her claws and shot an Ursa with ball of Neon fire, Elena swinged her sword spear and cut two beowolves and later impaled an alpha Beowolf, I dashed in with lightning and slice two beowolves, killing them another came and I cleaved it with a scissor cut, I shot lightning bolt towards some Grimm and then cutted the leg of a Creep, then stabbed it through the head, Seth covered me shooting down more Grimm. A Taijitu appeared and he immediately shot it's eyes binding it, Verdant stabbed the head of it while Mackie switched to the assault rifle form of his weapon to shoot and Ursa down, me and Miara used our semblances to shoot down several Grimm, we then made together a ball of lightning and neon fire and launch it towards a heavy pack of Grimm, once the ball exploded they were vaporized. Elena was using the beam rifle of her sword spear, and with beams of fire and ice was shooting through lines of Grimm, the other Aura user that wasn't from Venom Fang also did his job, he shot down many beowolves that went through our flanks.

I dashed forward and threw a missile at a group of Beowolves, sliced and killed a Creep, rolled to avoid the bite of a Taijitu, jumped on top of it to stab it through the head and later with some slices and a spin cleaved an Ursa horizontally in two, Seth came to cover me shooting down more monsters, and Miara came to cover him using one Sai to kill a Beowolve and a crossbow to kill another, the came Elena with her wide swings, then Verdant and Mackie, then the other Aura user. We kept going like this for minutes and cut down any Grimm that dared to try to push through us. But the Grimm were just endless, they just kept coming! Sooner or later, I know, as well does everyone else, that they are going to overwhelm us, we can't hold here forever. My arms burned in protest as I stabbed the chest of an Ursa and lighting palmed it into a crowd of Grimm, and sliced another Taijitu that came at my side with Seth helping me finish it off. I retreated back, covered in black blood, the whispers getting even louder.

" _Useless!"_

" _Uncaring!"_

" _Unreliable!"_

I squeezed my eyes shut tight and shook my head, looking back up to Elena, who has a look of pure hatred as she realizes the dire situation we are all in. "Elena, we can't hold here!" I point out the obvious as Mackie and Verdant are forced to back up, Seth and Miara poorly timing their reloads and weren't able to hold the line. I shoot thunderbolts and missiles of lightning to get as many as I can, but I was also running on some fumes.

"Tch, I know that." Elena said as she pushed passed me, and then through Seth and Miara until she was on the front lines with Mackie and Verdant. "All of you, listen to me!" She ordered as her spear-sword began to glow with the corresponding freeze dust.

"All of you, complete the mission, I'll hold them off for as long as I can." Elena said as she stabbed her spear into the ground, casting an ice wall that will hold the Grimm off for a few minutes.

"Uh, how about fuck that, and you come with us?" Seth asked as he took a step forward defiantly.

"Because if you don't all go, we'll all die here!" Elena shouted as she was loading her weapon with every little bit of dust that she had left.

"Elena…" I stepped up hesitantly. "You can't just expect us to go through with this without you, you're our leader, we need you for the rest of this mission."

"How do you think we're going to complete the mission with Grimm breathing down our necks the entire way?" She asked, everyone's silence was telling. "Have some faith in me, I am not a huntress that lasted this long for nothing. It is still my duty to slay the Grimm and protect others." Elena said with a sad smile.

"Elena… please, this is insane!" Miara exclaimed. "We all know you're strong, but against that many Grimm in an enclosed space like this? Even the most elite of huntsman wouldn't be able last very long."

"You'd be surprised what lengths people can go to in order to protect those that they care about, trust me here, I can last." Elena said as she tore her weapon out of the ground, and the ice began to crack.

"But-"

"Shut up already!" Elena snapped, silencing the last remaining Aura user other than those in Venom Fang. "This my final order to you all, go forth, and complete the mission by any means necessary, with this many Grimm down here… the very kingdom itself could be riding on our success. You _have_ to do this, just like I _have_ to do this." Her aura seemed to flare up brightly, and than her hair began to glow along with it, a purple glow.

"What the?" I said underneath my breath, I haven't seen this before, could it be her semblance?

"I haven't had to use this for a long time, but I figure now would be a good time to use it." Elena said with a smile as she got in her stance, the blade of her weapon ready to be launched toward her enemy, and the staff part resting underneath her armpit. She spread her legs out to her sides, and the adrenaline was almost able to be seen pumping through her veins. "What are you all gawking at? Haven't you seen a semblance before?"

"Mam…" Seth saluted her from behind. I have never seen him do that before, and if we weren't in such a crappy situation I might have teased him for it. "It was an honor working by your side." He said as a single tear slid down his cheek.

Miara did the same, as did Mackie and Verdant. I quickly followed up when I realized that this could very be the last time we see Elena. I couldn't help but feel sad about this, we have gotten close over our time of working together, everyone of us, I didn't want to leave her but...

Elena didn't look back at us, keeping her gaze on the cracking ice and the red eyes that pierced through it, but we did see her nod. "The honor is mine, it always was. Seth, go and live your life well, you already done more than you should, Miara, You have a bright future dear, don't waste it, M and V, never leave each other's side… Robert… train those kids well, I know you can do it… I know all of you can do it. Now go!"

We slowly took steps back, until Seth was the one to break away first, turning around and sprinting ahead using the directions that Shane gave us the night before. I followed next, and I heard everyone else follow quickly after. Leaving our brave leader behind to hold off the Grimm.

Elena smiled, and finally let it show that she was terrified. Though she kept a smile on her face as she thought about her life that she led. Her old team that she graduated with two decades ago, the deaths of all her teammates under her leadership, and everyone that has died on this missions. She reminisces in the past, and changes her stance. One leg behind the other, her hand off to her side, and the other regally clasping onto her weapon.

Her huntress stance, the one she had used on her missions.

"I'm coming, Team EMBR, your leader will be joining you after all this time… about damn time I say." The ice shattered to pieces in front of her, and the Grimm began pouring through.

"Over my dead body will you get to them!" She screamed as she cut down three Grimm with one horizontal slash, and charged into the black abyss.

Her last stand.

* * *

We were getting closer to the Seer, not close enough to see wherever it was being held, but close enough for the whispers to get even louder. I did my best to ignore them, but I soon realized that I was not the only one being affected like this, Seth is looking like he's seen a ghost, Miara looks like she is about to have a panic attack, and the other three with us including Mackie and Verdant are green in the faces.

"The Seer is fucking with us, it knows we're here." Seth said as he spit to the side.

"You hear whispers too?" I finally asked, rubbing my forehead of sweat.

"Yeah, I hear em." Seth gulped. "Nothin' nice of course, just bringing up some bad memories." His trembling betrayed his calm voice, so much so that we could hear the mechanisms within his weapons clicking.

"We're getting close." I half-lied, I honestly didn't know if the orange light at the end of this tunnel was the right way, but the decorations that I know belong to the Chorus of Dawn told me that this was the right way. The smell in the air got even worse, and as we grew nearer to the light, the room ahead of us seemed to get much, much bigger.

We walked the rest of the way in silence, our weapons drawn and at the ready. I was the first to make it into the room, and the sight shocked me.

It was a massive tower underground the city, but it was upside down and attached to the ceiling. The room itself was circular in nature, like a dome. The tower had many palaces along with it, extra rooms, from the outside it looks like a massive labyrinth, on the inside I can't even begin to imagine how confusing it may be to get to the Seer that has caused us so much pain.

"How, and why the fuck is there a damn upside down tower this far underground!?" Seth loudly exclaimed as he threw his hands out to the side. "Seriously, I think I might actually retire after this one."

"Things always just get more crazy eh?" I said, if we were about to banter a little about our journey so far, we would never find out because the next thing we knew we were being shot at by the remaining members of the Chorus of Dawn. Immediately Mackie and Verdant get in front of us all, shields at the ready. Verdant was given a spare that Mackie had on him for some reason, and we used them as cover as Seth and Miara shot back at them, anticipating some and killing others.

"I'm guessing we need to get in that thing right?" Seth quipped as he shot two more shots in different directions, his eyes flashing as he marks multiple people at once. "Figures, this is like out one of those shitty video games."

I frantically search around for some way to get into the tower while shooting my own thunder bolts at the member of the Chorus, spotting three ways we could potentially get into the castle. One way was a long shaky bridge broken up into pieces of various levels, with some leaps, jumps and general parkour we could make it across, we could send our fastest through there, which would be myself, Seth, and Miara. The next was some sort of long shimmy ladder that led to the very top of the tower, it would be risky, but if Mackie could get up there he could use the last of his explosives or anything else he could find to blow up the supports keeping the upside down tower hoisted in the air, as a last ditch effort to destroy the tower if they can't kill the Seer the old fashioned way. Verdant could use his shield to defend him on the way up, but the last potential entrance into the tower was the riskiest. Simple posts poking out of the worst looking liquid I've ever seen, and of course there's fucking sharks in it because it wouldn't make sense if there weren't sharks in there. It's not worth taking that route when we could take the parkour way.

But there was still one problem, the Chorus wouldn't just let us climb up in there, Seth Miara and I could make it with our speed, but Mackie, Verdant and the other guy I still haven't learned the name of would have a lot more trouble than we would. But then again, we don't really have a lot of choices in the matter.

"We gotta get into the tower, I'll go first, Seth and Miara should come with me so we can finish this." I tapped Mackie and Verdant on their shoulders to get their attention. When they looked at me I pointed toward their path up to the top of the tower, or the bottom, whichever way you would want to look at it. "You two need to get up there, in the case that we can't kill the Seer, than our last resort should be to destroy the tower itself. Nothing would be able to survive the rubble that falls as a result."

"Huh, good plan kid!" Mackie complimented. "I'll go through with it, but I'm sure you know that these guys aren't going to just let us go."

"I'll stay behind." The unnamed Huntsman declared as he reloaded his assault rifle with deadilier dust rounds.

"Are you sure?" I asked. "There's a good chance we won't be able to come back for you, you'd be left on your own. I know you can hold your own against these guys, but when the tower falls…" I left it unsaid what would happen to him.

"I know… don't worry, I'll pull something out of me' butt somehow." He said as he nodded toward me, and jumped out of cover. "Over here ye' fuckers! Com' and get sum of 'dees bullets!"

I will really owe him a beer, well to anyone that survives this, I tore my eyes away from him, and back toward my own route. I glanced at Seth and Miara who nodded toward me, giving me the Signal to keep going. I still waited for Mackie and Verdant to get ready t run alongside us, and in the next second I broke into a sprint, Seth and Miara close behind me and Mackie and Verdant splitting off to the side to grab onto the ladder. I jumped onto the first platform, and caught Miara's hand, Seth covered us as I pulled her up, and then she covered me again as I help Seth up. In my peripheral vision I could see that unnamed soldier going on a rampage, picking up other weapons as he runs forward and continues his one man army assault on the panicking cult members. He noticed me staring in awe, and shouted at me.

"Gert ye' ass movin'!"

I spun around and kept going, telling Seth and Miara to trust the guy and continuing pushing forward. Doing my best to ignore the whispers and screaming coming from what I hope are the enemies. Grimm haven't come at us yet, so I know Elena is still holding her own somehow, I need to trust her.

That was until screeches and caw signaled a pack of avian Grimm, Nevermores and Griffon, we all shot down several coming our way, a big Nevermore came for us but after shooting a thunderbolt to disorient it I jumped high up and sliced it's wing while jumping to another platform that swayed hevely on my landing… it gave a good moment to appreciate it just how fucking high we were.

"Oh fucking shitting Christ." I said to myself, Seth and Miara shot a Griffon out of the sky before following me, I covered the sending in a ball of lighting floating into the air after some concentration, it shocked and turned to ash the smaller flying Grimm while I shot the bigger one with lightning, after that Seth used explosive round to completely destroy another Nevermore.

I jumped onto another platform, the muscles in my legs screaming in protest as I push through the pain. Of course it wouldn't be this easy, and when I got close enough to the tower I saw that there was nothing but a brick wall in my way. Determined, I activated my semblance and and fired off a missile made of lightning, not destroying the wall, but damaging it. I could see some bricks fall off of the wall, and I didn't have enough time to fire off another one since the platform I was standing on was shaking. With a grunt I used my semblance on my feet to give myself and extra boost like a springboard, firing myself off like a cannonball and using my forearms and focusing my arms in that area as I closed in. I shut my eyes tight when I crashed right through the wall, and bounced off the ground three times before sliding into a wall, I had also landed on something… I looked down and it was down Chorus member grunting in pain, there were others too, pointing their guns at me.

"Uhh… hello guys." I said, they got ready to fire I spun around on the floor with both my blades and my legs to kick and slice the ones closest to me, I stood up and cut and stabbed three Chorus members before grabbing another, used my semblance to attach a lightning bomb to him and with a drop kick send him to his comrades all in suit motion, the explosion took them out and sent several through the hole on the wall towards the abyss, I also landed on my back and need to get up, there were more remaining.

Seth and Miara jumped through right after though and finished the remaining cultists however much to my relief, Seth shot someone point blank under the chin and Miara stabbed someone through the head with her Sai finishing the last ones.

"Geez kid, where was this side of you the whole time I've known you?" Seth asked as he helped me up while Miara kept watch just in case there were any Grimm or any more cult members around.

"What are you talking about? I've always busting through all kinds of shit these days, I always have some sort of dirty work that needs doing." I complained.

"You're tellin' me."

"Can we _please_ focus? Good, it seems to be clear for now." She said as she lowered her crossbows, sticking closer to Seth and I as we moved a group.

"Yeah, it seems like that- Urgh!"

" _You always were a selfish idiot."_ An all too familiar voice scolded me, it sounded eerily familiar to my father's… " _Always thinking of yourself before others, you always knew and we never told you, but you were the disappointment of the family."_

"S-stop!" I said somberly, holding my head as it pounds with a throbbing pain.

"Agh!" Seth seemed to have been having the same problem, holding his head and falling to his knees. "No, it wasn't my fault! I was just a child!" He cried, letting one of his revolvers fall to the wet ground beside him. Wait… when did the ground get wet?

"Argh!" No, Miara was dealing with these voices to, they just wouldn't shut up! "Stop it! You're wrong, I know who I am!"

I tried to stand up, and I did. I tried moving toward Seth and Miara, but they were getting farther and farther away as I got closer to them. I cried out to them as they faded away into the blackness of an abyss. I slacked my hand back to the ground, and pushed myself back up to my feet, the whispers still speaking to me, getting louder and louder with each step I took.

" _Again? Haha, I should have expected this, you always drifted away from those you cared about."_ A new but familiar voice whispered to me, it was a voice I haven't heard in a even longer time. My cousin who was like a best friend to me, who could have basically been considered my brother when we were younger. The sudden shallow black lagoon continued to grow in size, there was nothingness all around me… where did everything go, was I still in the tower? Was it just an hallucination or an illusion?

"What… is this, no, this can't be real." I muttered to myself, searching for any way out of the room I am currently in. I found it in the image of an old style wooden door, the only thing was that it was upside down. I limped my way to it, even though neither of my legs were injured. Walking in this thick black goo is hard on my feet.

" _Always the one to deny the things so obvious… always the one to go back on promises. Always the one to step on the same problems again, again and again, you never learn you were always an idiot son, just taking away from us under our roof and living care free without consequence… you never realized what you cost us, and then you just run away, like a coward… you were always a coward when it meant taking big steps, you are just a disgrace"_ The voice of my mother came in an irritated but sobbing tone.

I grunted defiantly as I kicked the door open and slumped my body through it, this room was entirely different than the last one. The other was more orange and chaotic, but this one looked like a room belonging to a young child. I kept my barings barely and kept moving, knowing that their are lives on the line.

* * *

Seth was in a tough spot as well, recovering in time only to see that he was in a different room and far away from his comrades. He picked up one of his guns, his other one being lost now. He kept it aimed forward as he looked around for some way to either get to his friends, or to the Seer itself. He pushed open a door and stepp in, and that was when the voices attacked him again.

" _How could you leave us son!?"_

" _How could you watch as I died!?"_

" _Always the cowards way out, blaming others for your own mistakes."_

"Calm down Seth." He told himself, though he was shaking with every step he took. "This isn't real… it just isn't, it's the doing of that damn monster. A monster that has its name on my bullets."

" _You'll fail like the last time little brother, I wonder who you'll blame this time?"_ The voice of his older brother who died in a Grimm attack along with the rest of his family taunted him.

" _How did you, the weakest of the family, manage to survive the slaughter of our family?"_ His deceased mother asked in a cruel voice. " _I spawned such a weak child."_

"If I was so weak than why were you the first to die, huh!?" Seth asked through his trembles, defiant to the end. "I've changed since than Ma, I'm not who I was before, I've accepted that what happened was out of my control, and that huntsman will never be able to save everyone. Heh, a kid was the one who managed to reignite the light within me, and I'll be damned if I fall to petty inner demons like you!" He spun around and fired two shots, killing a Beowolf that was just about to pounce on him, the darkness around him receded just a little, revealing a whole pack of Beowolves around him, the very type of Grimm that slayed his whole family.

"Heh." He smirked and loaded his gun's with powerful explosive bullets. "Let's get this party started eh?" He asked the pack leader as he aimed his gun at it, marking it when he pulled the trigger.

* * *

Miara heard the explosion through the walls, and aimed her crossbows in the direction of the explosion. "Seth! Robert!?" She grunted out of frustration when she got no response.

She loaded a tracer bolt into her weapon, and aimed it toward the abyss, she fired it and watched as it hit nothing and continued moving forward. She made a tch noise with her tongue and continued moving forward, the voices returned seconds later.

" _Useless, you always were a burden on everyone you met."_

Miara did her best to ignore the voice, but her facial expression betrayed her defiance.

" _Never able to express yourself properly, now it's too late to tell him how you feel. Yet another mistake you've made."_

She grit her teeth together, and kept pushing forward. Knowing that the voices aren't real, but everything they say is true so far, hitting it right on the nail with each word.

" _Just like you are going to let them die, you'll be the first to fall, I can feel it. All you'll do is cause pain to your so called friends."_

"No… you're wrong." She choked out, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. "I'm different now… I'm not weak anymore, I made a promise to myself and I intend to keep it." She said weakly as she swallowed down her tears.

" _How many times have you told yourself that?"_ The voice taunted. " _How many times have you let others down with that mentality."_

"Too many times." Miara said with a sigh.

" _Why keep going when you know you are going to fail? Just lay down, and let yourself fade away from this world, it would be the best thing you've ever done."_

"Because… I promised myself I would become stronger, I became a huntress so I could save people, and destroy those who threaten the innocent." She recited.

" _And yet, you've still let people down, like Elena."_

"No, not Elena." Miara scoffed, wiping away her own tears. "I know who I am, what my goal is, and my journey is _not_ going to end with me wallowing in my own self pity!" She yelled as she shot both of her crossbows to her side, killing a Grimm that was barely three feet away from her. "I won't let anyone else down! That is my goal, and you're in the way!" She roared as she charged forward, the darkness receding just a minimal amount as she made her stand against the Grimm.

* * *

I kept moving forward, going deeper into what looks like the inside of a castle, the voices just kept getting louder, and my jog was devolved down to a slow walk as I dragged my swords on the ground behind me. I didn't know where I was going at this point, but I knew I had to keep moving forward.

" _I could have liked you."_ Yet another voice called to me, a girl I thought I could have- no, _did_ fall in love, but was never able to confess my feelings to her. " _You broke my heart by doing nothing, we could have had it all, now I could never even look at you in the eyes. You are now nothing but a killer. You were the were always the weird and creepy guy in the corner after all… and yet you became my friend… and you didn't do anything about it. "_

I didn't say anything, but I hung my head a little lower as I felt sorrow build up inside me, the pressure threatening to blow up in mere moments.

" _Why did you leave me!?"_ A heartbroken voice asked me, one that I recognized immediately as one of my younger cousins that was like a little sister to me. She was so important, I would always play with her, and always sought to see her smile. Now I can't imagine how she must be feeling ever since my disappearance. " _I loved you! I trusted you more than anyone else, you were like my brothers… and you left me on my own! How could you do that to me!?"_

I kept moving forward, even as tears spilled from my eyes, I couldn't afford to stop now. But something did managed to make me stop, a silhouette of my friend who was stuck in this world with me, I widened my eyes when I saw him, and he smiled at me, but it was unfamiliar, he had the same face and demeanor, but something was off about him. There was just something… evil, in the way he looked at me.

" _Oh Rob, Rob, Rob, ever the optimist eh?"_ He said with a shake of his head. " _Where were you when I needed you?"_

"What… are you talking about?" I asked Hector's spectral form with a confused look on my face.

" _I'm suffering right now, every day, and here you are on some mission that doesn't even matter in the end, whether you win or lose, we both know what will still happen. You've left me alone at their mercy."_ Hector's eyes flashed a dark red, not the kind of red I was used to seeing when we trained or I watched him spar. " _Just give into the darkness Rob, everything will become a lot easier that way."_ He said with a grin, and dead bodies appeared around him, along with bloodstains on his forearms, and around his mouth. " _I think we're gonna have more fun that way."_ He said as he began to fade away.

I just kept walking, even through him, and then the bodies he left behind. That one made me think, It was really specific, why? What happened to him while I was gone? How _is_ he doing right now? I shook my head and kept moving, though my movements are much more sluggish as I trekked through the dark goo that has re-emerged from the ground.

" _You don't care do you?"_ Another voice said, the one of my older sister " _I was your sister and even then we were like strangers to each other, how many times could you have helped me, stand with me and you just didn't… why are you so uncaring? Why are you so cold? How could I have such a bad brother?_

I gritted my teeth and just kept pushing the constant pressure and headache.

I kept hearing them, this time voices from Seth, calling me a waste of talent, then Elena, who said that I was going to let them all down in the end. More and more voices kept coming, Glynda even came, saying that I wormed my way into her life just so I can go on some mission and get myself killed, that she wished I never became her apprentice. It just _kept going_ , going through some of the students I helped teach, the rest of Team HAMR appeared, and told me that I let them down, and then RWBY came, telling me that I was a terrible person.

I still kept moving, gritting my teeth as I found yet another door, I roughly pushed it open and slammed it behind me, falling to my hands and knees as I take in the first full breath of air since I entered this damn tower. I looked up to see something in the center of this large pit chamber, something… Grimm, my vision cleared finally, and I saw this misty Grimm humanoid creature, with a crown of bone on his head, rooted to the ground and staring right at me, it also had the same crystal ball Seer's had on it's torso… what was this thing?

I flexed my legs as I pushed myself back onto my feet, the muscles burning with exhaustion, and got into a battle matter what it was it seemed to be very close to the ultimate responsible, this was it, finally.

"Ah, ah, ah. Don't take another step." I recognized the voice immediately, and cursed within my mind when I saw the leader of this fucking cult that is going to be haunting my dreams in the future for sure. With all and his fucking ornate orange robes hood and black mask "I gotta say, I am very surprised to see that one of you made it her-"

I immediately shot a lightning bolt in his direction,not wanting to hear any more words that were about to come out of his disgusting mouth. He barely dodged it in time, and scowled at me as he took cover behind a pillar. "Figures, you weren't really the talkative one. No matter, I shouldn't have to fight you, the Monarch will take care of the rest."

"The… Monarch?" I echoed, looking back to the Grimm staring right back at me. I feel a spike of anger as I think about all the pain that this thing has caused me and my friends, and with a grunt, I activate both of my lightning swords and dashed toward it, ignoring the maniacal cackles of the crazed leader, I slashed an X on this 'Monarch' once I got close enough, only for my blades to bounce off of something and blow me back. I grunted as I skid back on my feet.

The Monarch looked at me curiously, tilting its head as if it was some child seeing something new for the first time.

But then, it spoke.

"Out of everyone, I didn't expect to see _you_ make it this far." The thing said to me with a woman's voice that I vaguely recognized, but couldn't make any confirmations in the position I was in now. The next thing I knew I found myself being pinned to the ground by what looked like Grimm hands being summoned out of the ground.

I struggled to keep myself up on my knees, the hands wrapping around my forearms and wrist and trying to bring me down to all fours. It was a desperate test of strength that I had to win, all the side training I did on the side was going to come in handy right now.

"Pitiful." The Monarch said next, and reached its hand out.

 **[Vampyr OST: Insane Family]**

I saw a trail of red and black heading my way, decomposing everything in its path as it grew nearer and nearer. With a loud yell I broke one of my arms free, and twisted the rest of my body out of the way in time for the trail to skim right passed me. I started running and jumping around so I wouldn't be caught in another trap like that, the hands missing by a few feet every time they tried to grab me. It was just standing there, watching me as I dodged its attacks. I was able to find an opening and try to attack, but before my lighting was able to connect with its shoulder I was blasted away yet again.

I caught myself in the air, and tried to run away again but hesitated when a splash of something splattered all over my legs. I looked down to see that the tiled floor was now filled up with red blood reaching all the way up to my ankles. I grimaced at the sight of it but kept running.

"Haha! I love it when it does that!" The cult leader exclaimed as he sat on the sidelines, watching this whole thing go down. I tried to shoot him again but he disappeared into thin air… wait where did the door went… I was trapped in a room without exits, or windows or… anything other than the Monarch, the walls and this pool of blood.

I know that can't mean anything good, so I keep my guard up and further sharpen my senses. I looked around to see that some spots of this sudden pond was now bubbling, and creatures began to crawl itself out of the ground. One of them pulled itself out of the ground, its face heavily decomposed and its body so rotten that the bones were beginning to show. Its red eyes glowed as it stared at me, and I made my way to cut it down but stopped when I heard a voice.

" _Going to cut me down now are ya?"_ Seth's voice asked, and it was enough for me to hesitate and for the creature to swing its clawed arm at me. I blinked my eyes and ducked under the attack, before jumping and spin kicking the creature in the side of the head, I felt its skull crack on my foot. I learned that the creatures were weak, and most likely relied on distractions in order to get the drop on me, if they had a proper name, I didn't care to remember it at the moment.

One of them sprinted at me, and I readied myself to cut it down.

" _No please! I don't want to die!"_ My younger cousins voice reached my ears, and I made the mistake of falling for the stupid trick twice. I was punished when I felt its claws cut down on my face, my aura flaring to defend me from any real damage, but didn't stop the pain from coming through.

I spit out some blood from my mouth, and wiped off the blood from the pool and flicked it to the side. I tighten my fists and my lightning blades came out of my gauntlets, and I was the one to attack this time with greater speeds.

" _No ple-"_ I didn't let it finish, and I stabbed my sword through its head right between the eyes. Killing it instantly and kicking its body off of my sword and toward another. The black mist obscuring my vision for a moment, but I kept moving on pure instinct.

" _I knew you would do this! I just didn't want to believe it. I knew you would turn violent and hurt others."_ said the voice of my mother.

I ignored her voice, and kept sprinting forward, cutting a shockwave in front of myself that lacerated three of the zombie like creatures in front of me, and cut another two in half. I jumped up to dodge one that dove for my legs, and came crashing back down, curb stomping its head into the blood beneath my feet. I kept evading and slashing this zombies until one of my arms got tangled in something, it was the Monarch it had a thin tentacle coming out of it, I spun around and cutted the tentacle with my other blade, but another tentacle appeared and went around my neck.

"Agh" I gasped as it strangled me hard and brought me down, dragging around the floor at the mercy of the zombies that tried to claw at me, I kept them at bay with my blades and with my feet throwing some kicks, the Monarch lifted me by with the tentacle as I struggled and slammed me into the ground, then it tried to impale me with another tentacle, I barely twisted out of the way to avoid it, I rolled around and managed to get slightly free and away from the zombies that kept trying to claw at me, it gave a moment to breath and cut the tentacle around my neck with one of my blades, just in time cut the other one as it was coming for me.

It kept going like this dodging, taking hits, killing, over and over again while ignoring the voices of my family and friends… what was I doing, they all screamed when they were killed, on their voices all while pointing out how I failed them, how I didn't help them, how I hurt them... My mind was barely there, some came from my back and... hugged me?

" _Why did you leave us, why did you leave me, why didn't you tell didn't you dare to say what you were feeling"_ It was her again… she then tried to bite my neck from behind, I stopped her and flipped her over my shoulder, the with an axe kick crushed her head… but the voice didn't go away.

" _Why…?"_ She said between sobs as her form went limp… Another tentacle came for my head, I jumped over it with a somersault over the Monarch to get some breeding room, but another zombie came from the side and I instinctively stabbed it through the neck.

" _You always just hated us right? Why is killing us so easy for you? Did I really raise you like that, did I make a monster that just enjoys to fight and kill"_ No… no no you didn't, I am not... you didn't… the voice of my mother vanished, more zombies came.

" _Why did you leave us? Why did you do it? Are just a parasite that came into our lives and the went away when it wanted?"_ It sounded really broken, my father sounded really broken… I didn't do it… I didn't choose it.

" _Why do you hate us so much, were we such a burden for the oh so miserable Robert that everything he could ask for?!"_ The voice of my sister shouted at me… I don't...

I continued like this, cutting down zombies with my brain in just auto pilot, barely functioning, until the Monarch seemed to have enough of it.

The creatures stopped moving, and fell to the ground. At the same time I felt a tremendous amount of pain from within my skull, I fell to my knees and clutched at my head. Holding it and groaning in pain as the voices _screamed_ at me to stop and give up.

I looked up and cracked one eye open, the Monarch stood with its hand outstretched, unprotected, no sort of barrier in sight. I just had to keep moving and finish it off, I just had to end it with one last attack.

" _Why are you doing this to yourself? Your family even?"_ A crying voice asked me. " _Why are you so idiotic and selfish!?"_

I growled and pushed through, am I selfish for wanting to kill this thing because of what it's doing to me? Then fuck yeah I'm selfish. I took another step, sheathing one of my blades, and used that hand to cover my face from this wind pressure coming at me.

" _You're going to fail, just like all the other times you did before."_ My father's voice came back to me. It did little to distract me from what I needed to do.

" _You're a failure, that's all you are, and all you ever will be."_ My mother said

" _Just roll over and die already."_

" _Fail."_

" _Fail!"_

" _FAIL… FAIL… FAIL YOU PARASITE!"_

"No!" I scream back, and I saw that I was mere feet away from the Monarch. Just within striking distance. My arms shook and my blade felt heavy, I had to used both hands to lift it above my head, and line up my strike.

The zombies suddenly grabbed me, all of them trying to take me away from the Monarch, still with my hand outstretched fighting the pressure and the headaches I lined up a thunderbolt and fired, it stunned it… it hit, I sent a shockwave through my body knocking the zombies off of me… and I leapt with my lightning blade raised towards the Monarch

The Monarch even widened its eyes when I screamed, and cut my blade down through the air and into its head, Then I drove my other blade straight into it's crystal ball it had on its chest. One of its eyes looked into a different direction, and a loud frustrated screech was heard in my mind, I stumbled back, ripping my sword out of its head and torso, struggling to stay on my feet, the voices all screamed at once, going higher and higher in pitch until suddenly, it stopped.

I opened my eyes, and the Monarch was dead, dissipating into nothing but a black mist.

* * *

" **AAAAAAAGGHH."** Hell screamed as he fell to his knees, clutching his head as he feels himself losing control. " **Ghh… A** A **A** G **H** H!" He screamed, Hector's natural voice taking over again.

"This… is my body!" Hector slammed his head into the ground, cracking the ground. He continues to scream, his body immolating itself with multiple shades of red both dark and bright. "No more, no more death… Agh, it hurts!" Hector cried as he tore at his own hair, standing up and stumbling toward a set of stairs. Every part of his body is burning with pain, his heart is painful beating again, and he can feel every ounce of his aura as it regenerates rapidly.

" _ **No, I must stay in control!"**_

"SHUT UP!" Hector screamed, his throat began to burn and rip itself apart as he continued to scream. His head so hot it feels like his brain is melting from within his skull. His skin started regaining its color, and his hair returned to the dark black as it was before.

His nails cut into his skin as he writhed around in pain. He managed to catch his breath, though his body is still twitching from the pain, but he was able to regain control of his own body. He looked up to the top of the stairs, seeing the bright sun staring right back at him. He threw up a mixture of dark maroon blood and stomach acid, and fell right back down on his face, almost losing consciousness on the spot.

" _ **RUN!"**_ The voice screamed at him. " _ **Run or we both die!"**_

"Both?" Hector muttered as he tried to push himself up.

"He's weakened! We can take him down now!" Hector widened is eyes, suddenly remembering everything that has went down in the past week with a throbbing headache. His eyes finally returned back to normal, but were still red in color and bloodshot. When bullets started ricocheting on the stone around him, he was motivated to keep himself up and break into a slow run.

His mouth tasted of blood, and still burned from the vomit, his arms were so tired and sore and the Dragon Fists feels so much heavier than they have ever been before. One of the bullets hit him in the back of his shoulder, and he cried out in pain. Using the wall to catch himself so that he wouldn't fall back down the stairs. With a grunt and a few deep breaths, he pushed off the wall and forced his body into a sprint. His feet flickering with flame as he ran.

"Don't let him escape! Kill that monster!"

He winced at how he was addressed, but he couldn't blame them. He remembered everything he did, and was terrified by the fact that he doesn't feel bad about it. He could still sense their fear even as they chased him up the stairs.

He made it to the top, and was met with the ravaged city of Mountain Glenn, he cursed to himself mentally when he saw that it was a wide open area with no cover for about a hundred feet, as he is now, he wouldn't be able to cover the distance, unless…

"Body, keep up with me just a bit longer." Hector said as he clutched his chest. "Kaaaaaioooken!" He roared, and felt strength flow throughout his entire body, he exploded into a sprint not a second later, ignoring the excruciating pain he felt and leaving a trail of scorched granite behind him as he ran into the nearest building, and then kept going. Not stopping, he didn't even know _when_ he would stop, he just had to keep going.

The White Fang got to the top of the stairs, and contemplated going after him. But stopped themselves, figuring that with how weak he was now, that the Grimm would finish him off before they would even find him.

* * *

Cinder Fall winced when the Grimm parasite within her screeched in agony and nearly died. She held onto her left arm and frowned, knowing exactly what this meant.

"How could the Monarch fall so suddenly? This isn't good." She said as the Grimm started feeding on her own nutrients to keep itself alive. "I… I have to call them, lords above they're not going to be happy about this." Cinder said as she sat down and select the quick dial number marked: Aaron.

* * *

Elena huffed and puffed as she cut down yet another Beowolf, and then cut off the stinger of a Deathstalker. She was bleeding from every cut on her body, and her aura was broken long ago, she was on her final fumes of energy, and was forced to her knees due to exhaustion. She could barely lift her weapon up anymore, and soon conceded to her death.

"Death by a Grimm… a huntress' death." She said as she smiled at the Grimm closing in on her, no doubt it would be painful, but all that is on her mind is hoping that she was able to hold them off long enough.

Death never came, but a thud was heard when the Grimm that was about to kill her fell to the ground dead, screeching in pain. She opened her eyes and widened them when all the other Grimm surrounding her also fell, and were dissipating into nothing and screaming in pain.

She wondered what kind of luck she needed to have in order for something like this to happen. But then started laughing when she realized that this wasn't her doing. "You bastards… you guys actually did it." She giggled, dropping her weapon and falling onto her back, her hair soaked with her own blood along with the Grimm's. She couldn't move her body anymore, and shut her eyes as darkness filled her vision.

"You bastards… I love you guys." She said as she drew her final breath, succumbing to the many wounds she had.

"Here I come… guys… your leader is... coming." Were her final words.

She died happily.

* * *

Professor Ozpin sat up in his chair, hearing the numerous reports, eyes wide with impressed happiness as his lips curved up into a grin. He turned around in his revolving chair and looked into the distance outside his windows, so many Grimm dying and vanishing into thin air, but ancient and new Grimm, not every single last of them but a major portion nonetheless in the surroundings of Vale and a major portion of the Kingdom. It could only have one answer that he knew of, and only one in this particular fashion and scale.

"The mission was successful." He said with nod, and disbelieving shake of his head. "They did it… He did it, he could be alive still" Then another report came in, a report of some officers and refugees coming out of the sewer of a train station in the North West of Vale. He suddenly realized the possibilities as he grabbed the scroll mounted to his desk.

"Glynda, get a Bullhead ready, his mission was successful, and they seem to have found people exiting the tunnels in Ampharia station." That was all he needed to say for her to start getting the preparations ready, she hung up without another word.

Ozpin chuckled, and stood up, facing the window and thinking about what could have happened.

"Why do I get the feeling that you played no small part on this, Mister Urra." He said with a smirk, and shut his eyes to try and sense his location. "Help is on the way, just hang on a little bit longer."

* * *

"Ugh… aaah." I grunted as I crawled towards what remained of the Monarch, part of it didn't dissipate like everything else, the little jagged crown and the crystal ball remained… or part of it, a small part connected to the tentacles and what I presumed was at the center of the crystal ball, it was just a small tentacle with a small glowing ball, it barely larger than my forearm if we didn't count the tentacle.

"Heh… heh heh." I couldn't help but laugh, I was honestly spent, I felt like I had just used the last of my reserves, if not from the numerous fights and tiredness but just because of the mental exhaustion, and yet I finally felt like I could breath, like the pressure was finally gone, I could feel my body relax and replenish whatever energy it could, I felt the tower shaking… like if something had just crashed into it, maybe it was time to get up, I was about to… until someone stepped my head into the ground with a hard stomp.

"Sizing up your trophy huntsman? IS THAT IT?!" The leader of the cult said in an annoyed and furious voice "How the… just how, how did you stand up?! Why did you stand up, why did you try, why did you do it? I saw you, all of those people all of your family had you pinned down, you were at the Monarch's mercy and then you just still had the will to get back up… how? How would you stand up, it was over, it was supposed to be over and yet you managed to KILL IT." He said stomping on my head again… the ground was not comfortable, especially with the way the leftover blood smeared on my face..

"Do you have any idea how much time it takes for Seer to evolve into a Monarch? Just how few there are on the world? You killed something that took years to plan, YEARS!"

"Oh… what a shame." I said back to him, he answered back with another stomp.

"Why do you do this, why do you fight? You are just going to die, don't you realize just how expendable they see us as, your family even, they all hated you, abhorred you, and yet you still go and do their whims, from the Kingdoms, the Council, Ozpin… they just threw you away, to die, your family said it to you. You could only fail… and yet you kept just pushing."

"What? You don't understand the meaning of fighting for something or you really thought everyone would just give up?" I asked, I wasn't stomped this time.

"I know the meaning of fighting for something, I'm fighting for a world without restrictions, of war of servitude, of needless death, they showed me that it could be done she taught me how to fight the corruption, he then believed in me and gave a chance, they gave the best chance of my life to end this useless systems and just let people live as they please, and maybe even with the Grimm. We could have peace, peace if just the kingdoms stopped looking at us like numbers and if they could just stop being a useless way for people to climb their way into power and do what they want with our lives. She, and he showed me what can be done to change things."

"Wow, I see this world has its own set of communists." I said to him with a snicker, he didn't get my quip of course.

"You really don't get it? Look at where you are, how you are, you are nothing more than a waste, they will treat you as just another casualty, another man down for the greater good, everything you have done will just be useless in the end, it doesn't change anything."

"It stops you from killing innocents." I said

"It got you to abandon your family, what if you could just go back to them… what if you could just make things right and make up to them, don't you see, they hate what you have become, because of this line of work, because of what you are doing…" he said to me… how… dare… he…, just how does he dare.

"How far up your own ass are you!? You don't know me, and you don't know _them_ …" I said slowly.

"I know that they hated what you set yourself up to d-"

"NO!" I shouted as a lightning explosion came out of my body and sending him away on his back as I stood up.

"You think you really know me?! If you did you would know most of that I've told myself everyday, you would know that I am the bastard with a self flagellation complex, the one with constant self deprecation and sees himself as a parasite, you would know those things talking to me are myself, that I'm the one that has hated himself to the core!" I said as I stood up and got close to him, he got up and took out two long and jagged daggers, he went for a quick slash of my neck but I grabbed hi arm and pivoted to elbow his face, kick his sheen and do spinning hook kick all very quickly in one motion to sent him back stunned and stumbling.

"You would know that those are my regrets, and my self hatred that were talking to me! I know them first hand, I spent a lot of time with them! Funny thing is of self flagellation and continuous regret is that you tend believe yourself responsible for everything, but you also learn to recognize when things were your own fault… and I recognized that my self hatred, and my own need for a pity party was nobody's fault but my own!" he rushed back at me, this time coming from the side, I parried his daggers with my blades and countered with a slash that made his aura glimmer and a back kick to his torso that once again sent him back, away from me.

"You would know that my family actually loved me, that they cared, that they showed me some of the best times of my life, that they showed me what living meant, that they treated they were harsh but fair and teached some fucking standards to live by… I lost them, I didn't choose to lose them, I didn't want it, but I did… and I will never get them back, I must realize I won't get them back." This time he didn't attack, I had a tear rolling down my cheek, but my face frown became harder and more determined.

"If you would know me, you would know I was alone, that nobody really helped figure this out, no one I ever told the full truth about everything, that no one just sat and listened, that I didn't owe help to anyone but family… and I still decided to help others that were like me… I decided to help people, that I decide to do something about my life, that I made progress, I decided to grip and and I was doing it… and I fucking lost _everything_!" I shouted.

"Every single piece of my life, but that's no one's fault, no government, no Kingdom, no nothing… and those you heard, the real versions they wouldn't want me to sit on the past, and just mope about it, they would want me to keep going, they would want me to keep true to my values, which believe it or not I have… and I know for a fact that the least thing the would want is for me to let myself be killed by some monster like you!" I shouted and rushed him, I will not let him rest, I won't let him escape we are far beyond the point of asking for surrender, and I know he's not going to, we are gonna fight, and one of us is going to die here.

I went in for several slashes that he parried with his daggers, all high and mid strikes, he parried deftly all of them, but he didn't see coming the kick to his sheens, it made him stumble and I managed get a slash in that made his aura flair, a right hook and flying hook kick that sent him to the center of the room skidding across the ground, I followed him becoming a blur of lightning, I charged with a punch, he blocked the punch with his forearm and tried to slash me up with his daggers, I dodged and blocked them as they came retaliating with three punches and roundhouse and hook kicks, that he dodged and blocked. I then parried slashes that to my side with my blades, now with them unsheathed I slashed and striked at him with unyielding rage, and uncharacteristic for me, roars. I managed to land a slash, and cut his side that he blocked, a roundhouse that he dodged, a slash and a stab that I parried and countered with my own, I went for slashes and cuts at his sides and center, trying to get behind and overall just striking at him at different angles.

I tried to trip kick him but he jumped over me and tried to stab me in the back as he landed, but I blocked the stab with my blades and spun around with a back hand punch that hit him in the face and followed with a roundhouse that opened him for a spinning slash, it sent him back wards as he skidded on the ground as he looked at me with snarl, it seems now he was going for the offensive.

He came at with several cuts and stabs that parried, blocked and dodged and countered with kicks, punches and slashes, we kept going like this trying to catch each other's defenses, I back peddle while blocking the cuts of the daggers, and avoided a kick that went my direction, I spun around blocking another cut with one of my blades, and as he was about to throw another slash with a kick I grabbed the kicking leg and yanked him to expose him to a slash and an elbow to the gut, I grabbed his collar and quickly headbutted him twice, our skulls being like granite spheres being smashed together with neither breaking because of our auras, but despite that I still headbutted him one more time for good measures, trying to shake the stars out of my own vision as I pushed him away with a kick, making him fly into the air horizontally with a spin.

As he got up he had a scowl on his face, I went for him but he evaded, he ran away from me with incredible speed, but I followed him around as a blur of speed and lightning. I caught him and struck him several times but others he got me with his daggers and one wild kick in particular. I parried and blocked several attacks and blocked a kick and another stab, then I side kicked him aside to go back on the offensive, I went with six slashes for his sides and center, he parried most of them but two got past and made his aura flair in response, I surprised him with a back elbow to his face followed with a roundhouse to his stomach, I continued and got in four punches and a roundhouse kick, I went for another one but he dodged it and blocked the one following up… but it gave time wrap my leg around his shoulder, and by pulling his arm and with with maneuver I threw him to the ground exposed to a thunderbolt that sent him rolling on the ground.

"Aagh!" he screamed in pain, seems like that hurt him about fucking time this asshole felt a decent amount of pain. " _Well then, time to get creative."_ I thought to myself as felt a smirk grow on my face, we charged one another and he went for several stabs that I blocked with even using my blades, just my forearms, I kicked his sheen again, and got in a slash, he responded with quick slashes at my torso and back, they caught me off guard, I blocked the last stab and got in two short and quick stabs with my blades, kicked his face with a back kick to send him away, he skidded and rushed at me again, but I stretched out my hand.

"Eat this for me, I promise it tastes _electric_!" I yelled, he looked at himself as he felt something pulsing on his chest, a ball of lightning stuck to him was there, it exploded and sent him to a wall.

"Aha ha!" I honestly laughed, he got caught by the one two sticky, he looked pissed too, he rushed me again but from the side, I was not going to hold back anymore, all it led was a very long inpase. No more, instead of my blades, I conjured up my shields, and tackled his rush. I knocked him back onto his back, but with a surprising amount of agility he quickly got up with flip.

I chased after him and we exchanged blows, I felt the cut into my skin, my aura getting low enough for my body to start getting injured, though thankfully this was minor for now. I managed to get him with an upward slice, but at the same time he got me with a kick followed by a cut at my cheek, it went through my aura and left a gash there, no doubt that was going to leave a scar for sure. But I could not possibly give any less shits that I am already at the moment. On the bright side, I was honestly getting excited, despite the life or death situation I am in. I grabbed his arm and twisted it to hold him in place, long enough for two kick followed by a scissor slice that he just managed to block with his forearms, I saw him get ready to counter but I jumped away before he could retaliate, and sent to guided balls of lightning his way, he dodged the first one but eated the second one, I leapt in and drive my palm into the ground to create a shock wave that sent him away next to the wall, I became a blur as I lightning dashed around him sliced three times in different places, then he blocked my following slashes, but I followed with two punches a kick and an elbow, he fought back and tried to cut me, but I parried his cut with my blades, he followed up with a kick that I grabbed and exposed him to a hard knee to his balls.

"Ooaaahh." He screamed, I couldn't help but laugh, I grabbed his head and smashed his face to the wall, but he got free right after and spun around to try and stab me on the back, but I headbutted backwards and grabbed his arm, I judo throwed him to the back to the center of the room, he rolled with the fall, I predicted where he would stand up and run in with flying knee to his face, it connected and sent him on his back… this was it, I pounced him ready to stab him through the heart, bu as soon as I got near an orange explosion came out of him as he stood up, it knocked me away and made roll on the ground. We then stared at each other for a second…

"You know, you should have done that sooner." I said to him. "I mean really, why didn't you do that at the beginning of the fight?" I taunted as I spit on some spit mixed with blood.

"You insolent bastard!" He exclaimed as he threw throwing knives, I slided under them, they exploded with the same orange explosion… so semblance that makes thing explode with energy, got it, I rushed in again starting with a few lighting bolts to pressure him, he dodged and rolled out of the way of them, I rushed in and got two flying kicks in, but he exploded again sending me away rolling on the ground, and hurting me… I stayed crouched while I thought, this was bad, I could honestly overwhelm him, but with those explosions he could kill me before I could do so, I already had low aura… one really bad hit and I'm done for…

I put my hands together on a triangle form and summoned several guided missiles of lightning around me that bombarded him, he got hit by some of the explosions,, leapt and sent a thunderbolt his way, he rolled out of the way and sent more throwing knives, I rolled out of the way, careful too of evading the explosions, he rushed me and I blocked blocked his daggers, suddenly they flashed orange and I put my shield up, the explosion was point blank and powerful, I decide to evade the next few stabs that came my way, I also retaliated with a few roundhouse kicks that he blocked, a spinning hook kick that he took to the face and slash that barely got him on the leg, I soon lightning dashed away to evade the explosion that came after, he threw more explosive throwing knives, I evaded them but the shockwaves still got me, he went in with two stabs that I barely missed my face as I dodged them, I answered with a spinning kick that pushed him away, he threw more knives, I dive rolled to avoid them but he was leaping at me… well I answered with a lightning bolt that knocked him out of the air, I chased him and try to finish him of again, but he jumped over me threw more knives that I barely avoided with flip, I got two slices past his defences, I elbowed him again in the chest and stomped his tow, that made him stumble, I kicked the knee of his other leg and made him trip, as he was on the air I axe kicked him the face but even though I brought him to the ground, he blocked the kick, I dashed away before an explosion came. I had to break off and create some distance, so that is what I did.

"You have no idea who you are messing with boy." He said to me in a snarl, his teeth showing out of anger. He was competent, better than most, he is a formerHuntsman after all, like Roman was I am willing to bet, and he's pretty annoying with his semblance, I always get the annoying ones, always have to work for it, well… the more the challenge.

"Really? I think I'm doing rather well if you asked me." I said as my blades deactivated and I grabbed his arms to avoid getting stabbed, he was still pushing down on me, a grin widening into a smile as his blade inched closer to my chest.

"Even with weapon malfunctions?" He asked as the tip of the blade touched my jacket.

"What? Nah, I just turned them off… for this." I said as my hands enveloped in lightning and electrocuted him.

"AAAAEEEEIIII!" he screamed as he was being shocked, I angled my feet and kicked him upwards, he went up into the air and bounced the ceiling, as he was falling he sent down a throwing knife, but I avoided as I jumped upwards, smoothly I realigned myself and brought out my shields as the throwing knife exploded on the ground, the explosion propelled me feet first into the leader of the Chorus and we went through the ceiling into the room above.

It was some sort of large warehouse… this must have been their supplies… it looked ransacked really, the Chorus leader stood up and looked at me with angry eyes, he threw more knives, I dodged them and he was next to me again, glowing orange, he was going to explode again, I jumped and rolled away from him to avoid the explosion… they were getting bigger, was it similar to Yang's semblance the more damage they receive the stronger?

Didn't really matter, I decide to attack from a distance from now on, I fired lightning and thunderbolts, he avoided most of them, but I managed to hit him with one thunderbolt before he sent more knives my direction, I used the several stacks of crates as cover to hide myself from him, and then rushed with lightning speed to try and catch him unawe… it didn't work however, he spotted me and sent explosions into the ground beneath him, I backed away and fired missiles, bolt and grenades, jumping over, rolling away and sliding under whatever explosive knives came my way, never standing still I continued to fire lightning but he kept using his explosions as physical shields to until I got close again and tried to bisect him with my blades, he saw me coming and blocked my blades, I did managed to get a kick in and a tiny slash before rushing ways with lightning. He kept sending explosions close to him to keep me at bay… I tried something else, I fired to guided missiles into the air that he focused on, I came from behind and stroked him with a thunderbolt and a lightning palm to knock him on his stomach… he recovered and threw knives the direction I had been, but I was no longer there, I was hiding now among the many crates of the warehouse.

This was working… incredibly, prod him, in and out I don't know how much Aura he has left but he seriously must be getting close to low… if not, he's one tanky resilient motherfucker, fighting him normally won't work…I was managing it however, my semblance was seriously in overload, and any second my aura along with my body could give out, or at least that is what I should have been worried about. This fight kept on speeding up giving me more adrenaline and juice for it… like never ever before...I felt free, as if my mind was just clean… getting rid of the Monarch, just admitting the loss… I sat on it for so long, just trying to keep myself busy so I could forget and figure it out later, now… now I feel like I can breath, like I'm myself again... I can do this, I can, I just need to hit him hard enough to get him down and kill him… I had a lot of energy to spare, every run in just gave me more, I could feel it going through me... well then… let's go overboard, let's show him what it means to really fight dirty.

I heard an explosion and also how the tower began to shake again… he really wasn't leaving the open area, he knew I had to come to him, well or thought he knew, as he was throwing explosives knives trying to find me, I was making balls of electricity and hiding them and guiding them in this labyrinth of a warehouse.

"Show yourself!" He demanded.

"Why? So you can explode, and kill me? Nah, I think I am good where I am." I answered.

"Why do you keep opposing?! Why won't you die?! We are trying to make a better world here, we fight for a cause, you fight for nothing, for lies, why do yo-"

"Oh for fucks sake you really are a zealot to you own message aren't you? Or are just trying to justify yourself? All you are doing is killing people that don't deserve to die, you are setting up the deaths of thousands just so you can have some pity revenge again some kingdoms, because of course they are the cause of your problems… not you at all."

"You don't know anything of what you are- AGH!" he screamed as he got hit in the back by a lightning bolt, courtesy of me.

"Oops." I visibly shrugged, he threw an explosive knife towards where I had previously been, this seemed to distract him, heh, my turn to talk from shadows then. Time for all that training I did before I came here to pay for itself.

"Why do you keep fighting you moron?" He shouted at me.

"In case you haven't realized, that's kind of our thing, to help people, to save people, to make a difference, not to just give up on my life, and because I also enjoy the thrill… all those things and more, you said those things are lies?"

"Ozpin will not-"

"I don't fight for him, he didn't promise me those things… I fought for him because those are things I can do, and that want to do, I fight for others and myself and I know that… you just fight to see the world burn."

"It needs to burn so from the ashes it can be rebuild."

"Rebuilt by who? The thousands you'll kill in the process that you supposedly want bring to a better world? The followers you yourself discard like expendable pieces? You, and Salem? You are nothing but a hypocrite with his head too far up his own ass. And trust me you are very expendable to her."

"Shut up, how do you know of that name?!" He screamed back at me, he sent an explosion in anger, now… missiles of lightning and lightning bolts came from different directions, he shielded himself from some, but most of them hit him, being overwhelmed by the sheer amount of attacks.

"How the-" He didn't finish as I dashed in and struck him three times with my blades and did a flying spinning kick before dashing away from another explosion.

"Quit ru- aah" He immediately got peppered by lightning coming from the sparkling balls of electricity around the warehouse, and then I appeared behind again with a lightning palm that sent him backwards, I ran away again as he sent more explosions, another missile came his way, one he shielded, but I dashed in from his side and sliced his legs, making him go into the air and choke slamming him into the ground where I fire a lightning missile point blank, the explosion giving me enough cover to get away. Now that was a hard hit, getting there.

"Oh… ah… why don't you… ah!" He screamed as another lightning bolt came from one of the spheres hidden around, enough a distraction for me to slide in and kick both his legs and make him fall on his stomach, I grabbed him by the feet, lifted him and with all my strength slammed his back into the ground.

"Aaah." he cried in pain, he tried to make another explosion to fight back but I was already gone.

"Aah… how are you, who… why?" He asked between breaths, he was getting tired, finally the punishment was getting to him.

"What's the matter, can't handle the pressure?. He answered with a snarl"

"You don't have any idea how many I had to kill to get here, how much work I had to do, how much I suffered for the people I lost."

"And now you a killing people and making doom just to make a point… what an absolute waste, what would those people you lost think of you now." I said back to him.

"I… WILL FUCKING KILL YOU" seems that hit the nerve, good. He started throwing knives around without a care, leaving himself wide open to my attacks, I went with four consecutive flying kicks that sent him flying before running away as he got up with more explosions, I let my zappers shock him and bombard him some more.

"You'll die trying." I declared as I prepared to make my move.

"Where are yo- agh" he didn't finish as I cam behind him with a knee at his back, I slashed him twice before jumpin away throwing bolts, my zappers covered me with more bolts as I fled.

"Why don't you just…" I flied in with a drop kick to his face, I stepped on his face and axed kicked him into the ground further, the ran away.

"Could you… JUST." he made an explosion to defend from another bolt, but I went to his side and blasted him with two thunderbolts, he recoiled and screamed, I dived with slashes that send waves of lightning paralyzing him and a grenade of lightning that exploded on his face as I disappeared again. He tried to get up, he couldn't really, the onslaught was too much even for him, he honestly took way too much punishment, but we were getting close now… he suddenly stood up though with new energy he started to send knives and explosions everywhere.

"DIE! Just die! Just drop!" He shouted as he exploded the warehouse and revealed most of my zappers.

"As you wish." I said as I dropped from the scaffolding on the ceiling, delivering a downward slash to his face, now for the real onslaught, I punched him seven time across the face and his gut, I slashed him several times from all angles, I elbowed and kneed him and threw around more than six roundhouse and hook kicks, he just took it all too stunned to fight back from the non stop beatdown, I finished my kicks with back kick that sent him upwards, I jumped with my blades and slice him in mid air, then drove a lightning palm into his chest tha propelled me up and him into the ground making cracks, while in the air put my hands together making a triangle and with that all of the sixteen zappers I made became missiles that bombarded him, and I finally saw his aura flare as if it was about to break, I made another ball of lightning between my hands and with it made a massive thunderbolt that I launched straight a t him. It made him go through the ground back to the room where the Monarch had been in.

The tower shook violently and I landed back into the room of the Monarch with an awkward roll, I spent a lot of energy, not only on projectiles but also in managing those zappers, it wasn't easy, it took some degree of concentration… all that power and destruction, and yet the cult leader shakely stood up… barely, he was bleeding all over, and his mask had been broken, barely anything of his robes remained.

"You really… are hard to kill." I said to him between breaths as I faced him directly, he started wobbling towards me.

"I… I will…" he barely said while walking towards me, I didn't even move, just took my time to regain my breath, he still had one of his daggers, he looked at me with eyes that seemed honestly quite… jaded and dead, but full of rage.

"Raagh!" He slashed forward, but I unsheathed my blades and in one quick motion cut his arm off, following I cut his leg with my other blade, he was left balancing on his stump and his knee, mouth agape, I then with both blades slashed horizontally towards the right decapitating him and killing him finally.

Finally...

"So long… Chorus of Dawn." I said with heavy breaths… I was exhausted, barely functioning, I couldn't really move properly, all my body felt like jelly, " _I have to keep moving. I need to get out of here_ …" The tower swayed and trembled reinforcing that thought

"That's the signal… ow man, that's gonna hurt in the morning… ow… oh…" I stumbled on something, it was the pieces of the Monarch that hadn't disappeared… it wasn't that big.

"Fuck it… just call it a confirmation of a kill." I said to myself as I strapped the remains to my belt, truth was the leader was right about me sizing a trophy, but more importantly something to bargain with Ozpin… I didn't know a lot of things, I could… okay no, no more lying, I just really wanted to put this thing on my wall as a testament. That's all I wanted.

 **[Thief: Burning Bridge: 2:02 ]**

I walked through the doors as the tower kept shaking, I started to speed up as soon as the shakes became more violent, I started running when I felt the tower go beyond just shaking and just collapsing, I ran, I ran up the stairs and sw how the room I was in was near the bottom of the tower and it was about to fall of, I ran up the wall and leapt off a loose wall to reach the rest of the tower, I managed to grab on, but my body was burning…

"There you are kid!" I looked up and saw Seth, he helped me up and soon we were both on safe ground.

"I don't know what I would do without you Seth."

"Save it for later, what happened? Is the Seer dead?"

"Dead, and proper."

"Oh thank whatever god that may or may not exist, and the leader?"

"Dead, and proper." I said with same exact tone as before.

"I love it when you have good news, you know that?"

"Well, thank me later, what's happening?"

"The tower is collapsing, many of the flying Grimm crashed into the tower when they just started dying and overall cause havoc… how did you even get this far down the tower?"

"I don't know, and I think I might don't want to know, I just sorta kept moving forward and then I found myself here." I explained honestly.

"Okay, okay… we still gotta get out of here right fucking now though, got any more bright ideas?" Seth asked with a chuckle.

"Yeah, help me up and let's just run." I said with a chuckle and heavy breaths.

We started running, passing by rubble and jumping over small bridges to just go up, we made it three floors up when more parts of the tower collapsed, parting both of us with a massive gap.

"Rob?" Seth called to me, worried and concerned for my well being.

"I'll be fine… I'll just… climb." I said as I cracked my knuckles, and tried to wipe the sweat off of my hands, to no avail.

"You sure?" He asked. "Doesn't really look like you're able to do anything besides run right now."

"I don't have a choice." I said as I started to climb upwards from outside the tower, I climbed deftly three floors, there I was able to see a spot where I could jump through a window to where Seth was, I lept and propelled me in that direction, and crash through directly into the window to find Seth at the other side.

"Damn it kid, what's with you today and barreling through stuff?!"

"It must be fate, I don't fucking know, let's go…"

The tower kept crumbling, we ran and leapt through gaps and rubble another four floors we finally reached the are where the bridges had let us to, we found Miara there, covered in blood but not looking any less happier to see us.

"You- You're alive!" She exclaimed almost too happily, like she couldn't really believe that we were really standing in front of her.

"I honestly feel the same way, I mean, how the fuck are we alive right now?" I asked her. "What about V and M?" I asked more seriously. "Elena?"

"They are getting down here, and Elena is…" She shut her eyes tight and shook her head. "Let's just follow her orders, we just need to wait a-" the tower shaked and split apart, we all grabbed onto the closest thing near, we were dangling from barely hanging part of a broken tower over a lake of just death… come on now.

"What do we do?" I asked.

"Which side is crumbling less?" Miara asked.

"... I think mine, little less rocks threatening to crush me to death." Seth said, we all looked at each other, I jumped up a wall unto a beam and then unto Seth's platform, Miara did something similar as the platform kept growing apart, only she stepped on something loose and tripped, she almost fell into the abyss.

"Mia!" if it wasn't for Seth catching her, she would have no doubt fallen to her death. I quickly dove forward to grab her other hand, and we both helped her up… we now still had three floors to go up.

"How do we do this?" Miara asked, though she looked to Seth with much more respect than ever before. I didn't bother to comment on it for obvious reasons.

"We boost each other up, I said." Me and Seth made a springboard for Miara, she jumped up and then extended her hand for us, we kept going like this, jumping between wall with daring leaps and acrobatics that honestly none of us should have been able to do, one mistake on the chain of leaps and grabs and springboards and we would fall, and we didn't fall… we were running on the fumes of the fumes but if it meant getting out of here our bodies started to recover some functions and soon enough we made it to the floor, just for flair I managed to get to the platform with a flip. Now we were back were we had entered.

We also found Verdant and Mackie.

"I can't believe it, you guys are alive." Mackie said with wide eyes, he lost his helmet it seemed, revealing a head of brown hair that I honestly didn't know he had, and Verdant had a damaged shoulder plate, and his chest piece was basically destroyed. But other then that, they were healthy. Much to our relief.

"We are now running, we gotta get out of here, this place is going to fall apart any second now." Seth started saying, but soon the entire place shook and we could see one of the supports falling, we looked at each other and just sprinted across the shaky platforms with leaps and the occasional hand from, ruble falling all around us a big piece of the tower fall in front of us on the platforms we were trying to reach.

"Shit!" We all said in unison

"No…" Miara almost gave up hope right then and there.

"Come on, just run we'll use it as a springboard." I suggested, it was really the only thing we could do, we kept running, we jumped and climbed over the fallen piece of the tower and kept going, I looked up however and saw a piece of rubble about to fall on top of us, I sent a thunderbolt to destroy it, it saved us but it was a bad idea, I almost collapsed then and there, my body couldn't handle much more stress… I stood still for a second trying to recover, Seth, Miara, V and M made to the other side, to the entrance, only I was missing, I went for it, but a rock fell on the last platform to reach there and destroyed it… shit, shit, shit, shit shit, shit.

"Rob!" They called out… think come on, come one, I looked around and saw another big massive towe piece about to fall near…

"Well here goes nothing." I drawed whatever I had left into my feet and semblance, I jumped incredibly high into the falling piece, ran across it leaving trace of lightning behind and leapt into the entrance, I face planted into the ledge of it, I saw stars as I nearly lost consciousness, just dangling on the edge until Verdant and Seth caught me just in time.

"Kid… you are just fucking crazy, you know." Seth told me as they pulled me up with ease.

"I know… but I am alive, renewed, and well… just not dead." I said as I teetered on the edge of consciousness and unconsciousness.

"Oi! ye' guys made it, tank gudness." said the Huntsman that stayed behind covering, he survived? Holy shit, he was up against dozens of chorus members on his own who no doubt had aura as well, and he fucking survived all of that!? Honestly all of us survived something similar at this point. Whoever this guy is, I wish I was old enough to drink with him.

"Yeah we are alive, we fucking are…" Miara said, we then stared into the the pieces of the tower just falling, there were some explosions here and there, we started to chuckle and laugh, we were alive, we survived…

"We.. hehe… should move, while we have the strength." Mackie said. I stood up and started walking… for a bit.

"We should see the map… we should." I felt everything becoming like jelly, I felt everything go to my head and things just became fuzzy.

"We… sho-... oh mierda (Oh shit)." I said as I finally collapsed, face first into the floor.

* * *

Hector collapsed in an alleyway, his body giving out to the pain after running for so long that he didn't bother to keep track, but the sun was a good ways down, the orange sky illuminating part of the alley at an angle. He rolled himself over, and felt the pain run throughout every inch of his body as he forced himself to stay awake for just a little while longer. Bruises and cuts all over his skin, his feet feeling numb and throbbing with pain due to how long he had to run. Luckily, there was no Grimm around, somehow he might add, but he wasn't about to start cursing his sudden stroke of good luck.

His body nearly shut down due to exhaustion of nearly all kinds. Mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual. He dragged himself to a sitting position against the old brick wall, and nearly fell asleep on the spot, he would have done that if he didn't have questions that needed to be answered right away. He forced his pained eyes open, and turned to look at his side, sensing a presence there.

He stared at a mirror image of himself, the same face and everything, except for three key differences. His skin was snow white, his hair was also the same color, and his eyes were Grimm, red iris and black sclera. They looked back into his normal red and white ones that had yet to turn back to their normal color of brown. He wasn't surprised to see this figure staring back at him, after everything he had just been through, a hallucination of himself in what looked like a Grimm transformation was the least of his worries. What did worry him were the flood of memories he didn't think were his flooding into his head, mostly about what had just happened throughout that entire day. The blood, the death, he still taste the blood in his mouth, and he actually hoped it was his.

"What… are you?" He asked him, not having the energy to be freaked out by this phenomena.

His own eyes looked back at him, equally as damaged as he is, and only visible to him. A spectral image of himself that looked transparent, but still held physical dimensions.

Hell blinked his eyes, and spoke four simple words that carried out so much meaning.

" _ **I am your Hell."**_

He passed out not a second later.

* * *

 **Im crazy as fuck, I've accepted that. I wrote over half of this chapter in one night. -Genatools**

 **No, you didn't. -CrowSkull.**

 **Yeah, you're right, I thought that 6.2k words was half, and then ended up writing another 7k today, so in total I wrote over 13k words in a span of 36 hours, NOT INCLUDING ALL THE EDITING I HAD TO DO WHEN WE FINISHED!**

 **Sorry... -CrowSkull**

 _ **Sigh,**_ **I guess the mathematics** _ **are**_ **still a little off. Anyways, now I rest, and will edit this chapter some time this week, probably gonna be out on a tuesday or something like that. You guys would know before I do, but still, over 13k words written here in just two days… crazy as fuck. Everytime we set a new bar for longest chapter, we come out with one even longer than the last. Over 22k words this one was. -Genatools**

 **And I actually wrote a fair portion of it, I helped, yay! -Croskull**

 **Please review and let us know what you think of the story!**


	28. Rwby: Team HAMR chapter 28

**Well this took a while, Merry Christmas to all those who celebrated it. We took a little break, but here we are again with another chapter!**

 **Zeldawolffang: I've never watched Bleach before, but no need to fear, Hector is back to normal… for now.**

 **Yeah, not responding to my own review, and no not yours either CS. Moving on, let's get this moving along already.**

 **This isn't going to be another 20k word pus chapter, just…. No, not happening ever again.**

 **Never say never, we just keep doing crazy shit upon crazy shit at this point. -CrowSkull**

* * *

RWBY: Team HAMR

Chapter 28- Getting To Know Your Second Personality

"Ugh." Hector groaned, waking up from his long slumber and running a hand down his face. "I feel like I shouldn't be waking up in an alley half naked." He quipped to himself as he looked down at his bare torso. Besides his Dragon Fists, all he has on are ripped up pants, which could be better described as shorts at this point, and his dancing shoes- no, dancing shoe, singular. He lost it when he broke free from his prison, and the other one is basically useless at this point, since his toes broke through the sole of the shoe. He took it off and with a grunt, threw it to the side, never to see it again.

"Right… first things first," He pushed himself back up to his feet, his tired and sore muscles burning as he put weight on his legs. He used the wall for support and looked up into the blue sky, a single white cloud just overhead. His stomach grumbled when he realized it looked like a steak. "Food first, now where does one find food in an abandoned, and run down city?" He asked himself as he looked back down to what is in front of him, only to look straight into the eyes of the spectral form of what he assumes his other personality, evil Grimm eyes staring back to him and a neutral expression on his face which turned annoyed when Hector nearly fell backward from surprise and fear.

"Shit… you weren't just a bad dream." Hector mumbled as he ran a hand through his black hair.

" _ **Why would you think that?"**_ His Hell asked him, raising an eyebrow at his words.

"Yeah, it wouldn't make sense if I didn't have some crazy split personality inside my head." He replied offhandedly, though he cannot hide how sad and angry he felt when he remembered what he did the day before.

" _ **Why are you in anguish? They got in our way you know…"**_ Hell said as he placed a hand on his shoulder, and leaned down to get to his way. " _ **Now that I've awakened, you are going to have to get used to having blood on your hands."**_

"Yeah, how about fuck that." Hector said as he slapped away the offending hand, only for his hand to actually pass right through his and hit nothing but the air. "Oh, of course, that just makes things easier." He muttered sarcastically as he moved away from him and cupped his hands around his eyes to look through the window of a building, he was comforted by the fact that his eyes finally returned back to normal, signalling to him that he has not actually lost his sanity… actually now that he thinks about it he is now having a conversation with himself, except evil… and all Grimmy.

"I'm fucking insane." He deduced with a shake of his head when he saw that there was nothing but dried ancient looking blood, and rubble from inside the building.

He ignored his mirror image and moved onward to the sidewalk, if the White Fang weren't able to track him to where he slept during the rest of the day and night, he feels comfortable enough to walk out into the open. His stomach ached with hunger pains, and while sleep is great to heal the body, food _and_ sleep are a much better combination.

"I've lost a lot of weight…" He realized as he patted his stomach, and feeling literally no softness like there was before, it was literally nothing but muscle, and while that may have been most guys dreams it did not bode well for his current condition.

" _ **You haven't lost anything important."**_ Hell spoke to him as he walked out from behind him, walking regally with his hands intertwined with each other behind his back.

"What do you mean by that?" Hector asked, giving more attention then he was already willing to give just by speaking to his other half.

" _ **I mean that you did not lose any muscle, or any of your power. If anything you grew stronger after the torture you underwent."**_ He explained simply, looking over his shoulder, his piercing red eyes staring right into his own.

"Shouldn't I have _lost_ strength though, how did I manage to not only survive all of that, but get even stronger from it?" Hector couldn't help but ask.

" _ **Because of me you idiot, our biology works in such a way in that we get stronger the more punishment our body undergoes. In the case of the past few days, we endured a broken arm, severe malnutrition, dehydration, lacerations on the chest, arms and shoulders, chainsaw wound on the forearms-"**_

As he listed everything they- no, _he_ went through, Hector's eyes shook, and his heart beat even harder in his chest. His body has endured so much, from heart palpitations, to extreme aura overexertion, semblance overexertion, burn wounds caused by his semblance, and finally, he lost a total of _forty_ pounds after his last rampage. Meaning that he was now one hundred and seventy pounds, making him look much thinner and leaner, but his muscles all the more profound. He lost pretty much all of his fat, and probably some of his muscle to, but just as Hell said, he didn't feel weaker at all. Just tired, very, very fucking tired. His eyes felt heavy just from having them open for all but ten minutes.

" _ **But, we have a healing factor of varying intensity."**_ Hell interrupted his thoughts, snapping him back into the world of the living. " _ **But I am afraid that we will have many permanent scars because of what happened, nothing too serious however."**_

Hector looked down at his body, and yes, there was a number of scars all over his body. From gunshot wounds and bruises that were still on his body, to the thick deep scars on his arms that he doesn't even need to look at to know that it is there, and a thin reddish pink line running up his chest from just above his precious area. He remembers that one distinctively being given to him by Neo, the little cunt that she is probably had a lot of fun with him when he was still able to feel her little games that she would play on him.

But it all paled in comparison to the blood he now had on his hands, he remembered everything. From scorching someone's throat alive with the heat of the Kaioken, to biting someone's throat out. He also remembers killing that Chainsaw guy with his own weapon, there was so much blood… and the fact that he _enjoyed_ it at the time? It scared him.

"You…" Hector looked to Hell, his brows furrowed as he grew with anger. "You made me do all those things." He accused.

Hell snorted, amused by the accusation.

" _ **Did I though? Everything we felt at the time was already there, it was just being amplified by some unknown means. When you were at your lowest point in your entire life, I was awakened. I only did what you were already thinking about doing."**_ Hell explained. Hector widened his eyes in shock, but shook his head in denial and got ready to shout back at his monster.

" _ **You are probably going to bring it up later, so I'd rather answer the unasked question now."**_ Hell cut him off, and turned to face him fully, a wide grin plastered on his face. " _ **You're probably wondering why I am not acting as aggressive and bloodthirsty as I was when I was in control of our body."**_

"You keep saying that," Hector interjected. "We, our, us, why are you saying that? Just what the hell _are_ you?"

Hell's grin widened, and his rose both eyebrows.

"No, don't say that you're my Hell, give me anything else but that, seriously." Hector demanded.

Hell frowned, not liking the way he was being treated like something to be controlled, not after he has been dormant for so long.

" _ **Don't get your temporary control of our body get to your head Hector. Because anytime you're in a fight you can't win, any time you are about to die, any time where I feel you won't be able to win a battle. I'll come out, and I will wreak havoc upon our enemies… indiscrimatorilly."**_ Hell warned, his red eyes glowing with his own anger as he met Hector's glare with equal intensity.

"We'll have to see about that then, because I don't plan to ever let you out again." Hector snarled, his own eyes flicking back to red in a heartbeat. Red met red and they glared at each other, sending silent threats to the other. "Because remember, _I_ am the one who is in control right now." He smirked and brought his own hand up to his neck, and Hell even looked panicked when he grabbed his own neck and squeezed almost hard enough to cut off his air flow." And I am the only one who can kill you." Hector threatened with a sick grin of his own.

" _ **Y-you wouldn't, you're bluffing. Would you really kill yourself if it meant being rid of me?"**_ Hell asked, and for the first time he actually looked a little scared, all Hector would have to do right now is activate his semblance and crush his own trachea, no amount of healing would be able to save him from that quick of a death, and they would both die a needless death.

"Don't tempt me, I might actually go through with it if you dare threaten my friends ever again." Hector said with a bitter sad chuckle as he removed his hand from his throat.

Hell visibly sighed a sigh of relief when he saw that happen, sure he might have been able to take him over forcibly, but he wouldn't be able to fast enough before he would end up choking on his own blood and suffocating to death. He faded away, this round would have to go to the original, and he would be content with that. He was actually impressed with his other half, to know that he would go to such length to get rid of a threat was a well needed trait for what was to come, especially in a harsh environment such as this.

"Looks like I know your weakness now, now why don't you explain to me what you actually are while I go looking for food. Starving to death sucks, now that I know what it's like to actually be starving." Hector said as he traveled down a block that lead to a few buildings, the stores at the end being mostly small markets, and a few restaurants. Even if the food is expired ten years, it would still be food, it had to give him _something_ in terms of nutrients, and if his body was as durable as he was just told? He'd need to get hit by a train to actually die a quick death.

" _ **...We are both the same person."**_ The voice began. " _ **We share the same soul, the same body, the same powers, the only difference between is should be obvious once you looked upon my true form."**_

"So basically, you're Grimm?" Hector asked.

" _ **In a sense… that is all I can share with you."**_

"Why? Because you're not allowed to or something?"

" _ **No, because that is all I know."**_

"How do I know you're not lying?"

" _ **You already do."**_

Hector growled lightly, he got him there. He heard every word in his own head, and since Hell is literally a part of him, he could tell that he was not lying. It would work vise versa as well, they should have shared memories, muscle memory, and semblance. Which disturbed him somewhat… that meant that he was technically Hell, and Hell was technically him. It felt so confusing just thinking that, and he got a headache from it.

A loud growl came from behind him while he was in the middle of thinking what the fuck he just woke up to, he spun around just in time to block a swipe from a Beowolf, but the force of the attack combined with how exhausted his body still is. He fell backward and onto the ground, his bounced once and winced before twisting his body out of the way of the next pounce. If he were healthy, and at full strength, a single measly Beowolf wouldn't but much of a problem, but as he is now he needs to run. He can barely lift his arms up with his weapons attached without straining his tired muscles.

" _ **Let me take control, I can easily dispose of this creature."**_ Hell suggested.

"No, I'm never letting you take over again!" Hector exclaimed, diving through the window of a wrecked car and pushing the door open on the other side to run out of. The Beowolf tried to jump in after him, but it's body was just too large to fit through the window, and when it saw him run through the other door, it ripped itself out with the door still attached to its head.

"Kaio- Agh!" Hector nearly fell over after trying to activate his powers, his heart beated painfully and he nearly blacked out, but he was still conscious and was forced to barge through the door of a random building he didn't have to figure out what it was. He slammed the door shut behind him, and struggled against the strength of the Grimm creature on the other side. He wasn't going to last much longer, he knew that, the Grimm was much stronger than him as he was right now. He looked back to search for any way to barricade the door shut, and saw nothing within his reach that he could use. He cursed mentally and reached toward the closest thing to him, a flimsy looking iron pipe that must have fallen from the ceiling. His toes barely grazed the metal, and he nearly fell over the next time to Beowolf bashed the door, and nearly broke it as a result.

Hector got lower to the ground until he was in a sitting position, using one leg to help him push back the monster while using the other to reach for the pipe. Finally, after plenty of agonizing seconds, his toes managed to pull the pipe closer to him. He grabbed it with his hand, and put it between the two door handles. Just in time too, because when he moved away, the Beowolf pushed open the doors only for it not to open all the way, it stuck it's arm through the opening and tried to reach toward him, but couldn't reach. It roared it's frustration when Hector jumped up to his feet and spirited away, he barely hid his fear when the monster howled loudly and the rest of it's pack running toward him, their movements making the ground vibrate beneath his bare feet.

Hector slammed every door behind him shut, and barricaded it the best he could in the span of about two minutes before the Grimm started bashing the door down.

"Shit!" He yelled out, trying to find some way to escape in the room that he is in now. It looked like this was previously a clothing store before the fall, the clothes are ripped up and tattered, but it was better than what he had on right now. As he ran through the aisles, he picked up a jacket of some kind, a pair of black pants, and shoes. He would need them in order to help keep his body warm in the night.

" _ **Should we really be worrying about clothes right now?"**_ Hell asked him, his body reappearing as a hallucination in front of the scrambling huntsman in training.

"Shut up Hell! I'm sorta in the middle of something here, I don't know if you noticed but I am being chased by more than a few Grimm." Hector snarled as he slipped off his dress pants, and discarded it. He made a mental note to take a shower the next chance he gets when he saw how messy his underwear was. He took them off next and did his best to clean himself using his old pants and the other clothes he found in the store. When he was content with himself, he threw on the black pants without any underwear underneath, then the jacket. "Oh of course it's a leather jacket, why wouldn't it be?" He asked no one in particular as he tried to put on the shoes, but through them away in frustration when he realized that they were much too small for his large feet.

" _ **Okay, instead of being half naked and on the run from a pack of Grimm, you are now a quarter naked and on the run from a pack of Grimm, great improvement."**_ Hell snarked.

"Part of my master plan, you'll see." Hector replied as he crouched down, he didn't even zip up his new jacket out of the fear that the Grimm would hear it through the door and chase right after him when they broke through the door.

" _ **Oh I can't wait to see how this 'master plan' plays out."**_ Hell snickered, and the clothes Hector was now wearing appeared on the hallucination.

"Shush!" Hector shushed him.

" _ **You know you're the only one who can hear me right? I am in our head right now."**_

" _Then you should know now would be a good time to shut up!"_ Hector yelled at him from within his own mind. Hell simply chuckled in response, but did obey the demand that was given to him.

Hector used the racks of clothing to hide himself when the Grimm broke through the doors, and several Beowolves poured into the store with him. They sniffed around for his scent, but the whole city was reeking with negativity with all the Grimm in it, and they growled loudly when they couldn't pinpoint his location.

" _Shouldn't they be able to find me?"_ Hector asked Hell, he was prepared to fight for his life with the remaining dust he had in his gauntlets, but when they dispersed and searched the entire store, he froze on the spot and sat still.

" _ **Not us, we are unable to be sensed by Grimm now."**_ Hell explained to him, floating upside down in front of him.

" _That would have been great to know…"_ Hector shook his head, and looked around for his escape route, he found it instantly in the broken down doors of the store, if he could get out without them noticing, he would be able to get away without much difficulty. There was just one problem with this sound plan…

" _I suck at sneaking around."_ He scolded himself as he silently crawled on all fours quickly to his next piece of cover, ignoring how comfortable it was for him to move in such a way.

" _ **You'll be fine, look how easy it is."**_ Hell said as he walked without a care in the world toward the door, and leant on the doorway looking back at him with a smug grin on his face.

" _Asshole, I'm not invisible."_ Hector rebuked as he peeked around the corner of his cover, he looked back at Hell, and then to the Grimm in the store with him. If he gets caught, Hell would take control, and while he would survive this encounter, he doesn't know when he would get control again, he is still mentally exhausted so it would take a while for him to recover that strength to regain control of himself in the case that he was caught. " _Hey… why don't we work together?"_ He asked, swallowing his own pride to ask help from the monster sharing a head with him.

" _ **An alliance you say? Amusing, to think that you didn't think we were on the same side in the first place."**_ Hell snickered.

" _Dude, the first time we met you made me watch as you tore apart the White Fang left and right, you didn't really give me a good first impression."_ Hector retorted with facts, and Hell couldn't do anything besides shrug.

" _ **Hm, I can see how that may have been frightening at first. But I did speak to you before I did all of that did I not?"**_ Hell asked.

" _Yeah, but all you said was how badly you wanted to kill them all."_

" _ **I was simply angry with them for hurting our body, I had a lot of pent up anger."**_ Hell complained.

" _Okay, we can talk about that later. Are you going to help me or not?"_ Hector asked, before gasping when he stepped on a piece of broken glass, the cracking sound more than audible throughout the whole store.

" _ **Left."**_ Hell simply said with a straight face.

Hector had to take the risk and trust in his counterpart, and turned left and was met immediately with a mannequin, he swallowed another gasp and duck behind one of them, this one being abnormally large for whatever reason but he wasn't about to call out the illogic of it when he was in the situation that he was in now. The Beowolf ran by, but didn't spot him, but he didn't have any time to relax because another was following it, stalking slowly on the ground and sniffing the air to find its prey. It didn't turn like it's packmate did, and instead continued straight, and would eventually knock over the mannequin that Hector was using as cover if he didn't do anything about it.

" _ **On my mark, roll quietly to the next cover to your left."**_ Hell said bordely.

He looked to his left, and saw what looked to be an old cash register on top of a desk, he mentally prepared himself and very subtly turned his body to dive right toward the next safe spot.

Hell watched the approaching Grimm closely, waiting for the perfect moment to tell his other self to roll when it turned its head. Time went by slowly as the Grimm began to turn, and as soon as it's red eyes veered off to it's right, he gave his mark.

" _ **Now."**_

Hector dove forward, and as silently as he could, rolled forward on the ground and stopped himself before he could hit the wood and destroy it even more then it was already. The Grimm didn't notice him out of some miracle, and he sighed out of relief as he slowly peeked over the desk toward his exit point. There was another Grimm there, and of course it had to be the Alpha.

" _Shit!"_ Hector cursed in his mind as he lowered himself back down behind the desk. He was able to defeat an alpha before, but that was a far weaker one then the one he has found himself being blocked by, one he was able to kill with his bare fists and even if he wasn't able to Professor Port would have stepped in to save him before anything bad would happen. Right now, he would get torn apart by the alpha if he decided to fight, unless Hell took over, but he didn't trust Hell enough to actually let him take control of his body. He was already half dead as it is, pushing his body even further would achieve nothing but more pain, and he didn't want to get any closer to snapping then he already was.

" _ **Well, that's not good."**_ Hell pointed out the obvious as he appeared leaning on the wall in front of Hector, his eyes scanning over the rest of the store. There was no way he could see his counterpart getting out of this without getting caught, at least that's the way it was through the store. They had one option left.

" _ **Go through the door right here, it's empty and there should be a way out through there. A back entrance of sort."**_ Hell suggested as he point his thumb toward the half destroyed door right next to him.

Hector thought about it, peeking over the counter to see the store completely infested with Grimm. The whole pack must have reunited just to search for him, and that didn't bode well for the leader of Team HAMR. He apprehensively nodded toward Hell, and quietly tiptoed into the room, he was met with nothing but darkness.

"Come on man… what's with this bullshit." Hector whispered under his breath, hesitating to go into the darkness.

Hell rose an eyebrow, and upon realizing the cause of his hesitation broke out into laughter.

" _ **You're afraid of the dark? Oh how ironic that is."**_ Hell said as he held his stomach.

" _Oh shut up you dickhead… and now I realize that I've been talking to myself this entire time, yeah I am a little insane now that I think about it, how can the darkness be harmful to me?"_ He asked himself more than anyone as a way to hype himself up, trying to get his eyes to acclimate to the darkness as soon as possible to make this trip a little less scary.

With another gulp, he took his first step into the darkness, feeling the wall with his hand as a way to guide him forward.

" _ **So proud of you."**_ Hell mused as he floated beside him.

" _You're weird, you know that? One day you're all kill everything and everyone, and the next here you're acting slightly more normal, what gives?"_ Hector asked as he slowly traversed the dark hallway.

" _ **I had my fill of blood during my last release, and while I would have loved more… sadly I suddenly lost control of our body."**_

" _Yeah… sadly."_ Hector shook his head of the memories of the day before that threatened to resurface. Once his eyes started adjusting to the darkness, he took his hand off of the wall, and was happy to see that there was in fact no evil glowing red eyes staring back at him through the darkness. All there is was a door with light peeking over the small spaces between it and the doorframe, he started making his way toward it while thinking about what actually did give him control over his own body back. " _That reminds me… how did you lose control earlier? Not that I am sad that it happened by any means, just curious as to how you suddenly lost control mid battle."_

" _ **That my blood brother, is something that even I know little about."**_ Hell said. " _ **With the amount of pain you were undergoing, combined with the mental trauma, that alone was enough to awaken me and give me control. But there was something amplifying me, and you know the rest. Something just snapped, or rather unsnapped within me, and you were able to take back control."**_

" _Huh, that actually makes sense."_ Hector nodded. " _I thought there was going to be a whole confusing explanation thing going on here."_

" _ **Well, I am you in a sense, just like you are me, we have a very similar way of thinking."**_ Hell pointed out just as Hector reached the door.

"I don't know if that is a compliment or not, but I'll take it anyway." Hector said underneath his breath as he pushed open the door. The room was well lit, but the reason for it was because every window was shattered and the curtains were ripped off and wrapped around a rotted corpse in the corner of the shook his head and bowed his head in silent respect as he shut the door behind him silently.

Next thing he saw, there was a whole family of deceased people hiding in a closet that was already broken through. In front of the closet was another torn up skelton, the clothes tattered and a broken weapon in what Hector thinks is a males hand. His skull was cracked open, and his ribs were all broken, along with both of his arms and the rest of his body.

" _He must have gotten torn apart defending this family… and the other body in the corner may have been his partner who died earlier…"_ Hector put the pieces together.

" _ **This happened many years ago, two hunters must have died fighting to protect the weaklings, a pity really. They should have left when they were told to."**_

Hector ignored Hell's painfully truthful words, they should have just evacuated when they were ordered to, it seemed like their other teammates did just that. But they wanted to stay and help others out, until eventually they got trapped with what Hector assumes to be the owner of this clothing store and his family. They all ended up dying anyway, the duty of a hunter he supposed, he honestly didn't know if he would have done the same if he were in their shoes at that time. It's something he can only get the answer for if he were actually there.

"Well… at least they had some food stored up in here." He said as he spotted a corner of the room with a bunch of cans of food were sitting in, some of them open, but a lot more unopened. "They must have been stuck in here for a while, but eventually their negativity drew the Grimm in, and they were slaughtered."

" _ **Precisely, impressive detective skills."**_ Hell sarcastically clapped for him.

"Oh shut up." Hector groaned as he kneeled down in front of the food. The pack of Beowolves were a distant memory at this point, since for some reason he wasn't attracting passively like it said all humans do in the history books back at Beacon. He would be fine in here as long as he didn't make any noise, however there was one downside of many he had to think about; He was stuck in a room with six dead bodies, and only one of them being wrapped up in some form of cheap grave.

He refused to look at them as he grabbed a can of food, the expiration date was surprisingly not for another few weeks, it offered him some comfort when he tore off the metal lid and dumped the contents of the can down his throat, barely chewing his food as he swallowed what tasted like meat and beans in large gulps. His stomach felt a rush of slimy cold as the food settled in there. He shook the can of any leftover food that may have been left, and threw the can to the side to grab another, doing the same thing as he did before.

Hell watched on in disgust as his counterpart absolutely _inhaled_ another three cans of food without some much as stopping to take a breath, until eventually he fell backward on his back and moaned out of pleasure just for having food in his belly.

" _ **You're disgusting."**_

"Says you Mister biting peoples throats out." Hector retorted, sitting up and looking down at the mess he accidentally made while giving his body some long awaited sustenance.

" _ **You should try it one of these days, blood tastes very good once you get the tongue for it."**_

"Please do me a favour and never say that again while I'm eating." Hector gagged in response as he forced his body to keep the food where he desperately needed it. "Right, next step; Where are we- I mean, where am I?"

" _ **You can say 'we' you know."**_ Hell pointed out as he floated in front of him.

Hector ignored him. "Let's see, destroyed and abandoned city infested with Grimm, underground White Fang base, one that I was being held captive in a train in… and it looks like we're still in Vale because of it barely being a week since the dance… Shit." Hector figured it out rather easily.

"I'm in fucking Mountain Glenn." He rose his voice lightly in frustration.

" _ **Seriously, fantastic detective skills, you sure you want to still be a huntsman?"**_ Hell teased as he blinked his eyes at him.

"Yeah, yeah, shut up. The missions are probably going to be starting soon, if I remember correctly it is supposed to happen in… two? Maybe three days?" He asked himself.

" _ **Around there."**_ Hell agreed.

"Hey, aren't we supposed to have shared memories or something?" Hector asked as he leaned up against the wall, carefully making sure he wasn't touched any of the bodies he is sharing the room with.

" _ **Don't remind me, I am still trying to forget the kiss you shared with that dog."**_

Hector felt a pang of sadness mixed with anger as he thought about his partner and teammate. He was mad at her, sure, but did he hate her…? Surprisingly, he couldn't bring himself to, she _did_ try to warn him not to go after Cinder, which of course he didn't listen to her. It is kind of his fault that he went, but it was also kind of hers, since she waited so long to switch sides like she did. Ashley was an interesting case, he was blinded by anger when she first told him what she really was, and what her purpose actually was, but if what she said was true back on that dance floor, and judging by the emotions she let run wild, she was being genuine.

It doesn't wipe away everything he has went through, the literal Hell he has been through and is now apparently living with inside his own head. He still doesn't know if he is some split personality caused by insanity, or if he is actually just a part of him that he has been suppressing for so long that he didn't even realize it.

All in all, she still had a lot to answer for, and his forgiveness wasn't going to come easy. But first, he needed to get out of here. Somehow, he needed to either get out of the city, travel miles through the wilderness of Vale, try to find someone or some way of faster travel, and eventually get back to Vale. Or, he can bet everything on the upcoming missions, and hope that Team RWBY would do the same thing that he hoped they were going to do and sneak their way into a mission that require more experience then they really have.

But before he did any of that, he would need to recover his strength. Where he is now he would have enough food for a few days, and it would take a few days to recover all of his strength. Either way, he would have to wait and recover, but if the missions came earlier than he expected, like most things did when it came to him and planning, he would have to join them.

One of his plans backfired, he prevented Mercury and Emerald from getting into Beacon, but now they are with Roman and Neo on the train. He remembered them faintly when they tried to interrogate him, he was barely conscious at the time so they got nothing out of him. As much as he would like to wish it, all of Team RWBY would not last long against the quad team that was Roman, Neo, Mercury, and Emerald. They would get demolished, and the huntsman would have to work his or hers ass off in order to keep them safe and alive. He remembered that it is supposed to be Oobleck going with them, but as he knows now, anything and everything will change if it means pissing him off.

Another thing was a certain friend of his who was also not of this world. His mission should be done at this point in time, and once he figures out about his kidnapping he knows that Rob won't rest until he was brought back to them, so that was already another plus for him.

Right now, he knew that at least Team RWBY, a huntsman or huntress, and Rob would come look for him, and maybe his team would come look for him if they aren't too busy or even allowed to. But still, best case scenario is that Team RWBY, a hunter, Rob, and the rest of his own team would come look for him. And together, they could probably stop the train from getting to Vale entirely, and the breach would never happen, or at the very least, won't be as severe as it was before.

Worst case scenario was that he was on his own, and that he would be the only one capable of stopping them all. But after his spat with Cinder and her cronies, he wouldn't be able to be a one man army and manage to stop the train. Unless…

His eyes strayed to the Grimm hallucination of himself, and he stared back, and grinned when he thought the same thing that Hector was thinking.

Hell might be able to stop it all on his own, depending on how strong he actually is. Combined with his brute strength and durability and seemingly limitless stamina, he might actually be enough for at least minimize the damage, and unless they got new reinforcements coming in from wherever. He would be able to get them while they were weak and traumatized after his last rampage.

One problem with that however, he would have to give up his remaining humanity in order for that to happen, and accept the monster that is within him.

He didn't want to be a monster, or even more of one then he already was.

That would be his absolute last resort, and he could always take the long way home and get back to his team. Rob would know about the Breach, and would take some measures to make sure he minimized the damage done to the city. But still… if the missions _didn't_ happen, and Rob wasn't prepared for it… it would mean tremendous death.

"Agh!" He groaned his frustration as he clutched his head, a headache came along as he tried to think about any other way he could go about this, but the only one that made people stay alive on the good side was him going in as a one man army…

Hector looked outside the shattered window, and to the early morning sky that barely had any clouds within it. Everything relied on the missions, he needed them to happen, or else if and only _if_ they found him, he might not be the same as he was before. Not to say that he isn't different already, but just plain unrecognizable.

"I'm relying on all of you… Please, don't make me have to make this decision on my own." He prayed to whatever Gods were actually real in this world that he was stuck in.

Everything relied on whether or not they came.

* * *

Robert was tired, sore, exhausted, and a little injured. But he was alive.

His hearing was the first thing that came back to him, the sound of a heartbeat monitor humming every second to go along with his heartbeat, which was thankfully beating steadily. Next was the wind flowing through the window and brustling against the curtains, it was open and allowed to cool air to flow in and onto his face.

His memories were joggy, patches of blacking in and out of reality inside of a Bullhead, his friends Seth and Miara tending to his many wounds. Until suddenly, there is a flash of white light, and he remembers the entire mission he was sent on with the police force.

He sat up with a quiet gasp, and winced when he felt the pain in his side and relaxed. Upon scanning the hospital room he is in he calms down.

" _My heart is still beating… im breathing, and I think I am back?"_ He thought to himself as he looked to his side.

"Yup… I'm definitely at Beacon… Once again in the infirmary." He said out loud when he met the eyes of the headmaster of Beacon Academy, Professor Ozpin.

"I am glad to see you awake Mister Urra, how do you feel?" Ozpin asked, leaning in slightly as if to check if he was really alright.

"I feel a bit like shit, I have a massive sense of Deja Vu, but I feel alive and far cleaner than I think I've been for the last five days." Robert answered as he rubbed his shoulder. "Where are the people I was with, did they make it?" He asked, suddenly worried and concerned for the people he went through Hell and back with.

"Yes, I can assure you that the ones known as Seth, and Miara are safe and sound." Ozpin reassured, making Robert sigh out of relief.

"Great…" A deep breath. "What about everyone else? Elena?"

"Sadly, Elena Sargheid tragically lost her life in those sewers." Ozpin soloumly revealed.

Robert hung his head, and felt a stinging burning sensation around his eyes. He remembers how Elena chose to stay behind to buy the rest of them time to complete the mission and to escape. She stood alone against an endless tide of Grimm, and she paid the ultimate price for it. "I-I see… what about the people with Shane?" He asked next, hoping to get better news.

"They all made it out safely, it seems like Shane and the former members of the Chorus have surrendered themselves, however the police officers that escaped with them made sure they weren't imprisoned, and claimed that they were helping the police all along. Right now they are being held and questioned, but nothing that might put them in jail is reaching reports or the public _, very_ convenient isn't it?" Ozpin asked smugly.

A small smile tugged upward on Roberts lips, so he followed through on his promise after all. "No idea what you're talking about, I wasn't there so I can neither confirm nor deny that claim."

Ozpin smirked as well. "I thought so, your memory may still be a bit hazy even if you were able to."

"What about Seth, Miara, Verdant, Mackie, Verdant… that... other Huntsman?" Robert asked next. "What happened to all the other squads?" He then asked, hoping for the best but expecting the worst.

"The named ones that you mentioned were all brought safely to their designated precinct, since Miara is a trained huntress she is probably going to be one of the few to come visit you, the others are going to need special permission from their own employers so that they could come to Beacon on or off duty." Ozpin said. "You have nothing to worry about, they are all quite fine, just expect some visits from them in the near future."

"That's good." Robert smiled, it was better than good. His friends were still alive, friends that would last a lifetime. He can't wait to see them all again.

"Is there anything you need from me?" Robert asked next when he realized that Ozpin's smile downgraded into a neutral line of flat emotion. He half expected some terrible news. Suddenly, a flash of memories of everyone he knew at Beacon flew through his mind. "How are the students? Did the dance go by alright?" He asked out of minor desperation, he can't believe he nearly forgot about the whole mission Hector had while he was gone, and speaking of Hector… the memory of him back down in those sewers was still ever present in his mind. He hopes he is okay and it was just the Monarch playing tricks on his mind.

"That… is what I have the displeasure of revealing to you." Ozpin frowned and shook his head.

Robert's heart skipped a beat, now that he thought about it, Hector should have been here by his side by now to welcome him back and probably say some stupid shit just to lighten the mood. He isn't anywhere to be seen.

"What happened?" He asked simply, but with next to no emotion in his voice.

Ozpin told him everything, from the beginning where he first walked into the ballroom with his date, which no surprise to Robert was actually Ashley. He danced with pretty much every girl in his year, and then danced with his date, he repressed the desire to ask why he danced with every other girl beside her, but he kept it under wraps. Then it came to a pretty surprising revelation. Apparently, Ashley was on the bad side the whole time, and undercover White Fang agent who was and is still very close to Sienna Khan herself. She tearfully revealed this to Hector, telling him not to go to the tower.

As soon as Robert heard the word tower, he figured out what the rest of this story was going to hold. His eye twitched in annoyance, they had a back up plan after all and he really wondered what happened to it.

Hector fought Cinder, Mercury, Emerald _and_ Neo all on his own, and while he did pretty well as Ozpin said he did, he predictably lost the fight pretty handily. Stabbed through the leg and eventually knocked out cold by Cinder after some last efforts to keep fighting.

"I have a recording of the whole encounter if you wish to see it?" Ozpin offered, holding out a scroll with the video already paused on it.

Robert silently took the scroll, and looked down at the screen. It started out with Hector _of course_ squaring off against three very deadly enemies by himself. A battle he must have known he couldn't have won, but tried anyway. True to Ozpin's word, he did remarkably well for the first half of the fight, doing well to keep Emerald and Mercury at bay so that he didn't have to fight all three of them at once.

But then the devastating drawbacks of his semblance began to show, and it got obvious with every passing second. He was doing damage to himself with every multiplier he stacked onto himself. Bleeding more from his wounds, heavy panting, slower movements, it all showed. His eyes were shining red like even through the camera, and he began to get sloppy. He didn't try to control his own strength anymore, and relied on strength more then speed, and he needed speed a lot more than he needed strength for this three on one battle.

As Robert predicted in his head, he slowed down enough to when he was cornered against the wall, Mercury and Emerald closing in quickly while Cinder prepares her flames to assault him with.

And then…

" _KAIOKEN TIMES TEEEEN!"_

The idiot, he shouldn't have pushed his body that far, and even though he did. It still wasn't enough to deal with Cinder, even though he won a minor scuffle with her and landed a thunderous right hook right into her eye.

Despite knowing that his friend lost this fight in the end, it brought a smile to his face to see that black eye form on Cinder's face.

That smile immediately disappeared when Hector's arm was dangling at his side, broken in many places with his one gauntlet nothing more than a dead weight now. He lost control of his Kaioken, and was forced to lower his overall power. Emerald and Mercury of course pounced on this heavily weakened one armed Hector, and thoroughly kicked his ass.

Robert remained with a deadpan face as he watched his friend get shot, kicked, punched, and immobilized. But even through all the pain, he kept trying to fight back, despite losing so much blood and having a broken arm with a mass amount of wounds all over his body. It looked like he was even ready to charge in for a final stand. But then…

Neo's blade pierced through his leg, and at that moment was when the battle ended.

Robert watched as Hector and Cinder shared a few more words, and it looked like Cinder offered him something. Most likely it was to offer him a spot in her little cult thing she's got going on, but Hector spat in her face as his response.

He was knocked out after that, and he could barely watch as Neo picked him up on her back and teleport away, right as his team and the headmaster barged in to save him.

Robert stayed silent, while looking at the ceiling, he was pondering on what happened " _What the fuck happened? We had a plan, I was missing and emotions were high yes but we had a plan, I made a plan, a back up plan that was discreet and safe just so this wouldn't happen. I gave him the instructions too. It was supposed to be foolproof."_ Robert thought while pinching his nose the hardest he could.

"That… IDIOT!" He screamed, squeezing the scroll in his hands so tightly that it began to crack the screen.

"That was very expensive you know…" Ozpin whispered under his breath.

"Why would he do something so asininely stupid!?" Robert asked out loud, his frustration showing.

"I am afraid that even I do not have the answer to that question, but he hasn't been seen since, we can berate him for his mistakes once we have him back where he belongs." He calmed down at this, he was right after all, being mad at him now wouldn't do much, the best thing he can do right now is calm down and assess the situation properly.

 _Wait a second…_ Robert thought, that vision he had of him back down in the sewers, something seemed different about him, something seemed off. He wasn't himself, and he was saying something about letting the darkness take over…?

"Where he belongs… what do you mean by that?" Robert asked, a growing suspicion growing.

Ozpin tilted his head in confusion. "Why, with his team of course, where else?"

 _Under your control_ , Robert wanted to say, but he held his tongue. Instead he simply nodded his head and leaned back on his very comfortable bed. "How long until I am cleared to go?" He asked, he would need to know the answer to this question as soon as possible, because he knows that the missions are coming up soon and that means that the breach would be coming up soon.

"I am no doctor, so I will be simply reading off the form given to me that was created by a medically educated individual, is that understood?" He asked, probably because he would need the clarification that Robert did indeed understand. He nodded his head once.

"You have suffered a wide variety of injuries, as well as exhaustion of your aura, and your overall physical stature. Luckily, none of them were life threatening or will impede on your ability to fight, so with a few nights of rest will be all you need to make a full recovery." Ozpin explained, reading off the packet of paper in his hands.

"How long would that take?"

"Don't you mean 'Will I be able to assist on the missions coming up?'" Ozpin countered with a smug grin.

Robert widened his eyes slightly, but he didn't respond. He clearly knew somehow, though it probably wasn't too hard to find out. He and Hector were known to have been friends despite one of them being older and an assistant teacher.

"In that case, with the aura boosters you are being given, as long as you stay in bed and eat properly, you will make a speedy recovery." Ozpin said as he put the paper away and tossed it in the garbage. Robert was barely able to spot that the paper was actually blank save for a few words, but he knew better then to point that out.

"His team… how are they doing?" He asked instead, they adored their leader, so it must have been the hardest on them.

"Why don't you ask them that yourself?" Ozpin asked back as he stood up, and turned his body toward the wide open door.

Reggie was in the middle, with Ashley on the bottom, and the last one which he thinks is named Michael, is on top. All peeking into the room to see how he is doing, not only that, but it seemed like Glynda is also with them, though she is standing off to the side with a palm wrapped around her face.

"Yo!" Reggie waved, much too happy to see him.

"Hello apprentice, I would _hope_ you have the intention of actually staying in for your recovery?" Glynda asked him, though it didn't really sound like a question at all.

"Hehe… hey Glynda, did ya miss me?" Robert asked, more cheerful than he was scared of her signature death glare. Weeks and months of being her apprentice have trained his body to be able to resist such things.

"Well, it seems like my work here is done." Ozpin said with a small bow, and made his way to the exit. He stopped at the doorway, and looked back to give one final word to him. "Do make sure you allow yourself to recover, we may need your assistance on unexpected notice." With that, he left, giving a nod to Hector's team and his mentor before disappearing around the corner.

As soon as he left, three quarters of Team HAMR entered the room, followed by Glynda Goodwitch, who doesn't seem to be having any problems with allowing the students in first.

"Okay, so what's going on here-" Robert begun.

"We think we know where Hector is being held." Mike cut him off right away, his light brown eyes and glasses shining in the light.

"...Okay then, straight onto business I see. Glynda?"

"They have been 'requesting' my assistance in this matter, and when I declined them saying that they were too inexperienced to go on a Search and Rescue mission in Mt. Glenn, I was met with a _very_ surprising revelation of their recent promotion." Glynda said, every word that came out of her mouth was forced and barely sounded happy about it.

"Hehe…" Reggie snickered in the background.

Robert sighed. "What did I miss?"

"We may or may not have been… _promoted_ , from first year students to second year students yesterday." Michael told him, even the usually quiet guy of the team couldn't hide his smile about it. "Not only us, but Team RWBY as well, so _technically_ we don't need to ask permission from a teacher to go on a second year required mission."

"That doesn't mean you have the actual skill or experience of a second year student, which is why against my better judgement, I will be allowing you three along with Team RWBY to go on this mission on one condition." Glynda held a finger up.

It seemed like Team HAMR has been on the end of Glynda's riding crop ever since their "Promotion" and as soon as she rose her finger, they all flinched in unison.

"You will be accompanied by a fully trained huntress, and that huntress will be myself. I won't be able to forgive myself if I allowed your mission to proceed without at least being there myself to protect and watch over you all." She sternly declared, she left absolutely zero room for argument.

"Y-yeah, that's also a thing." Mike said as he nervously rubbed the back of his head.

"Is that even allowed?" Robert asked. "To be moved up a year so suddenly? Please tell me this is only temporary"

"Ask the _#1 Headmaster_." Reggie said with a wink.

"Oh… of course it was him." Robert sighed again, why wouldn't it because of Ozpin? It wouldn't make sense if it wasn't because of Ozpin. "And Team RWBY is a part of this too?" He asked next.

"Yup, you can thank Ruby and Yang for that one." Ashley was the next to speak. "Trust me, I was just as confused as you when I heard the news."

"Speaking of news…" Robert looked her in the eye. "I heard something interesting about you… and about what happened at the dance. Do I have to keep going or do you catch my drift?"

Ashley looked to the floor, and she nervously grabbed onto her arm to her side, she couldn't look anyone in the eye. Especially her own teammates. Robert noticed this right away.

"That isn't me anymore… I don't want to be a part of that, all I want right now is to bring back my leader-"

Reggie coughed. "Boyfriend." Then coughed again.

" _Leader."_ Ashley corrected with a blush, nothing was official yet anyway. "Back to safety, I know I did a lot of wrong, but I want to change that."

"...Okay then, so you want to make amends?"

She nodded her head slowly.

"Have you written down your letter of forgiveness?" He asked next.

Ashley seemed to have been caught off guard after that one, not knowing what he meant. "I… no? Was I supposed to?"

"Just do it, get your thoughts together in a nice little piece of paper so you know what to say when we find him. Trust it me it will help you get everything together insider your head and make some peace with it." He said quickly and doing some hand motions here and there.

"I don't think he will be as forgiving as everyone else… but I'll try." Ashley nodded again, her extra ears flattening against her head.

"Good…" Robert sighed. "So is that all that's been happening while I was fighting cultists, wraiths, Grimm and tentacle monsters? Also where's Penny? I need to ask her something I think she might know."

"Oooo, where has she been?" Reggie echoed his question.

"Be quiet you idiot." Mike ordered. "We haven't seen her since the dance, but I am sure she is still around, you might want to ask Ruby about her whenever you see her."

"Yeah, but still, it's not like her to just be gone, you'd think she would have been one of the first to find Hector." Ashley wondered.

"I for one have been actively searching for both Mr. Urra and best friend Hector in Vale." A new voice piped up from the center of the room.

Slowly, all heads from HAMR turned to regard her, and in perfect synchronization, all jumped away in sudden terror when they saw their leaders tied-for-favorite-ginger-girl-female-friend make yet another sudden appearance, smiling at them with a smile that never falters at any given moment.

"Hello other friends Michael, Reggie and Ashy!" Penny cheered.

"It's _Ashley_."

"...Hello Penny… I kept the pinky promise... I came back." Robert said with an awkward smile, he was happy to see her but he honestly felt bad for suddenly disappearing. Penny just stared at him for a bit, then suddenly jumped and hugged him in one of her signature hugs, crushing his bones and making his already aching wounds hurt even more.

"I am so glad you're okay Mister Urra!" She exclaimed as she tightened her grip around his body.

"Penny… I know, just… not so roughly right now!" Robert said with a strained voice through the hug.

"Oh!" Penny loosened her grip about a fraction. "My apologies, I am afraid I still haven't been able to control the factor of strength within my body."

Robert wiggled one of his arms out of the grip she had on him, and slowly pried her off of him with the remaining strength he had left after waking up. "It's good to see you too Penny." He said as he finally pushed her off of him.

Penny simply smiled at him.

"Okay, Penny… remember what I told you about the dance, and how you should try and help Hector with a device?" Robert asked.

"Oh of course! I did ask to be of assistance, but when I offered him the instructions to said device he did not even open the packet! Is that what hum- I mean people call rude?" She asked, genuinely curious. "Anyways, the last thing he said to me was "It was good to see ya Penny!" Then he ran off to talk with Ruby and then kissed Ashley Cain on the lips."

"WHY DID YOU HAVE TO ADD THAT LAST PART!?" Ashley cried, utterly embarrassed.

On the other side Robert's eye twitched, and his face shifted to what looked utterly pissed.

"He refused the packet?" He asked slowly

"Oh, he just never read it, I was able to tell from his facial features." Penny said with another cheery smile.

Robert's eye twitched again, then he looked to the ceiling, he remained quiet before facepalming with his hand, the cracked scroll still in his other hand.

"I… gave him… instructions… just so this wouldn't happen." Robert said between a combination of a laughing and crying.

"I mean, to be fair we all know that Hector always sucked with instructions, he was always the on the fly kind of guy." Reggie said helpfully.

"He's an idiot." Both Mike and Ashley agreed in their own special ways.

"We had a plan so everything would be fine… it was foolproof…"

"Nobody said anything about idiotproof, and were you talking with him behind our backs?" Reggie helpfully asked, before wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. "Does Ashy here have some competition?"

"Seriously? A joke like that now of all times?" Mike joined Robert in the facepalm club.

"We were gonna save Vale, fool hack and screw a witch over… it was all gonna work out… AND HE DIDN'T READ THE INSTRUCTIONS?!" Robert shouted as lightning came out of him and the scroll in his hands shatter to a thousand pieces. "That's it, we are gonna rescue him just so I can kill and torture him myself!" Robert shouted with a furious look on his face.

"Robert! Control yourself, you still need to recover." Glynda chastised him.

"I know… but we had a plan… the motherfucking… Uuuugggh!" Robert groaned in exasperation into both his palms.

"I understand how you feel, imagine how I felt when I heard that one of my students went up against four armed and dangerous terrorist's on his own with nothing but a self destructing semblance and those silly gauntlets of his." Glynda pinched the bridge of her nose. "When we do get him back, I will be the first to wreak havoc on him."

"Before we talk about punishments, why don't we instead plan on how the hell we're gonna save him in the first place? We got two teams of hunters in training, a fully trained huntress, and a… uh… three quarters trained huntsman? Anyways, ignore that last part." Reggie said with a nervous chuckle. "We should worry about getting him back first before anyone ravages him."

"For once, I agree with you." Mike echoed.

"You have all done enough." Glynda put her foot down. "Mister Urra has just awakened after a very disastrous mission, we will give him time to recover and _I_ will be the one to decide whether or not his is able to join us in the first place. Is that understood?"

HAMR all nodded their heads hesitantly, they all know that they have been getting on this woman's nerves for far too long, and they aren't brave enough to stand up to her.

Glynda looked to Robert next, a raised eyebrow asking him silently whether he understood or not.

Penny snuck out of the room slowly, before zipping out before she could be next to earn her wrath.

"I get it… I'll focus on recovering." Robert said quietly looking downwards

"Good, now let's go kids." She said next, using her semblance to lift the huntsman in training, wrapping their bodies in purple and pulling them along with her as she left the room. She to stopped at the doorway, and turned to look at Robert one more time, she said nothing, but nodded at him and continued off with the struggling teenagers being strung along behind her.

"... we had a plan…" Robert said to himself again between laughs and cries. He personally couldn't believe it, his mind was just cursing everything at this point. It didn't matter however, he knew he couldn't keep, crying, whining and moaning about it forever, he needed to recover to get permission to join Glynda and the other teams to go save his friend. Hector was actually the only thing that he had left from his own world… might as well be his brother in all but blood considering that they might be all they have left from their old lives. Robert looked at his hand… he made sparks between his fingers, his own semblance felt different now, after all that happened he felt a lot more free… more alive even, and his semblance reacted… it felt more vibrant as well.

 _...Three quarters trained huntsman my ass, I've made it this far, much farther than many others would have, I killed a Monarch, a Dust Wraith, Assassins and Cultists and many more things and every single one has been a tough bitch to deal with. I'm not stopping now. I'm not giving up now nor ever! I did not survive this long to just let the people that are around me die, the people I care about, not if I can do something about it. On my family that I more than likely will never see again, I swear I'm gonna find that fucking kid, he's in trouble… I don't know if those visions of you that I saw back in those sewers were real or not, or even if they are anything to go by, but if they are, then you better still be fucking sane when I get my hands on you. Well, you better be ready Hector… you just need to survive a little more… and then I swear I'm gonna drag your face through the arena floor until you learn to not go suicidal._

 _But first, I am going to save your skin._

* * *

 **Merry after Christmas everyone! The main struggles might be over for Robert, but Hector is still going through his own personal hell and is now being met with a very tough decision to make. I wonder how long he's going to last…? Find out in the next chapter of Dra- wrong show… moving on. I like writing this version of Hector, it is a lot different from how he is in UH, it's like a completely new person in this interesting new concept of a world CS and I have been writing. There's plenty more to go, and we just made it to 69 followers… Wink wink. Never gonna forget that one. Thank you all for reading!**

 **Please review and let us know what you think of the story so far!**


	29. Rwby: Team HAMR chapter 29

**Here we are again boys and girls! Yet another chapter for Team HAMR!**

 **The last reviews were a bit… interesting to say the least, I gotta say that I definitely wasn't expecting what I read, but no matter, thank you all who reviewed!**

 **Zeldawolffang: Yeah, even if it was almost expired and cold. He got his fill at least.**

 **Guest 1: You see… there's one problem for something like that. Michael and Reggie are Gay, they are not into girls. I am sorry to say that there will be no lemons in this story.**

 **Guest 2: Nope, no smut in this one sir. Family friendly all around.**

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 **As some of you might have noticed, I dropped the rating of this story down to a T, we weren't really using the M rating to its full potential, so I went on with the decision to drop it down. Doesn't mean there's going to be any less bloodbaths though, I do love me an occasional slaughter every now and again. -Genatools**

 **There's also still the blood, the shit, the bloody shit, the disembodied body parts, the charred body parts, the dismembering, the deaths, the gore, the torture… the implications of… stuff... and everything that we have already done and than more than likely will comeback now and then. A lot of other fics also do that and more with just T rating… so we should be alright, unless we cross the sexual explicitness line. -CrowSkull.**

 **Now let's get right on to the story!**

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RWBY: Team HAMR

Chapter 29- Mentality and Fur Balls

Beacon's Infirmary was known for many things, miraculous recoveries were made here, some of the best doctors in the kingdom who are also for some reason huntsman trained work here. They save lives, treat wounds, and dish out detentions and punishment to those who dare to take advantage of their kindness.

What they didn't tell him though, was that it was boring as Hell.

Like seriously, there was nothing to do besides sit here and think, and for a young teenager on the verge of becoming an adult, that was possibly one of the first fates he could be met with at this current moment. All he could do was hope the nurse appointed to him would come in again and chat with him while she gave him his aura booster for the day. And even then it was one of those nurses that didn't really like doing what they were doing, but kept doing it for the money. Nothing like the nurse he first encountered when he first arrived to Beacon.

At this point, Robert would take anything. Anyone, anything, a bored non caring student, an animal, maybe a hamster, a fucking plant, even Cardin for pete's sake, even though he didn't really like him much.

"Couldn't there be… a TV or something at least?" He mumbled to the white ceiling, the only sounds in the room being the soft beeping of the heartbeat monitor and the way the sheets ruffled with every movement he made. It has been a day since he was admitted into the hospital here, he doesn't know exactly how long it has been since he killed the Monarch, so at most it has been two days since then, giving him just two more days to recover for the upcoming missions to save the idiot that was his only friend from Earth.

Speaking of Earth, that was another issue here, the first time he was hospitalized and almost died back in the Emerald Forest, they had ice cream and video games, _video games!_ "Why is there nothing here?! Why?!" He whined to himself.

He never thought he would miss his scroll as much as he did now, if he had that at least he would have been able to keep himself occupied, there was music there - music he managed to pull from his old phone to the scroll, his music still were games, there was _something._

Which was why when a blonde student of his entered the room, a nervous smile on his face as he waved at him. He never felt so happy to see a person he hasn't talked to much before. "Jaune…? Finally! A visitor, so what, you need help with some homework or something Mister Arc?"

"Ehh… sure?" Jaune said with a confused look on his face, he had a few flowers in his hands, and Robert actually hoped that he didn't actually go out and get him some. "They're from Nora, she would have came here to give them to you herself, but… well… you know Nora."

"Oh, I know, I still remember being sent flying through the sky after being hit by a _watermelon_ … well in all seriousness, tell her I said thanks for the… I wanna say roses? In any case, I am sorry for earlier but you just wouldn't believe how boring this place can be, it's silent as well. Like really silent."

"I can imagine… it's a wonder how I haven't been admitted in here for more than an hour at the time, and yet here the strong ones usually are, people like you, Hector, Yang even end up in here from time to time." Jaune sat down in one of the chairs beside his bed. "And here I am, the least skilled huntsman in training in the school, always somehow being spared the pain."

"Well, depends how you look at it, on the one hand you are… not the best, but on the other hand you learned far faster than many others here, and I mean many, many of them just don't learn from their mistakes, and repeat them over and over and over…" His mind wandered to a certain self-destructive person he knows for a moment. "You atleast learn, that's a really good sign in my book. A sign of progress."

"I get that alot… don't tell anyone, but I have been secretly training with Pyrrha, I owe a lot of my growth to her… Er, that reminds me… do you know? About my whole uh, background?" He asked nervously.

"Why would you think I know something about that?"

"Someone may have held something over my head in the past, it's all settled now, but I don't know if he told anyone about it behind my back." Jaune looked visibly relieved that his secret past that wasn't really much of a secret anymore with the amount of people that already know it, was unknown to at least one of the teachers. At least that is what he is being lead to believe.

"Okay… even if I didn't know about that, why would that person tell me? Between you and me Jaune, I don't get visits, not even before landing here in this bed, I can count the people that willingly visit me at my room with two hands… maybe."

"It can't be that bad, ever since the dance no one has really been talking anything bad about you. If anything people were just wondering when you were going to be back. Well… you, and someone else… do you know about what happened at the dance?" Jaune asked.

"The idiotic leader of Team HAMR forgot to read some instructions, went to fight a battle he must have known damn well he couldn't win on his own, and decided to fight four… okay not really four but three people, one of them already much stronger than him… and then he also pushed past his own safety limits."

"... Yeah, I guess that answers that question." Jaune chuckled nervously. "Okay, well, I know what you think about that now… Moving on, how are you feeling?"

"Honestly… worried sick, I'm with an endless need to just… move and do something, if I could pace around the room to just destress myself I would, and I even tried, but the forbid me from doing so."

Jaune simply stared at him for a bit, and an awkward silence filled the air between them.

"I meant physically… but I guess that was good to know too." He pointed out. "I could always call Nora, she's always great at having fun with people."

Robert considered it, he actually did… however he needed to _actually_ recover so he decided against it.

"As bored as I am, I prefer to actually recover then to spend the whole day doing whatever Nora would have planned for me." He respectfully declined. "But as far as I physically feel… I don't know, my entire body feels like it's burning, even though I could probably feel a lot worse because of the meds they have me on. My insides hurt still, I feel my legs and bones just not wanting to move and then… then there's times where the pain disappears completely and I feel like I just could run a marathon again, It's like my body feels a need to move… to run and sprint … my semblance even feels in overdrive."

"Is that what it's like to be high? You _do_ have like… three tubes in your arm right there." Jaune pointed out.

Robert took a glance to the arm Jaune referred to, and to his credit there were three tubes filling him up with stuff. He followed the tubes to their designated pouches, one was clear, one was a dark red, and the other was… green. Not his choice of color for a liquid medication being pumped into his body, but it made the pain go away sometimes.

"Maybe… heheh… I don't know… but to be fair I've always been like that, not high no... like, I come out of something difficult for my body to do and suddenly I feel like ready for more, it's like an endless supply of just energy that recovers way too quick. You notice these things after you start climbing a tall mountain for more than two hours, then come across an empty valley… you are exhausted, you are drenched in sweat and you feel like you are just gonna be able to walk slowly… and then you feel the wind, you feel free… and you just start to sprint and don't stop until you reach the end of the valley… for the record that did happen, it was awesome."

"... Is it okay if I ask you something?" Jaune changed topics out of nowhere. He listened carefully to about half of that, and then started getting a bit worried with the other things his teacher said.

"Go ahead… I'll listen." Robert accepted, nodding his head and leaning it back into his very soft and warm pillow. His eyes looked into Jaune's, giving him the silent signal to go ahead and speak.

"How… how are people like you and pretty much everyone I know so _willing_ to risk their life so easily!?" Jaune asked, raising his voice on accident and mumbling an apology not a second later. "It started with initiation, and then everything Ruby's team has been getting up to, and then Hector being some sort of vigilante during his free time, then the _whole team_ ending up becoming celebrities because of all the things they did. Then with this dance thing, and what Hector got himself into, and that whole mission you went on, it must have been really dangerous if it managed to get you landed here…" He continued.

"Then there's this Search and Rescue thing that Ruby and Hector's team are getting up to, which I am _still_ trying to figure out how they were able to land themselves the same mission going into the same area that are meant for the higher years." Jaune ended his rant with a long sigh. "I mean… don't you get scared or something? How do they do it?"

Robert sighed. "Jaune… That sort of question will have a different answer from person to person, I cannot speak for teams RWBY and HAMR, I can only speak for me, but if you must know…" He pondered on what exactly to say. He obviously couldn't say he lived in a different dimension and suddenly got transported to Remnant… or could he? He was honestly getting tired of lying and it just didn't felt necessary anymore… he still held his tongue for now... Hector did tell him that he tried to tell them but they never believed him.

"I didn't exactly choose everything that happened to me. I didn't exactly know things would end up this way, if I did I might have not gone on that mission until later, I didn't choose a lot of things that happened to me… but I decided to see them through, most people that get involved in this things, we aren't exactly lucky, and we are not from my view people that would just like to toss their lives away. I know personally that I don't want to die… but I also know that I have a some obligations and responsibilities to maintain… if I did nothing… if I just started an watched at all this… insanity knowing how strong I am, how strong I can be… how I could help, and did nothing… I couldn't really live with myself, and I know also that there would be people that would also be disappointed in me… people I value. Does it make any sense?"

Jaune was leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. He paid attention and listened to every word he said, when he heard that last question, he coughed awkwardly and did his best to answer.

"I think it does… it might not apply to everyone, but at least I got an idea on why our friends would do some crazy stuff even if their life was on the line. I just wish I was able to do the same, I hate being seen as someone who needs protecting." Jaune sighed. "Which brings me to another question I had for you."

"Before that, if it is okay with you, can I tell you a story Jaune?"

"Oh, sure, go right ahead." Jaune said with a small smile as he leaned back in his chair.

"Do you know how old I am Jaune?" Robert asked.

"Uh… not really, though you have to be up there if you are a teacher here at Beacon." Jaune said.

"I am twenty years old Jaune."

Jaune widened his eyes, and his mouth was slightly agape. "WHAT!?" He asked loudly, loud enough that it made Robert wince slightly because of the sudden loud noise. "You're young enough to be a student here, you're really only three years older than me?"

"Yes… but think of this, how many years does one person spend at Signal?

"Four I think. Though in Ruby's case it was just two." Jaune answered, still a bit shocked by the revelation of one of his teacher's ages.

"Then how many in Beacon?"

"Another four." Jaune said with a nod of his head.

"You want to know how many years of training I did to get where I am?"

"Uh… well, you're twenty, and training school's take kids as young as thirteen… so you should at least have seven years of training under your belt." Jaune said, but then he noticed Robert's amused smile. "Right?"

"Jaune… to reach where I am… well it wasn't easy, in fact I'm still training, after classes Glynda still trains me constantly without mercy, but to reach where I am now… I had to train for twelve years, twelve years… "

Jaune widened his eyes again, but let him continue.

"And none of them were smooth, I might be younger than most huntsman my age, but in fact the truth is that it took me longer, I was clumsy at the beginning, my ego got the best of me one time, and I lost to a complete newbie, I once had an injury that stopped from training for like six months, even before that… on the kinder garden everywhere before training… I was the sickly boy who couldn't even run or win an arm wrestle, I was pathetic. You know what got me where I am today?"

Jaune gave his answer with a nod of his head.

"I got here because I never stopped, I continued during those twelve years of life, I started early yes, but still took a lot of time, I tried to do what looked amazing, what people teached me, tested what worked and what didn't, and I attempted time after time… I cannot count the bruises I got, but I kept going to training sessions, I kept trying new things, I kept going despite sometimes being annoying, tiresome or when it felt more like a loathsome obligation… and I am still not the best, but after many years I can say to myself that I made progress. And you want to know something you are already progressing far faster than I ever did, in one year with your training sessions with your partner and everything else… you are already progressing far faster than me. If a kid who had asperger's syndrome and that was once sickly can do it… you can as well. You just need to keep being constant, to keep going."

"Wow…" Jaune said, bemused. "That actually hit pretty close to home for me. I think I have at least an idea on what I need to do now."

Robert raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And what would that be?"

"Just… not giving up on what is important to me, and my team and friends is what is important to me. To think I nearly did that because I didn't have any prior training-" Jaune slapped a hand over his mouth, but the damage was already done.

Robert laughed, it did little to make Jaune feel better, but it did manage to confuse him. "You think you are the only one?"

"You mean… I'm not?" He asked, almost sounding hopeful. "Wait, how did you know!?"

"There are many who have faked their way into combat schools… but more importantly, there are people here that are really powerful… but technically have less training than you."

"No way, that is not possible." Jaune denied. "How can someone have less training then I did? I literally practiced swinging my sword for about an hour before I came here, and then the next thing I could call training would be initiation. Unless someone literally just walked into the initiation on accident without any training and somehow still became a student, I can't see how anyone else would have less training- I do not like that look you have on your face."

Throughout his whole little rant, Robert just keep on smirking at him. "Want me to give you a hint?"

"...Please."

"I'll just say… that you and Hector's situation are more alike than you might think."

If it was possible, Jaune managed it. His eyes widened even further than they did before. "Hector!? No way, he was able to go up against Pyrrha and Yang! Not to mention those four people at the dance… Wait… did he actually just end up accidentally becoming a student here too, _and_ a leader of his own team!?" He leaned back in his chair and shook his head when Robert laughed. "What the Hell man…"

"Look… you are observant right? You are good strategist after all, what does Hector do in a fight?"

"Uh… well… Like Yang he uses his body to fight with, and whenever he uses that Kaio-thing, he gets really fast and strong, and I can't really keep up with his speed at that point…" Jaune gripped his chin as he thought hard. "I need some help here, besides him just punching and kicking really hard, I don't really know what I was supposed to look for."

"You did say it, you said his major thing."

"You mean… he's just _so_ strong and fast that it manages to close the huge gap in skill between he and whoever he's fighting?"

"Not exactly… he's not _that_ strong or fast or skilled… at least not on his own. His semblance makes him that strong and fast, enough to be able to close the gap."

"Now that you mention it, he does fight really unpredictably… and recklessly... He doesn't know how to fight does he?" Jaune asked next.

"He does… more or less, he's been training with me, and probably a lot more in between, and he has improved… but his semblance has been the one thing carrying him maybe more than it should."

"Yeah… that explains why he always uses it in like, every fight." Jaune muttered. "Wow, that explains _so_ much!" He repeated with a bit of a spark.

"You know Jaune, there are many things people have told me and many I figured out, one of those things is that reality tends to be more simple and stupid than one might think."

"Yeah, I should keep that in mind from now on." Jaune said with a chuckle. "When he gets back here, I can't wait to talk to him again after everything I just learned."

"I would also like to say a lot of things to him… the idiot, even now I feel worried… but I do have to help him, knowing from where we both come from, I cannot really allow for something really bad happen to him…"

"Are you two from the same town or something? It does seem like you two know each other a bit better than most everyone else here." Jaune asked.

Robert looked towards Jaune and stared for a bit before answering. "Jaune… I don't know if I can really tell you about that, no actually I can, I just don't know if you would believe me… just remember what I said, reality can more simple, stupid and freakish than one might think. Both me, and Hector… got our lives flipped upside down because of things neither him or I understand."

"I feel bad for asking this, but I can't help it. You both have black hair, brown eyes, your aura is blue, and his is red… more or less the same skin color… are you two related? Oh God I feel like I shouldn't have asked that." Jaune said immediately afterwards.

"Not really related… but maybe the closest thing to family I have left."

"Oh, you two are step-brothers?" Jaune asked next. The idiot that he was being right now, it managed to make Robert burst out laughing for a bit.

"No… not really, just think of it like… heheh, someone that is in your same situation… that comes from your same hometown… something like that."

"Oh." Jaune went red in the face, he was embarrassed that he assumed such a silly thing. "Sorry, I didn't mean to assume anything… but I think I should let you know about the rumour that was going around about you two from about a month back." He smiled sheepishly after saying that.

"Really? I'm all ears what did they say this time?"

"Well… after you two sparred… and then later when people would spot you hanging around each other a lot… then entering the same room together on your own… well… uh… people may have thought that… well… you know."

"Know what?" Robert asked, his eyes narrowing hard.

Jaune just blurted it out.

"People thought that you two were secretly dating! That's why most of the girls in the school didn't like you! We just let you believe it was because you put him in the infirmary!"

"Uh… Aha ha… aha ha ha ha ha!" Robert laughed uncontrollably. "Really, like really really? Hah… let's pretend I was, why would then I ram a shield so hard into his balls that his eyes slightly popped out?"

"... That's something I would rather leave to your imagination."

"Fair enough, sorry… is just, I can't believe these… these kids just… wow."

"Well, if it makes you feel better. The rumour ended when Hector kissed his partner at the dance. So yeah, people don't think that you're gay anymore, and now their hate has been directed toward her for the time being." Jaune laughed.

"Oh boy… that's just hilarious."

There was another knock on the door, then a few muffled berations about how one should actually knock on a door were heard. Then another set of knocks came later, this time more elegant with two simple knocks.

"Oh, looks like you have more visitors." Jaune said as he stood up. "I should be getting back to my team, I still have something else that I wanted to ask of you, but I'll save it for after the missions and for when you're actually able to stand."

Three more much more reckless knocks were heard from the door.

"Okay… just out of boredom." Robert said as he sat a bit more up straight. "Let's see… if I can do this." He stretched his hand out, and lightning started appearing around the door and the with more sparks the knob turned and opened the door.

"Woah! That was so cool!" Ruby exclaimed, then turned to her white haired partner. "See that Weiss? I _was_ knocking on the door correctly."

"Oh shut it you dolt." Weiss said as she walked into the room. "Hello Mister Urra, and… John."

Jaune chuckled weakly. "It's Jaune, actually."

"Right… Well, Mister Urra, I must apologize for my partner's behavior, I have been trying to teach her manners as of late."

"How is knocking on a door classify as manners?" Ruby asked indignantly.

"Yeah… I'm just going to go now, feel better Mister Urra!" Jaune said as he snuck past Weiss and Ruby and slithered out of the room.

"Thanks for saving me from boredom Jaune!" Robert yelled to the disappearing teen.

Ruby dashes to the open seat that was left by Jaune, and a few rose petals were left in her wake. Leaving a bewildered Weiss stammering and looking around for another chair in the room, which she luckily found pressed up against the wall.

"Hi Mister Urra! How are you doing?" Ruby asked him excitedly.

"Just… wait a second." Robert said as he stretched his hand again and close the door that Jaune had left open, it closed with a click and lightning stopped coming from it.

"I'm awesome." Robert said quietly to himself "Sorry what did you ask?"

"How are you doing?" Weiss asked instead before Ruby could open her mouth. "We heard from Team MAR, Michael, that you were back from you mission and that you were injured. Before you ask that is the temporary team name until Hector returns from whatever trouble we're going to get him out of."

"And so _I_ , being the best student you could ever wish for, made the executive decision of coming to visit you!" Ruby piped in. "How are you doing again?" She asked again.

"I uh… I've doing okay, my body is healing, my bones and muscles seem to stopped burning… and my organs feel… less bruised if I had to define that feeling."

"Well… That's better, right?" Ruby asked, hopeful.

"No, it is only slightly better than yesterday Ruby, he still needs his rest and time to recover. Something you are stealing from him because of your constant babbling!" Weiss berated.

"In all honesty I'm doing really good, the first day is usually the one that sucks the most, the second you already feel fine in these cases… or for me really… Those aura boosters they have have been helping me so much." Robert explained.

"That's good!" Ruby smiled. "I wanted to bring Yang and Blake with us, but Blake has been really moody lately, and Yang went to go fix that. But they told us to give you their good wishes."

"That's nice of them, tell them I said thank you." Robert said with a smile. He looked toward the door to see if anyone was around, and when he found that no one was nearby, he smirked. "So I heard that a certain two teams here have been given a _sudden_ promotion."

Weiss paled.

Ruby smiled happily.

"We did! I am now officially the youngest huntress in training in their second year of Beacon in history."

"Please… stop saying that, you've been going on about that ever since Michael told us about what he somehow managed to convince the headmaster to do." Weiss shuddered as she remembered the countless hours of unending quips and brags about how Ruby is the youngest second year in the history of Remnant.

Robert sighed, and shook his head. "Ozpin… I swear, someone has to stop you. How many times… I can't even complain more without sounding like a total hypocrite, I accepted a lot of things from him too, how, and why does he keep doing these things?"

"I thought the same thing when I got the news." Weiss said. "I could hardly believe it myself, but when I got the notification in my scroll that we've been accepted as second years into a Search and Rescue mission in Mount Glenn… I've not been allowed to forget it."

"That's because it's awesome, duh." Ruby said that like she wasn't the one that kept reminding Weiss of their promotion twenty four-seven.

"Don't. Speak."

"Okay, okay… glad we are making history today, but switching topic, well… thanks for coming to visit me, really is appreciated, there's nothing here in this room to do."

"Wanna know who the hunter is coming to save Hector with us?" Ruby asked, going along with the ride of changing the topic.

"Ruby, I don't think we should unveil that kind of information-"

"Miss Goodwitch."

"And you just unveiled that kind of information." Weiss facepalmed.

"I think I already knew… she did tell me, and told me to recover fast in order to see if I'll also be able to go… and also threatened me to shackle me to my bed if I tried to get out of it again…" Robert said recounting the things Glynda has told him ever since he got back.

"Oh, well in that case, please recover in time so we can _all_ make sure Hector doesn't do something so asinine again, and drill into his head that he has people that he can rely on." Weiss said with an almost evil glare in her eye.

"Also teach him how to read _instructions._ " Robert still wasn't over it.

"What instructions?" Ruby gasped. "Wait, was that rumour true!?"

"What? No! The instructions I gave him on how not to face the doom of fighting a particular fire Maiden we both know… instructions that I'm very sure could make this a lot easier… instructions that might have saved him from getting kidnapped."

"Oh, well in that case. Me too!" Ruby exclaimed. "I need to teach him something as well, the power of friendship and teamwork! I also need someone to rant to about weapon stuff, he actually listens to me talk about that."

"Great priorities Ruby, you amaze me everyday with how intelligent your thought process really is." Weiss said sarcastically.

"Awe, thanks Weiss!"

"That wasn't a compliment!"

"Hey, Miss Rose… you made Hector's weapons right?" Robert asked Ruby.

"Yup! That was _all_ me!" Ruby boasted proudly.

"How did you do it? It was really quick how it happened, one day he didn't have them and then the next boom, two black and red gauntlets lock and loaded and ready to use."

"That's because I made it with the power of love and friendship." Ruby explained simply. "I also used my semblance a lot, and I found a pile of Etricium just lying around somewhere, and used that as basically the whole thing. Probably wasn't my best idea because of how heavy it ended up being, but hey, whatever works." She smiled. "His weapons are second only to my Crescent Rose."

"... Wait… a _pile_ of Etricium lying around?" Robert asked, he looked like he finally put the pieces of a puzzle together.

"Yeah, I could hardly believe it either. The strongest known metal known to man, and about eighty pounds of it just lying around, I still have like ten pounds of it left somewhere in my room." Ruby said with a shrug. "That's my secret stash though, no one else is allowed to touch it. My hands only."

"You use seventy pounds on those gauntlets… seventy pounds of the Etricium I had to order to design my own gauntlets? The gauntlets that took really long to create and made functional with my semblance… that took a lot of trial and error, the pile I once forgot in the forge and that I kept around just in case something happened to my own weapons?"

Ruby suddenly looked nervous, and the silence in the room was quiet enough that you could hear a pin drop. "Yeah… hehe… was that yours?"

"It was…"

"If it is any consolation… I'll give back half of what I have left over." Ruby offered.

"Wow… you are really a crook, you stole from me and now you are selling it back to me." Robert said with a laugh.

"Hey, not my fault you left it lying around." Ruby shrugged.

"Ruby, you're giving it back." Weiss demanded. "It wasn't yours to take, so technically you've committed a crime by stealing very valuable and strong metal. Even if you had good intentions, it is still considered stealing."

Ruby widened her eyes slightly. "I'll give eighty percent of it back?"

"I can't believe this… somehow my gauntlets and Hector's are now technically brothers, and Crescent Rose is the… Step Mother I think?" Robert asked himself looking at the ceiling.

Ruby gasped. "That means I have to make Crescent Rose a boyfriend!" She coughed awkwardly, and gave Robert the best adorable begging face she had on stock. "Mister Urra, can I _pleeeease_ keep the metal I have left?"

Robert's eyebrow twitched.

"... _Pretty_ please?"

"... Well, hmm… eh, it's only ten pounds... I can order more with the money from this mission, was supposed to be the pay of a lifetime after all…" He sighed. "Fine, but you better make that boyfriend cool looking."

"Yes! Thank you so much!" Ruby exclaimed.

"I can't believe you just got away with grand larceny because you gave the person you stole from puppy eyes." Weiss mumbled.

"To be fair, she didn't get away with anything, I just cannot be bothered for what right now is ten pounds… I would need more if something happened really to Raios."

"Ooo, cool name." Ruby complimented.

"Ruby it's getting late." Weiss pointed out.

"It's still a cool name… oh! I forgot something!" Ruby exclaimed, and reached into her backpack that she brought into the room with her. The bag moved as she unzippered it.

Wait…

"I brought someone who would love to meet one of my teachers!" Ruby exclaimed as she emptied the backpack on Robert's lap, and the only thing that fell out was a ball of black and white fluff. It didn't move for a few seconds.

"Is… he okay?" Robert asked as he poked the ball.

"Just give him a second." Ruby said without looking at him.

Weiss leaned in, and had sparks in her eyes as she awaited the awakening.

With a `Pop` sound, the black ball of fur suddenly transformed into a dog, and said dog jumped right onto Robert's face and proceeded to stick it's tongue in his mouth as way to show affection.

"Zwei!" Ruby and Weiss exclaimed happily.

"Wow… okay." Robert said he stopped and held Zwei for second. "Heh… you are friendly aren't you… who's fwendly, you are." Robert said as he started to scratch behind his ears.

"Arf!" Zwei agreed.

"I know right!" Weiss said as she started scratching the dogs ears, her hand grazing beside his as she reached over for Zwei's free ear. "Who's a good boy, you are, yes you are~"

Ruby giggled as she saw some of the most mature people she knew be reduced to cooeing and praises as they complimented her dog and pat it. "I brought him along with me because 1. I knew you'd be _totally_ okay with it and 2. Because I thought you would need company in this boring room."

"I get to keep him!?" Robert asked, happy with the idea but a little curious as to why.

"He gets to keep him!?" Weiss cried, sad that she won't be able to see the dog for the night.

"Yup! What do you think Professor? Am I the best student ever or what?"

"Eh… It's debatable…" Robert said, and even after Ruby gasped in betrayal, he was honestly happy with everyone that has come in today to help with boredom and give him some sense of normalcy after everything he faced… he honestly felt better already, his hands started crackling a bit without him noticing, his semblance seemed to have registered his better mood and start functioning, out of fun he levitated Zwei harmlessly with his lightning for a bit, Zwei started doing kicks in the air adorably too, he did a couple of spins, and then later Robert released him back to his lap… Zwei landed an suddenly became a literal ball of spiky fur with an audible poof due to the remaining static from his lightning, he honestly looked both incredible silly and cute.

"Ahahaha, look at you little fur ball, you hairs are all sticking up now you little thing." Robert said between giggles.

"Eeeeee!" Weiss squealed, and then went red in the face when all eyes moved to her. She cleared her voice a second later. "I mean, I guess it was a little cute."

"You love him." Ruby commented.

"Oh yes, I do love that dog." Weiss easily went along with it, she didn't even have to fake it at all.

"Well, I think that about ends are little visit to you Professor." Ruby said, and pulled a reluctant Weiss up to her feet. "I hope you two get along!" She said as she dragged Weiss out of the room with her, her arms were trying to reach Zwei, who was just a little too far to be grabbed.

"Thanks for coming to visit, I appreciate it a lot." Robert said to them as they leaved. He soon was alone with only Zwei.

"Hey Zwei… I have a question for you. Do you think I should just tell people me and Hector come from another dimension, have also Glynda there and maybe Ozpin so they believe it, and that we know of certain things from the future? Because I'll be honest… I don't feel good omitting information and telling half truths anymore, I did enough in one lifetime, I think they deserve better, they are in the middle of it after all." Robert asked Zwei as he hold his paws and where now… dancing in a way.

"Aarf!"

"Yeah I thought so… still though how could I make something like this go smoothly, I don't how to tell them they are from a show, I could tell them I had visions almost as if it was a show… would that be another lie?"

"Aarf! Aarf!"

"Yeah, that's true… my biggest fear with that was that I would have to tell them something like "your life is just show for entertainment" or something like that."

"Aarf?" Zwei answered in almost a sad tone.

"But I've realised… it isn't, all of this, is different, things have changed a lot, their lives are not really scripted anymore, people still have similar goals and would do almost anything to achieve those goals… but things have changed. All of you have your own lives now, and do way more than I ever saw, even if what I know helps… it's only a small part of this world I'm in, there's a lot more going on, it's real, it exists... and I care for what happens here, in way it's my world too now… and I care for all of you." Robert said as he scratched Zwei's chin.

"Aarf!"

"Yeah… I should, maybe something like we came here, we knew a lot of things, we had visions, it was almost like a show, but we didn't see everything and then blackness and we found ourselves here. Too many lies still? I feel that if someone told me that, I wouldn't really like to be… "just a show" if you know what I mean."

"Aarf Aarf!"

"Hmm… true, I said you are way more than that… and you are… hmm, tell you what, I start using more lightning powers that you can use to have fun and get all hairy spiky and you help me figure this out, what do you say?"

"Aaarf! Aarf! Aarf!"

"Heh… thanks for helping, well ready yourself Zwei, we are gonna have fun… this way I can also train with my Semblance, and be ready for the mission." Robert said a bit more determined.

"Aarf!"

And hey, he had a pal to hang with him until he is healthy enough to move on his own.

* * *

Hector paced around the room that he has been stuck in for a whole day now, he piled up the skeletons in the closet, and shut the door. Not the most respective burial he could have done, but the most privacy he could think of that he could give them. He still had plenty of food left, and after sleeping with a full he felt his strength returning to him. Another day of that, and he should be at least near full strength again, and with this new lighter physique he had after his little outburst with the White Fang, he felt lighter.

"So yeah, physically I am feeling better… but mentally?"

" _ **Why do you keep talking to yourself? It's weird, stop it."**_ Hell told him, his spectral from leaning against a wall on the other side of the room.

"You just gave me a reason Hell, I think that I am actually insane now, and I am scared of the fact that I seem to have accepted it so easily."

" _ **... You know there's two of us in here now right?"**_ Hell pointed out, pointing to his own head for emphasis. " _ **I know what you are thinking, and no, I am not a parasite that you've been infected with."**_

"... Dammit." Hector said as sat down with his back against the door. He looked to the window, which lead outside to the moonlit destroyed city. The broken moon perfectly aligned so that he could see the entirety of it. "How do you think it was broken up like that?" He asked suddenly, glancing toward his other half as he appeared beside him, in the same position that he is in.

Hell turned his head to regard him. " _ **What are you asking me?"**_

"The moon dude, geez, you just implied that you know what I am thinking all the time." Hector remarked, and shook his head. "How do you think it broke apart like that?"

" _ **Why do you think I would have an answer to that?"**_

"Help me out here man, you are the only… something, around here that I could talk to. Unless you'd prefer if I talk to Jerry over here." Hector gestured toward a skull he didn't want to touch, sitting in the corner of the room. "He's not very talkative, but he's nicer then you already."

Hell just stared at him for a few seconds, and then glanced to the skull. Yeah, even he was a little creeped out by it.

" _ **... I don't know how the moon could have been broken up like that, I was literally born about three days ago if you don't recall."**_ Hell pointed out. " _ **But if I had to guess… I think it had something to do with the Gods."**_

"What Gods?" Hector questioned. "Is there a religion that I haven't heard about or something?"

" _ **Oh, right, you wouldn't know."**_ Hell realized. " _ **The story about the twin gods are true."**_

"How do _you_ know that?" Hector asked.

" _ **I know because unlike you I have been enlightened with knowledge of the world."**_

"That doesn't answer me and you know it."

" _ **Well, I am part of you, so that explains some of it."**_ Hell chuckled.

"Ha ha, very funny… just continue." Hector said.

" _ **Very well, though there is not much to continue on. What I proposed is just a hypothesis, I do not know if it is true or not."**_ Hell shrugged. " _ **What about you?"**_

"Not a damn clue." Hector said with a laugh. "I've never been a religious person, so this stuff about Gods and stuff, I'll believe it when I see it."

" _ **You may be closer to the truth then anyone else in the world, except for a select few of course."**_ Hell said with a snort.

"Why do I feel like that is foreshadowing something?" Hector asked himself.

" _ **No idea, you're the one who thinks you're going crazy here."**_

Hector scoffed. "Fair enough."

For about an hour longer, they just stared at the starry sky. The way they have been speaking with each other has drastically changed since the other day. At first they were at each other's throats, he even went as far to threatening to kill himself in order to stop Hell. But it seemed like when Hell got his fill of blood, a couple of hours up to a day later, he'll start calming down.

That at least was what Hector was just thinking about, he could still be very wrong about it, and Hell could be playing him like a fiddle right now. But whatever the true answer was, he was just happy he wasn't alone in this city of dead people. Even if it is just his other personality he is talking to.

With nothing else to think about, he started to think about Beacon, back to his friends and teachers who must be worried sick about him. He both looks forward to seeing them again, and at the same time he is a little scared to. He isn't the same person he once was, he has stained his hands with the blood of dozens of people. He lost a part of himself that he will never get back, and to top it all off, he now has a split personality that also surpasses him in every combat ability category when he comes out. That is going to be fun explaining to his friends. They didn't believe him when he said that he was from a different dimension, why would they believe him if he told them that he had some demon inside him that makes him kill people? That'd only land him in some mental hospital or something.

Well… there is _someone_ that might believe him. But even then it might be a bit of a stretch to think that Robert would actually believe him if he told him about Hell. They've been through a lot together, and has been working with each other behind the scenes for a while now, but telling him about Hell and him believing it seemed just as likely as his own team believing that he is from a different world.

" _ **You are so soft it sickens me."**_ Hell said, hearing every thought that went through Hector's head.

"Oh, you're still here. Do you ever sleep?" Hector asked.

" _ **Unfortunately, we are bound in too many ways for me to feel comfortable with. In order for me to fall asleep, I need you to fall asleep. So I am stuck with you."**_ Hell explained.

"Well at least I won't need to worry about you taking over my body while I slept then." Hector remarked. "Hey, since you're stuck with me, how do you think I can convince my friends that you are real?"

" _ **They're your friends Hector, I don't care about such trivial things such as approval from others. My only desire is to destroy anything that harvours life…"**_ Hell clenched his fists, and his eyes glowed angrily as he smiled psychotically.

"Yeah, okay, you're definitely not coming out anytime soon." Hector said. "Is there _anything_ else you would rather do then kill? Because let's see, if I actually needed to rely on you for something, you would stab me in the back at the first opportunity."

" _ **Oh please, I can control myself if I want to."**_

"Oh yeah, I can really believe that after watching you use my body to rip out a guys throat with my teeth. Yeah, you are really trustworthy." Hector said sarcastically.

" _ **Not my fault you're too pussy to kill, if it weren't for me, we would still be chained in that dastardly chair."**_

"Yeah? Well maybe I would have preferred that rather than killing about fifty people!" Hector snapped, trying to punch Hell only for his arm to pass right through his face, and for his arm to fall to the ground with a loud clank, reminding him that he still has his very heavy weapons on his arms. "Tch."

" _ **Are you done?"**_ Hell asked with a sigh.

Hector simply picked his arm back up, and placed them both on top of his knees that he brought up to his face.

" _ **Listen to me Hector, do you really think that you would have lasted in time for your friends to come save you?"**_ He asked, and got no response. " _ **You were on the verge of death, if they didn't kill you because of the lack of results they were getting, you would have died from starvation. No matter how fast I can heal this body of ours, we still need to eat and drink in order for our healing factor to work while I am not in control. Face the facts brother, if it weren't for me, you'd already be dead. Why do you care about the lives of terrorists anyway?"**_

"I get it Hell." Hector admitted softly. "You saved my life, even if it was just to save your own. But I don't think you understand that as a full blown human, it is pretty hard to kill other humans, even if they have animal parts on them. Especially when at the time, you made it feel like I enjoyed every second of it, and something that I _hate_ to admit, I did happen to enjoy some of it. You're not human, you're Grimm, or just some split personality that I must have had locked away for years, or maybe you're some demon that got stuck in my body. I don't know how you got here, but I guess it is time to accept the fact that you are here to stay."

" _ **Good choice."**_ Hell said with a smirk, and then faded away into nothing.

Hector slumped his head back against the door, and shut his eyes. He's made his choice by now, and he opened his eyes back up to stare back at the shattered moon. If Hell was going to be staying around the rest of his life, then he might as well make use of him.

"I hope you guys get here soon, because I'm about to go one man army on their asses again." He said to the sky with a soft, empty laugh.

"Cause with or without you, I'm going to bring **H** e **l** l **d** o **w** n **o** n **t** h **e** m."

His eyes flashed a dark purple in the darkness.

* * *

Roman was busy directing the reinforcements that came after Hector's little rampage. The newbies hardly new what to do. It was like they just picked up a random faunus on the streets, dressed them up as a member of the White Fang, and just transported them here without any orders. Now that he thought about it that is probably what happened.

"Come on you stupid slow animals! Get to packing those explosives! Vale's streets aren't going to blow themselves up you know." He chanted to his workers. "Ah, I miss that chainsaw guy, at least he showed a reaction. Too bad he was killed by his own weapon." Roman sighed and took a puff from his cigar.

One of the young White Fang members ran up to him, and he rolled his eyes and turned to regard him. "Is there a reason you are here standing next to me, or do I have to tell my assistant here to show you what you need to do?" He pointed to Neo sitting on a crate a few feet behind him, who happily waved her thin sword at the now scared White Fang member.

"N-No… sir." The word tasted bitter in his mouth. "Someone came in today, he said that you would know him."

Roman dropped the cigar from out of his mouth, and Neo even looked a little terrified at the mere thought of the person that they both had on their minds. He was even worse than Cinder, that they had heard from her. He was the one that trained her, and knowing that there was some monster out there even more dangerous than Cinder terrified them. But that he would come by so soon…

"W-where is he?" Roman asked slowly, enunciating each word carefully. "What was the name that he gave you?" He asked next, frantic.

"Uh… I think his name was Aaron?" The kid told him, and shrugged afterwards. He didn't know who he just spoke to.

"Right… listen kid, how about you go back to him, and tell him that we'll meet him in the train. Alright?" Roman pointed his cane at the kid. "Got it?"

"But… sir, he's right over there." The White Fang member said nervously, pointing to his side and toward a man towering with height.

"Hello Roman." A deep intimidating voice called to him.

"Oh, great." Roman mumbled to himself as he turned to acknowledge the dangerous man. "Hello sir, I am glad you could make it." He spoke like a machine. Neo even stood up and bowed to him, holding her parasol with both her hands beneath her as she showed him the respect he silently demanded.

"Roman, I overheard something about an… incident with a prisoner that my dear Cinder wanted kept alive, she told me that I would be interested in this prisoner." The man ignored the displays of respect and stepped forward out of the darkness covering his features and into the light. He was a very tall man, just over six and a half feet in height. He was very well built, with not a hint of fat noticeable on his body. He had a head of light brown hair, with the sides of his head graying considerably. He had trimmed facial hair that covered most of his face, but didn't go passed his nose. His eyes were a light hazel color, and his hands were hidden in the pockets of a long dark brown trench coat, the shoulder's were reinforced with padding for extra protection. The sleeves ended just after his elbows, he also had pads around his elbows as well. Between the two flaps of the coat, you could see a white dress shirt, and a dark red tie that hung loosely down to his black military pants, matched up with military grade boots to go along with it. He had multiple holsters tied around his waist and some on his belt. On that belt was a buckle, a simply rectangular silver buckle that kept it all together. hidden by the coat, and with it hid many weapons. Weapons that Roman hoped he would not use on him.

"What happened to this prisoner I was interested in Roman? I believe his name was… Hector Rivers, am I wrong?" Aaron asked, his eyes narrowing dangerously at the criminal.

Even if he was wrong, Roman wasn't going to tell him that. "Well… yes, there was an incident just a few days back…" Roman admitted, barely keeping his composure enough to keep looking the man in the eyes.

"What. Happened." Aaron asked, or rather, demanded to know.

Roman gulped, and Neo's fingers tightened around her parasol.

"He… broke out, killed over half of the White Fang with me, and ran out into the city." Roman reported, flinching when Aarons fists clenched so tightly in his pockets that it made a snapping sound within his coat. "I've had some looking for him ever-"

"Stop." Aaron took a hand out of one of his pockets, and held it up. Roman's lips were sealed together after that. "What you told me was… disappointing, to say the least. But I am a man that is understanding, the power that I was told was within that boy… I will be taking him in myself once he is found, am I understood?"

"Yes." Roman said.

"Yes what?" Aaron asked, taking his other hand out of his pocket.

"Yes… sir." Roman submitted to him, and bowed his head in submission.

"Good, now then." Aaron stuck his hands back in his pockets, and walked up to him. "What happened to the Monarch? Cinder was told that it was killed suddenly a few days ago, do you at least know what happened with that?" He asked.

"Yes, I do actually." Roman said right away. "A team of huntsman and the police went down into the sewers about a week or so back, their mission was to kill the Monarch, none of your cultist partners seem to have survived, but the bugs I have in the system were enough to tell me that. It is all I know, but I did manage to get the name of the one who dealt the killing blow. Or atleast who was given that credit." He said with a more confident smile.

Aaron raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And what is the name of this person?"

"The newest teach at Beacon of course! His name is Robert Urra." Aaron widened his eyes slightly at the sound of his name. "I had a spat with him once or twice, decent fighter, apparently very lethal against Grimm now."

Aaron stopped paying attention after hearing the name. "Hector… Robert… they're not names after colors, not even traditional names from here. Definitely not that last surname... besides Rivers... but still" He kept muttering to himself. Before chuckling a few times loudly as he put the pieces together. "So, I'm not the only one after all. I am going to add that name to the list of people I am going to bring in, whatever you do Roman, do not kill Hector Rivers, or this Robert Urra. Hurt them to capture them if you must, but remember that they are people that I myself am interested in."

"Uh… okay sir, no problem." Roman nodded to Neo, who teleported away to spread the news. "If I may ask, sir, why are you interested in those two? I get that Hector kid, since he has been such a pain for a few months now, but Robert? Why him?"

Aaron smiled at him, the first smile that drew upon his lips ever since he's arrived, and even that unsettled him.

"Because, they are both just like me."

* * *

 **Oh man, writing another chapter in a single day, though this time I had a lot of help with it. -Genatools**

 **And we had fun really. -CrowSkull.**

 **This was both a mostly comedic chapter, and one that should be taken seriously. This is the first major OC villain of this story, and we hope that we have welcomed him properly. What do you guys think of him so far? Like him? Hate him? If it is the latter, I am sorry, but he is not going away anytime soon. -Genatools**

 **He will be significant, that should be obvious enough by now. -CrowSkull.**

 **I feel bad that I haven't said this yet, but welcome to all the new followers! We are glad to have you! Also, happy new year! 2019 is going to be a fun year for us writers!**

 **Please review and let us know what you think of the story so far!**


	30. Rwby: Team HAMR chapter 30

**Hello all! Welcome to another chapter of Team HAMR! A lot of things are going to start picking up again soon, lets see how our characters can handle it!**

 **But first, the reviews from last chapter.**

 **Zeldawolffang: Just wait, there's a lot more for Aaron to do and go through.**

 **Guest: I will admit that Venom definitely did inspire Hell in this story, but it isn't going to be the same as a symbiote. I can promise you that.**

 **Anonymous User: I am glad you feel that way! This story was in a bit of a rough patch before, but we've brought it back to life! I hope you enjoy reading!**

 **Thank you all for the reviews!**

* * *

 **Just want to let you all know now, there is going to be a small time skip of one day, there really wasn't much for that day being skipped in terms of progress, and this way we can introduce some new themes.**

 **Now let's get on with the story! Bonzai!**

* * *

RWBY: Team HAMR

Chapter 30- A Bittersweet Reunion

It is the day that most of the students are going to be given their very first mission. Ozpin looks out through his window, thinking about the possibilities that could happen in a single mission in particular. Among many others of course. The sight is the same as ever before, but this time there is one major difference. An Atlesian flagship along with it's fleet cloud the skies, the late arrival of the Atlesian military. While such a armada isn't exactly necessary for flying above a city full of civilians, it is necessary for making sure that the White Fang are being kept in check. Crime was in an all time low and the general criminal underworld has taken massive blows, crime was still slowing down before the fleet even arrived.

His thoughts were interrupted by the ding of his elevator sounding out behind him, and he didn't even need to turn around to know who it was. The General of the Atlesian military, who is also the headmaster of Atlas Academy.

"Hello James, it has been some time." Ozpin greeted as he turned around, only to see not one Atlesian soldier, but two. A specialist to be specific, Winter Schnee if he recalls, he has only ever saw her once before. "And I see you've brought more than just yourself into my office."

"Hello Ozpin." Ironwood greeted back with a small smile as he offered his hand to him. "I apologize for my late arrival, there were unexpected difficulties that needed to be dealt with before I could make the entire journey to Vale. But rest easy, for we have finally arrived to keep the peace as was intended for the Vytal Festival."

"Nonsense General, there is no need for apologies. In fact, we have been holding up rather well before you and your small army came along." Ozpin said with a smug smirk that he couldn't help but let creep onto his face.

"Oh? With all due respect my friend, but do you mind if I ask how such a thing is possible?" Ironwood asked with a raised eyebrow. The specialist further in the back seemed to have also had her interest caught, and now they were both waiting for an explanation.

"Well, I suppose it can't hurt to reveal such information. Though I would have thought that the news would have already reached you." Ozpin said, then proceeded to clear his throat. "We have had a situation that I am sure you have heard about, cultists hiding on the tunnels under Vale? Well, finding their whereabouts proved more beneficial than even I thought, the investigations, and the danger they presented convinced the Council to allow multiple missions and authorizations and warrants for both Police and Huntsmen looking for missions, they have done a marvelous job, the organized crime of city is having trouble keeping itself alive, multiple smugglers and gangs have been taken down on the suspicion of helping the cult, and police has been able to do raids they would have been never able to do on normal circumstances with Huntsman and Huntresses helping them… and if that wasn't enough we also have had... vigilantes, for lack of a better word to assist in other matters."

"Vigilantes? Ozpin, while they must have been doing great things for the city, I hope you are aware that a matter of vigilantes are not only incredibly dangerous for the ones involved, but are also _illegal_. You know what we must do." Ironwood said, he was ever the one to go by the book.

"Yes… you see, I am aware of the laws of my own kingdom, but I am afraid that such a thing is simply not possible." Ozpin said with a small shrug.

"Why is that?" Ironwood asked.

"Because the vigilantes in question are not only extremely popular with the populace of Vale, but are also students of Beacon Academy." Ironwood widened his eyes slightly at that, as did Winter Schnee.

"Please tell me that this has nothing to do with my younger sister." Winter stepped up and spoke for the first time.

"Nothing to worry about Miss Schnee." Ozpin nodded her way. "Weiss Schnee has little to do with such events."

"Little to do…?"

"Why yes. She was only involved in a single raid on the White Fang, which was coincidentally lead by a team that has soared through the ranks in their respective year. Even then, those actions also pale in comparison to the ones of other groups of Huntsman and police." Ozpin said with a fond smirk, he bent the truth a little, but to him it was better to put Team HAMR in the spotlight then Team RWBY, for reasons.

Winter shook her head and mumbled something under her breath, he was slightly worried for young Weiss later on in the day, if Winter could catch up with her before the missions were launched.

"And who is this team that were _coincidentally_ leading this raid?" Ironwood asked finally.

"Team HAMR of course," Ozpin surrendered easily. "Just between the four of them alone, they managed to bring down the crime rate by a surprising margin. But I hope you are not worried about four huntsmen in training, we do have many other things to discuss."

"This cannot go ignored Ozpin." Ironwood pressed on. "I would like to speak to these four students of yours, I will not arrest them, simply warn them of the consequences that their actions will bring unto them if they are not careful."

"I am afraid that they have already learned that very valuable lesson." Ozpin frowned.

Ironwood was surprised with the sudden shift in direction, it suddenly got much darker. The way he said it made him feel like something very bad happened to this Team HAMR. "What do you mean by that?"

"The leader of Team HAMR, Hector Rivers, who is also the one who first started vigilante actions, was attacked and taken from us on the day of the dance. The soldiers you sent ahead were killed, and while he put up a magnificent fight against impossible odds, he was defeated." Ozpin hung his head and exhaled through his nose. "We do not know if he is alive, but I am afraid that even if he is, he will not be the same as we all know him to be."

"I… I am sorry to hear this." Ironwood sagged his shoulders, feeling guilty about what he just declared he was going to do. He felt like he was partly at fault, because if he arrived in time for the dance, then this Hector person would have been saved from such a harsh fate, even if it was very irrational for him to think as such about something that was far out of his control. "Very well, I will not press the matter any longer." He sighed.

"As you said, we have other more important things to deal with, particularly there was a message you sent that concerned me… something about a highly evolved Grimm Seer in the sewers of this kingdom. Has that been handled as well?" He asked next with a change of topic.

"Surprisingly, yes. It has been handled, it has been handled just recently actually." Ozpin said with a returning smile.

"Well that is very good to hear." Ironwood smiled. "Who is to thank for such a task?"

"A lot of people actually, there were a team of huntsman, the Vale police force, some rouge members of the recently disbanded Chorus of Dawn, and of course Glynda's recently appointed assistant and apprentice." Ozpin explained simply.

"Glynda has taken up an apprentice?" Ironwood asked, surprised. "That is something I never would have seen coming, how is this apprentice of hers?"

"He is very skilled for someone his age, the upcoming generation is very promising this time around. He has a powerful semblance, and is very skilled in his own unique way of combat. His style also seems to be otherworldly, and I don't mean that as an exaggerated compliment." Ozpin explained with a smile on his face. "He is also a support teacher at this school, specifically for Glynda's combat class. The next time that class is in session, I will be happy to introduce you to him. If you need to know, he was also the one that killed the Monarch."

"I look forward to meeting the one who managed to pull off such an impossible deed, what is his name?"

"Robert Urra, unfortunately he will be going on another mission fairly soon, so until then you will not be able to meet him personally."

"That is quite alright." Ironwood waved it off. "Just one more question before we get to matter of the festival. What mission will he be partaking in?"

"A Search and Rescue type mission, him along with Glynda Goodwitch will be taking two teams into the abandoned city of Mountain Glenn." Ozpin answered easily.

"A Search and Rescue in the tragedy of Mount Glenn? Ozpin, who is there left to save?" Ironwood asked next.

"I thought the former inquiry was going to be your last question." Ozpin pointed out with a smirk. "And I am afraid that I cannot tell you anymore about that particular mission, Valean policy."

Ironwood sighed, and then took a seat. "Very well, now let us speak of which one of us will become the head of security for this year's Vytal Festival."

Ozpin visibly shuddered. "I hoped that you wouldn't have brought it up." He said as he took a seat in his chair to begin a conversation he would much rather not take part in.

* * *

Robert slid his legs over his hospital bed, more then relieved with the fact that his body feels much lighter then it did the day before when he tried to get out of his bed. It was almost like he was lighter then he was before. After a quick glance to his scroll, he can see that he is at a hundred percent aura, which is more than enough for his body to heal up the rest of the minor damage still left on his body. Those arua boosters really helped as well, even if they were oddly colored and made him feel like he was high as a kite.

He tested the rest of his body with stretches, first he bent over and touched his toes, and with little to no pain he did it easily. He rotated his torso and was delighted with the cracks and creaks his bone made as pressure was finally released from them. After a few more stretches, he declared himself ready to go.

The clothes he asked Glynda do get for him was left out for him on the far table of his hospital room. He took one step forward, felt a little sore, but then took another. He was able to walk without any difficulty other then feeling a bit of soreness in his muscles that felt like they would in the morning after a tough workout. So it was nothing bad really, that pain was something he got used to years ago.

He slipped off his hospital gown after checking that no one was about to walk in on him, just in case. With the people he knew he just had to make sure that Nora wasn't about to jump out on him while he was naked. After double and triple checking, he started getting dressed. He slipped on his underwear first, and let out a pleased silent sigh as the warmth wrapped around his lower half, then he slid on his pants and then the rest of his clothes. It was an amazing feeling to be back in his gear feeling more or less fully recovered. And also not covered in… sewer water and much more worse stuff.

"Just in time for the missions." He added as an afterthought.

Also just in time, that was when a familiar nurse opened his door and stepped in, she widened her eyes in surprise to see that he was already up and about. But gave him a small smile as she leaned against the doorframe. It was the nurse he had the first time he was admitted into the infirmary.

 _You've gotta be kidding me. Where the hell were you all this time!?_ Robert wanted to ask, but instead just smiled back at the nurse. "I know you, you were the one that took care of me the first time I was here right?"

"Oh you remember me! How sweet." The nurse said. "I was just here to let you know that you are good to go, but it seemed like you already found that out on your own." She gestured to his clothes and the fact that he is standing without any support.

"Yeah… well there's no resting for the wicked and I think I stayed in bed long enough."

"Yes but there is resting for the injured, but against my better judgement I have been given orders directly from the headmaster to let you go now." The nurse said with a shake of her head. "Well, I guess this is goodbye for now, again."

"Don't act like I've been here too many times… it was only twice." Robert said with a small chuckle.

"Oh no, you have actually been here the least out of everyone here so far, you have no idea how many times I had to fix up a student in particular about two dozen times already. Damn kids semblance kept tearing his own body apart, and he _begged_ me not to tell anyone or else he'd get in trouble with his own team." His favorite nurse sighed. "I won't hold you any longer, besides, I think you have two teams and Miss Goodwitch waiting for you, which makes about… I don't know, six girls you are keeping waiting? Not a good idea."

"Yeah… I'm a lot more aware of that now, it's been good seeing you." _If only it had been sooner._ "I'm glad you came here uh… uh do you have name badge somewhere or…"

"Oh! It's right here." She pulled out her name tag from in her chest pocket, and let it hang. "My name is Angitia, but you can call me Angie for short if you want. I don't mind."

"Heh, if that is what you want Angie, thanks for… well everything."

"Of course! I only do this for a living." She chuckled as she opened the door wider than before. "Now go, you got a kid to save."

"Hmph." Robert walked out the there, but stopped when he felt something move in the cross body backpack that he has with him now for this occasion. He reached up to his back and pushed his hand into the backpack to feel a ball of fur, that suddenly got bigger and transformed into a whole dog that licked eagerly at his ear.

"Arf!" Zwei barked at him, making him flinch. He completely forgot about the dog, when he woke up he just assumed that someone from RWBY came to pick him up, but no. It turned out that Zwei thought that the inside of his backpack was a dog bed for whatever reason.

"Damn it Zwei, get back in there if you want to come with me!" Robert exclaimed nervously as he pushed Zwei's head back into the bag, and Zwei followed his orders with a whimper and curled up into a ball inside the pack. It made him feel bad for the dog for a bit, but it was necessary. Might as well keep some things as it were, even if so many things were already different.

Now that all of that was settled, he started walking fast through the halls of the hospital, waving at the other nurses that came in to check on him as he walked by, then when he got closer to the exit, he started running faster and eventually he broke into a sprint as he barged out the doors and into the natural light that is the sun beaming down on him.

 _It's good to feel my legs again. It feels good to move again._ He thought as he changed course to head to the Bullheads, which was currently on the other side of the entire campus.

 _Well, I guess it's time for a test run._ Robert thought as started sprinting faster, focusing on the feeling of his legs moving and that of the air around his face, he soon was being enveloped by a mass of lightning and he became a blur. Zwei barked happily as he went along with him, a mass of blacker lightning merged along with the much larger blue.

/-/

"Where is he?" Glynda asked underneath her breath as she stood in front of the open awaiting Bullhead. Team RWBY and Team MAR also wait eagerly for their second huntsman.

"Is it so hard to believe that he might have been too injured to go with us?" Mike asked his own team, he was too afraid to say it loud enough for the others to hear. Specifically Miss Goodwitch for obvious reasons, and of course because of Ruby, she was the type to make a scene if it means defending her friends honour. Literally for anyone too, there was no limit to her kindness.

"Not really, but I think this is that part of your book when the woman finally starts realizing her own feelings, and then sucks the guys-" Reggie was stopped when Mike created a bubble around his head, silencing him completely as he stuck his book back into a pocket meant for books on the side of his legs. He regretted ever letting Reggie take a look at one of his favorite books, he knew this would happen.

"Guys… really? Now?" Ashley, arguably one of the more sane ones said as she stepped away from a flailing Reggie who turned his body into metal and tried to pry off the bubble from around his head.

"I don't think there is a better time than this." Mike shrugged and adjusted his glasses. "Besides, I am the leader of this team for now, I can do what I want."

' _Abuse!'_ Reggie tried to scream, only for his voice to be muffled to the point beyond comprehension.

"Wow, I didn't know Reggie liked to be choked. Guess we know who the bottom is now." Yang teased as she watched the spectacle unfold.

"Eh, we change spots from time to time." Michael, completely unphased by her tease revealed a bit of information _no one_ needed to know. "But if you must know, last night I was the one on-" Ashley slapped a hand against his mouth before he could continue.

"That is all we need to hear, thank you." Ashley shuddered. "I don't need a reminder of what I walked in on."

"I wanted to hear the rest of it though." Blake whispered to herself.

"Oh, so _that_ is why I kept hearing banging from your room!" Ruby innocently exclaimed.

"Ruby! No, it can't be, how can you be tainted so!?" Yang cried as she fell to her knees, a fake stream of tears falling from her eyes.

"Uh… Yang, I'm fifteen, not ten." Ruby pointed out for the hundredth time that month.

"Moving on from that childish topic," Weiss interrupted, her voice louder than anyone else's. "Miss Goodwitch, with all due respect, maybe Mister Urra does need his rest if he isn't here by now."

"I am well aware of what he needs and what he does not need, but therein lays the fact that he has already been checked out of the hospital, and is on his way here now." The teacher said through gritted teeth.

"Oh," Weiss widened her eyes slightly in surprise. "Well in that case, where is he now?"

"Probably that mass of lightning coming in from about eight hundred yards away." Ruby answered for her as she looked down the scope of Crescent Rose.

Weiss didn't get the opportunity to question why she had her weapon out to check when she could very clearly see the moving lightning bolt coming there way, there was a bit of black in it, but she assumed it to be part of his clothes. Probably.

Said Lightning bolt transformed back into a human and skidded to a halt with chilling final sound akin to a gust of wind, the support professor stood there for a second before clapping his hands together and rubbing them against each other.

"Okay, I'm here everyone, everything is ready and all I need is packed.. And I would have been here sooner if the bullheads and the hospital weren't at opposite sides of Campus, thank you very much." He said as he walked towards them.

He realized that his feet were actually not hitting the ground when he tried to walk, and he looked down to see a purple-black aura resonating off of his body. He stopped moving his legs for a moment, and huffed, he predicted something like this might happen.

"Mister Urra, I would have thought that you would have given me more notice than a simple text message. I had to demand the pilot to land the Bullhead just after we touched off the ground in order for you to get here. You are very lucky you just got out of the hospital or else you might have found yourself being checked in the same day you checked out." Glynda-not-amused-Goodwitch said as she lifted his body with her semblance and brought him closer to her.

"Hi-"

He couldn't say anymore because of the riding crop smacking him across the face, his aura flared up to protect him, and straight after he was dropped onto the floor of the Bullhead. "There, I now approve of your being here." Glynda said as she stepped up onto the Bullhead.

"...Uncalled for." Robert said.

"Pfft." Reggie was trying so hard not to laugh as he stepped onto the Bullhead next, he still had the bubble around his head, and he gave up on trying to remove it. Michael and Ashley followed, Ashley managed to compose herself but even Michael had a small smirk of amusement on his face. He took the same seat he had before and took out the same book that he had out before, and flipped it back to the last page it was left on. The title of the book was: _Ninja's of Love, All Chained Up._

He liked this one in particular, since he has his own bundle of chains that he can play with given the right ideas.

Blake sat next to him and looked over subtly, before Mike let the book rest on both of their legs with her holding one side of the book as he held the other. She wasn't even trying to hide her interest in the Rated A book this time, since Yang would tease her if she didn't, and even if she did.

Everyone else followed shortly after, stepping up onto the Bullhead and taking their respective seats, with Glynda and Robert having their own two seats behind the pilots so that they were facing their students.

"Well-"

"Hey Mister Urra! I'm glad you're feeling better." Ruby spoke up suddenly before Robert could continue on.

"Uh… actually better than ever." He said as he twitched his finger, creating small sparks between them. "It's as if I got stronger from my injuries, but that isn't what I was going to talk about." He cleared his throat. "So, we are going to go search for a certain dumbass-"

"Robert." Glynda warned.

"Right… we are going to be searching for Hector, leader of Team HAMR, still an idiot but we are still going to save him. Do any of you somehow already know the area we are searching for him in?" He asked, looking pointedly at the two ex-White Fang members in the Bullhead, but since Blake was busy reading along with Michael, Ashley was the one who got all the attention.

"Well… before I applied for the school, I stopped by a underground base in Mount Glenn, I have no idea if it is still there, since I was told it was going to be temporary, but they might still be using it for something." Ashley explained with a light shrug.

"Why don't you just text someone if it is still there?" Reggie and Yang asked at the same time, and then proceeded to fist bump each other without looking.

"Because, I don't think he would be answering my texts anytime soon. He is a very busy guy." Ashley said with a roll of her eyes.

"It's still there." Robert said to no on in particular.

"How do you know that?" Mike asked without looking up from his book. "Don't tell me it's some secret sixth sense bullshit"

"Call it a multidimensional hunch."

"Oh great," Mike rolled his eyes. "We got another one who thinks they're an alien. I didn't know you were one for jokes Professor." He said rudely, turning his head so that he looked him in the eyes as he said that. For his part Robert had the most serious face he has ever had, not a hint of bullshit on it.

"Nice poker face, you can watch paint dry with a look like that."

"Mike, c'mon man." Reggie tried to calm him down, and it worked in a small way, making his boyfriend turn his head back down to this book. "Alright, let's say that we believe you and this place is still there, how are we going to find it?" He asked.

"We know it's underground, right…? do you remember at least one of the entrances Cain?" Robert asked Ashley.

"Uh… there's a few set of stairs that head down into it, but the most obvious ones should be the train tunnels. If that is where they are keeping Hector, it is probably in one of the decommissioned trains." She explained. "It's been a few months, so things may have changed, be it majorly or minorly, so take that with a grain of salt."

"Still more than what we initially had at the tunnels." Robert said to Glynda.

"While I wasn't keen on keeping you as a student of this Academy after what happened at the dance, your information will prove useful if it is correct." Glynda said with a huff. "Just know that if you are leading us into some kind of trap, there will be nowhere you can run or hide where you won't face my wrath."

"U-Understood… mam." Ashley said, one of her dog ears twitching on top of her head.

"Glynda… play nice please." Robert said towards his master.

"We cannot disregard the possibility that we are being lead into a trap, I am simply being cautious, not everyone is worthy of redemption after doing evil deeds, that is something you should learn soon apprentice." Glynda replied.

"I'm just trying to keep us able to work with each other, and I don't disregard it, don't worry I have it very clear, still we can at least be civil." Robert said.

"Very well… I shall allow Ashley to have a small amount of my trust, but she will have to earn the rest of it." She said as she turned her eyes back to the faunus girl, he nodded her head up and down in understanding.

"So, question." Ruby rose her hand.

"You don't need to raise your hand, Miss Rose, we are not in class." Glynda pointed out.

"Oh, right." Ruby sheepishly took her hand back. "S-so, when we find Hector, and I know we will, are we going to pull out right away? Or are we going to keep going?" She asked.

"The ideal thing would be to pull out right away, however we don't know when we'll find him, where we'll find him or how we'll find him… for multiple reasons an extraction might not be immediately available." Robert said.

"We can't ignore the fact that my leader may be being tortured, and that he might not be in the right state of mind." Michael started, earning everyone's attention back at him. "They specifically went after him back at the dance, so obviously they needed something from him. We all know that idiot isn't going to talk, so they probably did all sorts of things to him." He said all this with a flat face, but in his eyes everyone was able to tell that it hurt for him to say all of this. "If we find him, and only _if_ , there might not be much to save. We have to prepare ourselves for that possibility, not every mission has a happy ending." He ended with the sound of his book being shut, and he stuck it back in his pocket and shut his eyes tight.

The other huntsmen and huntressess in training also felt down, because they didn't think about how bad it could possibly be. The worse case scenario was that he was alive, but lost his mind. There was a lot you could do to a man to break him, and they had plenty of days to do that.

"We still don't know how he is, our mission is to find that out, and until we see it, we must assume he's very much hurt and that he might not be able to walk on his own… so get ready to carry him. And if necessary… to knock him out if Michael is right." Robert explained, suppressing any dread he himself might have, he won't know until they find him.

"Even if we have to knock him out, even if he is insane now," Ashley started, there were tears threatening to spill from her eyes. "Then we'll just have to bring him back into the light."

"Well said!" Reggie, now much more excitable, exclaimed. "If that is the worst possible outcome, then here is the best. Boss might have already broken _himself_ out of his prison there, let's not forget that the guy is like monstrously strong, he could have gotten himself out of it and he is just waiting for us to come get him."

"Enough hypotheticals, this a mission… and however it ends we must see it through to the end the best we can, keep that in mind." Robert interrupted. "Hope for the best and prepare for the worst."

Everyone nodded in understanding, even Michael. It is just their first mission, and yet it feels like it is the most important mission of their lives. Glynda hides it, but even she has her own doubts about a happy ending, and to be honest with himself, so did Robert. However, one way or another, they were going to get their friend back.

And by the off chance that he is completely okay, he is going to kick his ass for making him worry about him so much.

* * *

"AAAH!" Hector woke up with a scream, clutching the spots on his arms where Hell in control of his body blocked an overhead attack from a chainsaw, the pain felt so real to him, and it even hurt when his wound stitched itself back together. Leaving behind only wide thick scars on his forearms that he traces his fingers over. "Damn it, did there have to be one today of all days?" He asked no one in particular as he wiped his forehead of the sweat that accumulated there.

" _ **Today is the day, are you ready?"**_ Hell asked him from within his mind.

"You don't need to remind me, and yeah, I guess I am ready." Hector said as he stood up, testing out how his body feels after full recovering from his escape with a few hops in place. "I feel a lot stronger now, that's normal right?"

" _ **Because of me, yes."**_

"Great, so let's get rid of this raggy thing." Hector said next as he shrugged off his torn up leather jacket, and then threw it into the corner of the room on top of the skull he named Jerry. He stretched his arms out to his sides, his muscles flexing and contracting as he tests out his newly healed body. After becoming satisfied with his status, he looks out the window, seeing his own reflection.

He had his natural brown eyes at the moment, though he knows that isn't going to last much longer. Hector's eyes trailed down his own body to take another look at the damage that will forever be scarred on his body. He still had a few bruises from the bullets that hit him, and a wide scar on his left shoulder from where the bullet entered through his back and out through his front. Other then that, the torture wounds that he has courtesy of a certain ice cream loving psychopath were still ever present all over his front. Multiple cuts ranging from shallowness to the long cut that traveled up his chest and almost into his neck, and the distinct three cuts that formed an N on his side, which he assume stands for Neo.

" _ **Admiring yourself are we?"**_ His demon asked him.

"If you call this a body worthy of admiration, I think you are more than a little crazy." Hector replied as he shook his head and tore his eyes away from the reflection. "Right, you can sense the Grimm, right?"

" _ **Yes, but I don't know if I want to tell you if they are near right now, we could use the warm up before you let me take control."**_ Hell taunted.

"Yeah, we'll save that for later." Hector denied him as he opened the door to the room he hasn't left for days. "I guess I'll have to find out on my own."

" _ **Be my guest."**_

Hector didn't respond to that, instead he double checked his Dragon Fist's, and adjusted them so that they covered the scars on his forearms. After clenching his fists a few times, cracking his knuckles as he did so, he slammed his fists together with a loud clank as he activated a low power version of his Kaioken. To his surprise, he didn't feel any pain this time, instead he just felt warmer, a comfortable warmth, and his body felt even lighter then it did before.

 _Well, I am definitely warmed up now_. Hector thought to himself as he let the red dim light from his semblance light his way through the darkness he was once afraid of. He stopped a short distance to focus on his other senses, in this case, he used his sense of smell. Another benefit of his semblance is that it allowed him to enhance his other senses should one of them be useless to him. To his credit, it worked like a charm. He smelled the literal beings of hatred incarnate, and it smelled even worse then the bodies he was forced to room with for a few days.

This time however, he had little to worry about. He was able to move, and almost all the pain he felt before has been snuffed out. Now, it was only time for some revenge on the Beowolves that kept him trapped in that room for so long.

With a smile, he rounded the corner and jumped over the counter he knew was there. The first Beowolf didn't even see it coming, and had it's face crushed into the ground by a large foot before it was even able to react to the sudden threat.

The other Grimm heard him as he scrunched the Beowolves decaying skull underneath his foot. Hector found himself surrounded, but it didn't worry him at all. One of the benefit of being in an abandoned destroyed city is that he didn't have to worry about the collateral damage.

His eyes shone red as he upped the ante with the Kaioken, and steam flew up from underneath his feet as his body grew hotter. "Time's four!" He called out as he let his aura run wild, he felt a mild amount of pain, but nothing like he would before he got kidnapped. The Grimm jumped back from the heat, showing a mild amount of intelligence.

Hector looked around to see how many there were, he counted about seven snarling Grimm. But the strange thing was that they weren't immediately trying to rip him apart, instead they seemed to be looking at him curiously, even though there was one of their brethren dissolving away behind him.

"What are you things doing?" Hector asked, resisting the urge to charge at them.

" _ **They can't sense you idiot, they think you're a Grimm."**_ Hell explained for him.

"What?! That's crazy, obviously I am showing signs of life here." Hector said as he walked up to one and backhanded it across the face.

That singular Beowolf seemed to snap out of it finally, and it attacked him with a snarl. But on it's own it was nothing. Hector blocked it's bite with his forearm, it's teeth scraped against his Dragon Fist, and with his other arm he punched it in the chest, caving it in completely and thus killing that Grimm.

"Woah, I didn't mean to do _that_ much damage to it." Hector said as he looked down at the fist that he used to kill the Beowolf.

" _ **That's because you're stronger now, remember?"**_

"Right…" That was going to take some getting used to. "So why are they not attacking me even though I just killed two of their pack members?"

" _ **Like I just said before, they can't sense you because of me, they think you're a Grimm. But be warned, this will only work on the young ones."**_

Hector nodded his head in understanding, but it did concern him plenty. If they couldn't sense him, and they thought that he was just another Grimm, did that mean that he was part Grimm? He should have figured it out before, since the whole Hell thing going on in his mind and body. But now it is only confirming his made up theory, he isn't actually crazy, and Hell was telling the truth.

After processing that, he looked around to see that the other six have just started to ignore him, he didn't see any reason to kill the rest of them. It just seemed like a waste of energy and aura at that point for something as petty as revenge. If they were going to ignore him, he'd ignore them back. But there is one other question on his mind as he left the clothing store.

" _Why did they attack me before? When I was running to get in here?"_ He asked Hell from within his mind as he started the long trip back to the underground White Fang base.

" _ **At the time we weren't as acclimated with one another, now that we are more comfortable with our body's situation, we have taken the first step of many to merging our souls into one."**_ Hell explained.

"You know… now I wished I hadn't asked." Great, so not only is this demon living in the same body as he, but now he is apparently going to merge with him one day. That was great to know.

Ignoring Hell's chuckles, Hector went on walking through the destroyed city that is Mountain Glenn, now that he didn't have the constant worry of Grimm attacking him, he was able to look around at the scenery, as much as it made him feel bad about what happened here around ten years ago. He actually paid attention in Ooblecks class when he talked about this, not only because of the constant pestering from one of his teammates, but because it was good for him to know about this place for obvious reasons.

The city wasn't necessarily a big one, but it was a city nonetheless. Apparently, the whole thing fell because a herd of Goliaths charged through the walls suddenly, and at the time the walls weren't reinforced, which made it easy for them to do it. No one was ready for the massive wave of Grimm that followed, and before they knew it, the city was lost and one of the largest massacres of both huntsmen and civilians in history followed.

Now it was just a ghost town, the Grimm didn't bother to actually destroy most of the buildings, and so many of them were still standing strong. They were wrapped up in all sorts of vines and trees, but it was still there at least.

He tried to stick his hands in his pockets, only to find that the pants he was wearing didn't have any. With a muffled curse he wondered why he threw away his jacket from earlier now that he had nowhere to stick his hands in besides his pants, and he kinda needed those to be stay where they were lest he fight completely naked saved for his weapons.

A few hours later, he started getting closer to the White Fang base, or at least to where he thinks it was, he recognized the large open courtyard that he ran through in order to get away from them once he got control over his own body, and from there it was a straight sprint to get to the top of the stairs that he ran up to get out of there.

This was it… this would be a good time to let Hell take over. This was a tough decision for him to make, one that took him five days to go over in his head all the pros and cons. Would he be able to take control back? Would he still exist afterwards? He knew he would, but he couldn't be too careful. Hell explained many times to him the process of him taking control, his dark energy would flow through his body, making their body transform slightly to match Hell's strength and abilities. Hector would still be conscious, just unable to control his own body. Then after the deed was done and Hell calmed down, Hector would be able to take control of his own body again. He thought in the back of his head that he could forcefully take back control if need be, but that hypothesis has yet to be tested.

Hector shook his head, he already made his choice, two days ago. He had to do this, if he didn't, then so many people would die because of his unwillingness to go through with this. In order to stop a monstrous deed, he needed to become a monster.

"Alright Hell… take control." He said to himself, his voice barely above a whisper as he prepared for the small transformation his body had to undergo in order for Hell to fully take control.

" _ **Ah, I thought you'd never say those words."**_ Hell said with a dark laugh as he tried to take control.

Hector's aura flared up a bright red, and he fell to his knees while panting. His heart beated hard and painfully in his chest, but to his surprise he was still in control of his own body. "What happened? Just take control already!" Hector yelled as he pounded the ground.

" _ **I'm trying."**_ Is all that Hell responded with.

His aura flared up again, and the same pain ran throughout his whole body. His heart beated even more painfully, and he fell completely on his front, breathing heavily as he writhed in pain. "Hell, if this is some sort of sick joke I am not having any of it!"

" _ **I can't take control…"**_ Hell admitted finally after the third try, and now Hector was in all sorts of pain all over again. He pushed himself up onto his knees, and let himself slump up against a wall. Now that Hell stopped trying to take control he was able to recover.

"Why can't you take control?" He asked as he rested his head against the wall.

" _ **There has to be a reason for it… I just can't place my finger on it."**_ Hell said as he appeared in a much smaller version of himself and sat on Hector's leg.

Hector thought about the last time Hell took control, he was at the weakest he has ever been before, he was starving, thirsty, and was filthy. But none of that seemed good enough to draw Hell out. It was one specific thing that the knowledgeable Hell didn't think about yet.

"Think about it," Hector began, leaning forward and resting his chin in his hand that is propped up by his elbow. "When you first awakened and took control, I was weakened, battered, bleeding, and dying. You said it yourself, you'll take control when I am dying, losing a battle, and…"

" _ **When your aura breaks."**_ Hell finished for him, visibly sighing in his spectral form.

"Yeah, and I am at a hundred percent right now, which means you're not going to come out even if I want you to." Hector said as he rested his head in both of his hands. "Which means… I'll have to go in there myself."

" _ **Oh please, you won't be able to kill any of them. What are you going to do, knock all of them out one by one?"**_ Hell taunted. " _ **Why don't you just jump off the roof there? That should do it."**_

"You'll be surprised what I'll do to save the ones I care about." Hector said darkly. "I was prepared to kill Emerald, Mercury, and Cinder back in that tower, and that was only to save myself and my friends." His eyes flashed purple before going back down to red.  
"Imagine what I'd do in order to save a city." He said as he looked toward Hell's spectral state, and started to push himself up from the ground.

Hell was surprised in all honesty, he thought that he wouldn't be able to take a life. He wasn't going to believe him at first, but now that he heard his voice and the look in his eyes as he said it. He believed him.

" _ **Very well brother, impress me."**_

Hector powered up without speaking, and slowly started making his way to the base.

* * *

 _Two hours earlier…_

The Bullhead ride went smoother then the pilot really expected, which made getting to the dead city a lot easier than usual. The atmosphere changed completely when they entered the city however, it got a lot darker, and sad. When the Bullhead touched down on the ground, all the safety straps were taken off, and the side door was open wide for them to step out.

As all the students stepped out, the pilot let Glynda and Robert know that he had to go refuel the ship, and that he wouldn't be able to come back for them for a few hours at least. But there was going to be one on standby in the case of an emergency. She let Robert know of the situation, and after getting a safe distance away from the Bullhead, they were all left alone in the middle of Mount Glenn, a piece of historic tragedy.

"So, here we are." Reggie said, and then blew a long whistle out as he looked around the debris. "They really screwed this place up."

He got an two elbows in the ribs for that one, courtesy of both Ashley and Michael.

"Ignoring that, what are we going to be doing first?" Michael asked, acting as the leader he was appointed to be.

"Hmm… it really seems empty… Glynda how many Grimm do you expect?" Robert asked the teacher.

"After your mission, I would not expect too much trouble. But keep your guard up, all of you. We don't know what may or may not jump out at us." Glynda said as she looked around.

"Uhh… what do you mean 'his mission', how does that affect this?" Yang asked with a confused tilt of her head.

"That… it's a story for another time." Robert said with a shake of his head, the wound was still fresh after what happened during his mission, even then the biggest issue is that he wouldn't know how explain everything..

"Well, we're here. I think we should have Ashley here lead the way, since she knows the area better than any of us." Ruby proposed, sending a trusting smile Ashley's way as she jumped with surprise at being addressed so early.

"Well… if that is what you want me to do, I'll start looking around." She said, looking to Robert and Glynda for approval.

"Did the White Fang have any sort of landmark for the entrance?" Robert asked

"Not really, I was just told to remember the way or else I'd get lost. I was never officially a part of the Fang, I was just sent down here to do Sienna a favour, so they probably just didn't trust me with it, I stayed here for about three days." Ashley explained.

"Well, it's better than nothing." Reggie cheered her up before she could become shameful of herself. "I'm all for this plan, what about you girls? Mike?"

"If it works, it works, if we're going around in circles, then I'll suggest a different approach." Michael said with a shrug, he then took off his glasses to wipe them of dust. "Place is filthy, without any sort of map we won't be able to know exactly where we need to go."

"We won't need one as long as Ashley shows us where to go." Ruby pressed on.

"You… have a lot of faith in me… for some reason." Ashley muttered out loud.

"That's just how Ruby is," Yang piped in. "Always sees the good in people."

"That's… thank you, Ruby." Ashley let a small smile creep up from the corner of her lips.

Ruby smiled back at her and nodded her head, and then looked back to Robert and Glynda for approval for this plan they just thought up on their own.

"It's better then anything we have so far, I say we go with it. Miss Goodwitch?" Robert looked toward Glynda, who had a conflicted expression on her face.

"I will be willing to go along with this plan, as long as it gives us forward progress, I have no problem with it." Glynda said with a nod. "Miss Cain, you may lead the way."

Ashley nodded to her and started looking around, after a few moments she seemed to have collected her bearings. She gestured for everyone to follow her, and at that point the Search and Rescue mission started. The Pilot put them down in a spot that was supposedly close to the train station, so it shouldn't be too long until they find the place if she knew where to go.

The dog faunus stayed ahead of them a few meters, walking at just the right pace to take in her surroundings while also getting a good amount of distance traveled given time. Glynda was the closest to her, with Team RWBY and MAR behind them, and in the caboose was Robert, making sure nothing would catch any of them off guard. His eyes constantly looking around every nook and cranny in the buildings for any signs of a pair of red eyes. Not only for the Grimm, but also for Hector, since his eyes also glow red when he is using his semblance. It's far fetched, but it's something.

After many minutes of silent travel, his eyes stopped on the back of Reggie Nole, who walked with his hands behind his head. His battleaxe hanging off of his back in it's dormant state. Now that he thought about it, Reggie didn't actually use his weapon a lot in spars, or in other cases, whatever reason that may be. But as he watched Reggie look down at his own arms, flex them and watch them turn into a silvery metal, and then chuckle when he turned them back into flesh and skin, he thought about a certain question he could ask all of the students with him.

"Hey Reggie." Robert called to him, catching his attention. When he looked back to him, he nodded, then slowed his pace down so that he ended up right next to him.

"What's up Professor?" He asked with a curious look on his face.

"Who do you want to become a huntsman?" Robert asked, mostly out of curiosity, but he also remembered that in another timeline, Oobleck would have asked the same thing.

It seemed to have catch Reggie off guard for a second, since he recoiled in surprise before he actually started to think about it.

"Eehh, It's a long story, but basically I want to go back to Vacuo, where I came from, and become the headmaster there. Make the whole kingdom a better place if I can." He moved his hair that covered his forehead to reveal the circular scar he had on his forehead. "When I was younger, I got my rhino horn cut off, so because of that, and well… Michael, I ran away to Vale, and that's the short version of my life story."

"That's why you want to become a headmaster… what about why you wanted to be Huntsman in the first place."

"Well… that's going to take some more thinking. I guess I wanted to become a huntsman for two reasons. To be closer to Mike." He gestured in the blonde mans direction, who was actually watching them from the corner of his eye. "And to eventually achieve my goal to make Vacuo a better place, other then that, you'll need to give me a few hours to come up with a better answer." Reggie said with a shrug.

"Hmm… interesting." Robert said, dropping the subject for now, he was asking himself what was he doing with his life at this point, was it okay that he was asking this to his students? Only one way to find out. "Well, thank you for your answer." Robert decided to speed up his pace to scout one of the sides, leaving Reggie behind in the process to look about the area on his own. He complained to him something about unfairness, but ultimately gave in to his new role.

They continued to walk in relative silence until they Ashley put her hand up.

"Everything okay?" Ruby asked Ashley.

"Yeah… I just need to remember the direction to the subway from here, this the point where paths to the entrance diverge." Ashley said with her ears plopped down.

"Diverge?" Robert asked her.

"There was usually two or more entrances to the subway nearby… I think I know the closest one that isn't just collapsed… I just…" Ashley was clearly a bit lost.

"Think you can figure it out miss Cain?" Glynda asked her.

"I… I can, I will, I just need to refresh my memory a little, retrace some steps."

"Very well, student's in the meanwhile take care to search for any sign of activity while Miss Cain figures out the path to the closest entrance, I trust all of you will be able to scout on their own." Glynda said to everyone, all of them nodded.

"Remember to check you scrolls, the signal is weak here, but we should be able to communicate with each other through a local connection." Robert said.

"Done, and done." Yang said as she checked her scroll, and saw that she was indeed connected to everyone else, she had a full three bars for now, which would go down the farther she is away from everyone else.

"Everyone scatter, this a mission and also a test after all, you didn't get promoted a year for nothing, come on!" Robert urged them to go and find… well anything that could be considered helpful to this whole ordeal.

Everyone soon started going their own directions in look of anything while Glynda stayed with Ashley who was still looking for any sign or hint that could lead to the direction they need to go in.

"Do keep an eye on them." Glynda told Robert.

"I will." Robert said as he charged his feet with lightning and jumped up to a building.

/-/

Blake was doing her own job of scouting, going through the rooftops to see anything below, they were looking for subway entrances and they should be able to spot them from above. She was having a problem before about the White Fang again, going on about how they could do things like this, and how they weren't doing anything good for the faunus, and then after what happened at the dance, kidnapping a human? How was _that_ going to solve anything? Yang happily stepped up to snap her out of it, it took a while, but after a bonding moment between the two, she finally started calming down a bit.

Just in time to, because now she was going to help save one of her friends.

 _I don't see any symbols… or any sort of landmarks the White Fang might use… I don't think this is the right way._ She thought to herself as she looked around to find anything else, only to be met immediately with one of her professors.

"You look troubled." A voice came from the side, it was the assistant, he was next to her hanging from the side of the building. _How did he get there so quick and… silently._ Blake asked herself.

"I… I'm not finding anything that might be give us a direction." She said.

"We'll have to just keep looking, it's all we can do." Robert said as he looked around himself.

"I know." She answered.

"What are your thoughts on all this?" He asked straight after.

"Excuse me?" She asked a little surprised

"You were part of the White Fang right? What do you think of everything that's happening?" He asked her, looking at her this time.

Blake scoffed and looked away. "With all due respect, I don't see how this is a good time for me to be talking about myself professor."

"I didn't mean to offend… but I'm genuinely curious, you went from the White Fang to w a huntress. There are thousands of things you could have done but… why a huntress?"

Much like Reggie, she seemed to be caught off guard by the question. She took a moment to think about it before looking back to face him.

"If you must know, I wasn't exactly planning on becoming a huntress. There's just too much in the world for me to just sit back and do nothing about it when I have the skills to do so. Inequality, corruption, _someone_ has to stop it." Blake explained simply.

"And as a huntress… how do you plan to do that?" Robert asked.

"I… I will find a way… eventually." Blake said quietly.

"Heh heh… well it is really all we can hope for… to find a way… thanks for the chat, I'll go and check upon the others, make sure nothing has jumped them."

Blake didn't reply as he stood up, and moved away from her.

/-/

Yang had found something indeed, something that she could fight, for how deserted the town might seem she had managed to find a small pack of Grimm when everything else looked deserted, a whole _six_ Beowolves all cooped up in some abandoned clothing store, what could she say, she was the kind of girl to find these kinds of things.

The Grimm charged with the intent to plow her down, and she charged right back at them with Ember Celica at the ready, punching and blasting them away with quick jabs and hooks, a kick here and another punch to the left, four Grimm lied dead with shotgun shell holes in them before she killed the last two, one with a a dodge and hook to the jaw followed by a shotgun blast and the other…

"Yeaaagh!"

With a vicious uppercut, sending it's head high up into the sky.

"Alright!" She cheered to herself as she pumped a fist up into the sky.

"Good job." Robert said as he was sitting on a wall, he seemed to have watched the whole thing.

"Well how did I do Professor? Did I get a solid score?" Yang asked with a teasing tone.

"Eh, good enough… you seem to have learned to be quick and efficient with your attacks." He complimented as he hopped down.

"What can I say, I like going getting right into the fight, fast and unrelenting is my style." Yang boasted, flexing one of her arms in the process.

"Yeah… I think a certain someone learned a lot by watching you, I've noticed him taking some pages out of your book when it came to fighting with." Robert pointed out.

"You mean Hector right? Yeah, I noticed that too." Yang sighed as she leaned up against a all. "Part of me wondered if that was part of the reason he got himself captured, the whole charging into battle thing was my thing, and then it became his too not long after meeting me."

"Yang, It's not your fault he charged in like that. He had a lot going on his head, many people would have trouble thinking straight… Is this why you chose to come here on this mission?"

"It was a big part of it, yeah. Also Ruby wouldn't stop pestering us about it, eventually all of us would have caved in even if we didn't want to." Yang said with a chuckle.

"Yang… why did you choose this career?" Robert asked suddenly.

"Hm? Well, I guess I just want to save people, do good things, kill big monsters and get paid for it." Yang answered with a shrug.

"That's what you are doing… but why did _you_ want to become a huntress, what is your motive, your drive to keep doing what you're doing?" Robert elaborated.

"Huh, well, if you want me to be _completely_ honest… it's because I'm a thrill seeker, I just want to travel the world and get wrapped up in any and all crazy adventures I possibly can, I can fight monsters, then if I save people while I'm doing it, then thats a big plus, it's a win-win y'know?" Yang answered honestly.

Robert honestly smirked. "Honestly Yang, we are not that different, I know what you mean… but I also think- no, I know there's more to it than just that." Robert said as he started to walk away.

"Wow, I didn't know you could get so deep Professor." Yang called to him with an amused chuckle as he walked away.

"Neither did I…" He called back.

/-/

Weiss had just dispatched two lone beowolves as she searched around the buildings for sign, any actual sign of a subway, that included actual signs, sadly the letters seemed to be withered beyond recognition.

She sighed as she didn't find anything useful.

"Doing okay Miss Schnee?" Robert asked as he appeared from the side.

"Oh! Yes professor," Weiss said with a nod, but when Robert raised and eyebrow in her direction, she surrendered. "Well actually, no professor, I don't seem to have found anything useful. I'm sorry about that." Weiss apologized with a bow.

"You don't need to apologize Weiss, everyone here is in the same situation, you are all searching and scouting in your own ways, in all honesty that's good enough." Robert said.

"Well, thank you but I know I could do more. I just wish I was just better as a proper scout." Weiss said with a huff. "Well professor, I would hate to keep you from a task as important as this, I am doing fine, so you don't need to hang around me."

"Actually Weiss, that isn't why I am here, I know you can take care of yourself. You proved that a while ago." Robert said, and then took the opportunity to continue when Weiss looked back into his eyes. "I was just curious about something, I was wondering why you decided to go through all of this?"

"Pardon? I'm not sure I understand the question."

"You're a Schnee, you could have lived a comfy and easy life if you just stayed in Atlas, I also have heard you have a beautiful voice, you could have been a professional singer, why did you choose to be a huntress?"

Weiss stood up a little higher, and her eyes lit up slightly at the question, a much different reaction then the others he's asked so far. "It is as you said, I am a Schnee, I have a legacy to uphold, and honor to earn. Once I realized that I was capable of fighting, it was no longer in question. This is simply my duty."

"Wow, you seem quite resolute about it… interesting… why did you choose to uphold that legacy though?"

Weiss wasn't ready for that one however, she knew the reason why but… it felt too personal to reveal.

"There is another reason… one that includes my father, but I'd rather not disclose that information at this time if possible." Weiss said.

"Hmm…" Robert got a bit closer. "You don't need to tell me Weiss, but ask yourself why did _you_ choose to come here, because if I'm not mistaken, you chose to come to Beacon, that was your choice… And there's always a choice to be made about what we do." Robert said with a smile and then started to walk away.

/-/

Glynda had called everyone by scroll, it seemed like Ashley finally remembered the direction they need to travel in, it only took about an hour, but she managed it, and that is what matters.

Everyone grouped up rather quickly, no doubt thanks to their huntsman training. Michael specifically was the first one back, and not Ruby, the one with the speed semblance. Unless he was just that close to Glynda and Ashley, he must have had his own way of traveling through cities.

"You found a way Ashley?" He asked his teammate, who was crouched down around the corner. She nodded yes to him, and gave them all a thumbs up.

"Great, now we can get closer to-" Something in Roberts backpack seemed to have grown three sizes, it moved… and then somehow moved inside his clothes and a noticeable bulge appeared in the front of his vest.

Glynda gave him a suspicious glare.

"Uhh… I… uhh…" Robert stammered as he tried to press the bulge back down, only for it to fight it's way out and poke it's doggy head out into the fresh air.

Everyone stared blankly at the dog that suddenly appeared out of the professors vest, panting happily before letting out a happy bark toward it's owners, that being Yang and Ruby.

"Zwei!?" They exclaimed in unison. Ruby used her semblance to quickly snatch Zwei out of his vest and nuzzle him against her face.

"I think I found out we had a stowaway… I an all seriousness I didn't plan for this to happen exactly as it did." Robert said, even though he did planned it a bit.

"Mister Urra…" Glynda said his name in a way that did not make him feel safe. "I expected this from Miss Rose, or literally anyone else, but you…? Why did you bring a _dog_ on a mission?!"

"I found him in my backpack, and when I found him… it was too late, but hey think of it this way, he have an extra scout!" Robert exclaimed, crossing his arms in triumph as if he did something great for the world.

"In his defense, Zwei does have his aura unlocked, _and_ he has a really good nose." Ruby defended Robert right away, and then held the adorable dog up to Glynda. "He can help us, can he stay?" She asked, using the deadly combination that is Zwei's puppy eyes and her own puppy eyes to have a double effect on the strict teacher.

It didn't have an immediate effect… however Zwei started to move his nose, and then he seems to try and get free from Ruby's grasp, once Ruby let him go, Zwei started making beline for Ashley, she didn't move a muscle, he smelled her a bit, and then started to keep sniffing and going in a specific direction. It sucked for Ashley because she was about to start sniffing the dog back, but no one would know what she was about to do.

No one would know.

"Uh… where' is Zwei going?" Yang asked.

"He's… he's going on the direction of the subway…" Ashley muttered in surprise. "Wait, did he smell Hector on me!?" She asked, her whole face going beet red as she thought about that possibility.

"Well… he seems to have an idea of where to go." Robert said surprised, and completely ignoring Ashley's stammers. Triumphally, he looked back at Glynda and gave a shrug. She sighed and shook her head.

"I'll allow it for now since it seems to have worked." She surrendered. "Everyone… let's follow the… dog, for it seemed it may have picked off Mister Rivers' scent off of his partner.

"Why'd you have to say it like that…?" Ashley muttered, but went ignored.

"You heard her, follow the adorable puppy." Weiss said, the first one to actually start following said adorable puppy.

The whole group formed a similar posture as they did before, only this time it was Zwei all the way in the front, and not Ashley, who seemed to have also picked up sniffing like she learned from the actual dog.

Robert was again near the back, but Michael was not far ahead of him. He hung back from the group, not participating in the group conversation between Team RWBY and his boyfriend. Instead he lagged behind and read his book, the one about the chains and the ninjas. His own chain was wrapped around his arm, and the curved blade of his Kusarigama was resting between his hand and the book, just in case he needed to spring into action in a moments notice.

Now Robert knew that Mike didn't exactly like him… for whatever reason that may be, but he has given off less than subtle hints about how he feels about him, and so he doesn't really know how to start off a conversation with him. Wait… he actually might.

"So… Michael, if it isn't too much to ask, I'm curious, why do you only have one Kusarigama? Normally people that use them use two."

Michael reacted to his question, and with a snap he shut his book closed. He stuck it back into his pocket without looking at him as he answered his question. "I don't need to use two, it's not necessary for me." He answered simply, still keeping his back to him.

"Hmm, well it's a good answer as any I guess, if you are doing fine with just one then good on you." Robert said back.

"I have the second one, but I only use it when I really need to get serious." Michael said as he took out another set of chains from _somewhere_ , and held the second sickle in his other hand. "I never really need to use it often."

"Huh… color me impressed." Robert said.

"People don't talk about the one who nearly gave Pyrrha Nikos her first defeat two years ago." Michael shrugged, and then looked at him from the corner of his eye as he put his second blade away. "Why did you start talking to me suddenly? I would have thought that you caught my signals of what I think about you."

"I'm curious about many things, your weapons was one… why you seem to not like me is other, I know the signals, I would like to know why if you'll let me." Robert said very calmly despite the ferocity that he is receiving from Michaels glare.

Michael sighed, and looked back in front of him. "You have an obnoxious ego, like you think you're better than us all, you don't verbally say it, but I can tell with the way you do things in class." He began, Robert waited patiently for the whole explanation. "The first thing you did when you showed up was that spar with Hector, then after that, you were the one who always started up the sparring, choosing someone random from the crowd every time. Coincidentally, it was always someone you could play around with. There's more to say, but I guess that is where my dislike for you started."

"Can you briefly mention some of the other things?" Robert asked

"Not really, no, because I don't want to." Michael said.

"Hmm… well I'll tell you something Mike, you are right about me having an ego, but you would be wrong to assume that I do it to prove something… I stopped thinking like that many years ago, and I never tried to pick someone to just play with them, it was never the point." Robert said.

"How about this then." Michael turned around completely, and faced him while walking backwards. "After we get back from this, I challenge you to a spar, I'll use both my weapons, and the full capabilities of my semblance. If you manage to beat me, then I'll… _try_ to think differently about you, but if you think that I'll be as easy as the others you've been up against, you'll realize that when you're picking your ass off the ground." He challenged him, just like that.

"It's a deal… but Michael, I'll warn you… you don't know the people I've been up against." Robert said solemnly with his face down. "Why did you want to become a huntsman? You seem pretty, what's the word… decisive about what you do, why did you choose this career?" Robert asked curiously.

"Why I wanted to become a huntsman?" Michael echoed. "Well, the answer to that is simple, I just like to fight."

"That the answer to why you fight, not why you choose a career that has way more than just that."

"You don't understand, I became a huntsman _because_ I like to fight, what better career to get into a ton of fights then a hunter? There isn't some long and informative answer, I like to fight, it's why I kept fighting after I left Mistral because of…" He trailed off, not wanting to reveal anything else about his personal life. "It's why I want to fight you, you're strong, and I like fighting strong opponents." Michael went slightly more in-depth.

"Hmm… then is there something you fight for specifically?"

"Well there's Grimm, people, criminals, anything that poses a threat really." He shrugged.

"You didn't seem to have heard me right, why did you decide to fight, beyond liking it… why?"

"Yeah I heard you correctly." Michael sighed loudly, and turned back around. "I want to prove something to someone, whether it ends happily or not. That's all I'll say on that." He didn't give time for Robert to properly respond to him, for he sped up his pace, giving a clear sign that for him, this conversation is over.

"Hmm, I hope it's all worth it in the end." Robert said to himself, since the one it was intended for dropped the conversation entirely.

Robert kept walking, mostly watching out for any random Grimm that might appear… he himself had found about maybe four beowolves on his own, there were really very little Grimm… it was good, but it felt odd. As they kept walking he noticed Ashley Cain… she seemed to be looking down at the ground, she also looked very pensive at the moment… was she purposely walking slightly away from anyone else? It was better to see what was wrong himself, might as well complete the whole set anyway. She either was having more doubts or she could be up to something… only one way to find out.

"Hey." Robert called out to her, and matched her pace right beside her.

"Aah… professor?" Ashley stood up straighter as she walked, her faunus ears standing up at attention.

"How are you holding up?" Robert asked, his voice soft.

"How am I holding up? Heh, well if you must know." Ashley took a deep breath. "I am the reason Hector got himself kidnapped, I got emotional after we kissed I couldn't stop him from leaving because of my own weakness, and not only is he _definitely_ getting tortured because of what he knows, but I also managed to push my teammates away so far that I don't think I will be redeemable if Hector is actually dead at the end of all this, nor do I think I can ever forgive myself." She finally inhaled again, and continued. "So no, I am not doing well at the moment."

"Anyone can guess that, but I still prefer to hear it from you. You truly don't know what to do now do you?"

Ashley chuckled bitterly. "I am afraid of what we're going to find… Robert, is it okay if I can call you that?"

"It is."

"Thanks… I didn't say this before, but I know some of the tactics they use to get stuff out of their prisoners… especially for the tough ones. I want to be optimistic, but deep down I know that Hector isn't going to be the same after this, if he even is still alive. He won't ever be the same again, I'd know." She spoke in a quiet voice, barely above a whisper so that Robert was the only one to hear her.

"Do you know how I think about these possibilities?"

"What about them?" Ashley asked, not able to look him in the eyes.

"The chances that he might be alive, that he might be scarred, that he might be dead… you know to be completely honest with you they way I deal with them… is by pushing them to the side… I don't think about them."

"Heh, isn't it bad to bottle up your emotions?" Ashley asked, bitter amusement in her voice.

"You misunderstand me, I cannot think about them… because I don't know if they are true, I'll only know when I see him or his body, but until then I must assume that he needs rescuing, however he might be, I must assume that he needs us… he isn't dead until I see it with my own damn eyes."

"... I think I can stand behind that notion." Ashley said with a nod to herself, before holding her head up higher. "I'm scared of what we will find, but if he is alive, I am so going to make him pay for making me worry so much, even if he hates me for it."

"I don't know if you _can_ do that… I'm a supporter of all things fair and honestly I think it's best you both reach a compromise… maybe not make him pay in your case, but you should do something, show that you care… how did that start anyway?"

"Ah, you mean… the whole thing between us before…?" Ashley asked, a faint tint of red dusted over her cheeks.

"Well, there's not much else I could be referring to."

"Yeah I get it, I guess I didn't make it very hard for anyone to notice." She sighed. "I guess it started after our first sparring match, instead of using the opportunity to humiliate me like I know most humans would have, but instead he let me go. I don't know how, but he just managed to get me in this stupid pinning position, and I couldn't fight back anymore. But yeah, I guess that is when it started."

"Hmm…" Robert felt tempted to make a comment about this 'he pinned you to the ground' notion but he thought it wasn't the time. "You were still spying and giving information back then right… speaking of which, just a quick question how much did you have on me?" Robert asked, he looked… curious, gingerly so.

Ashley looked ashamed of herself, which was enough of an answer for the assistant.

"Okay… tough subject I know, still I would like to know the latter question… maybe to just see if I can catch them by surprise."

"Just the way you fight… and what I knew and heard about your semblance, other then that, not much." She answered as honestly as she could.

"Then we are in luck, because that's not even the tip of the iceberg. We have something."

"I haven't been giving them any information recently, so they are probably going to start getting suspicious of me soon. My cover with them is going be blown away completely after this, and once the news reach Sienna…? Yeah, I don't even want to think of that outcome."

"Ashley… I honestly can say you are conflicted… but can I ask you, what do you fight for? It could have been the White Fang but I don't see that in you, I see something… different… you seem to fight for those close to you."

"You'd be right." Ashley looked at him. "I fight for who I am loyal to, but therein lays another problem. I care about the friends that I've made here, with everyone, but… Sienna practically raised me, after my parents were killed, she took me in, took care of me, and didn't even force me to join the White Fang. She asked me to do her a favour, and I did. That's the only reason I even went to Beacon in the first place." She facepalmed herself. "I am trapped between my friends, and my step-mother."

"And… what about the Ashley before Sienna…? what did she want?"

She scoffed as she remembered her childhood. "I think I wanted to be a musician, a long time ago I think I used to play the piano. But that was years ago, it has been lost to time and constant training, now I think I just want to learn more about myself before I do anything else, If I'll even be able to."

"Did you know I once wanted to be a gardener?" Robert asked, and Ashley's dog ears stood up as straight as a pencil to show him how she felt about that. "Yeah… that didn't last long, after that I wanted to be a great architect, after that a videogame designer… every single time the dreams and things just faded… or just straight away got taken away from me, but there was always a theme, I always chose something new, I always tried to get back up and put my thoughts together to see what I really wanted to do with my life. I think you should maybe do the same, life is not clear path, and we have to make a choices and those aren't black and white, they can be completely out of your imagination even, but we are the ones that have to make them."

"Well, can't say I was expecting all of that." Ashley said with a tilt of her head. "I'm sorry I ranted so much, it's not like me to be this way, so… _emotional_." She scoffed at the thought of it. "Emotion's aren't my thing, clearly."

"Maybe you have to figure some of them out." Robert said placing a hand on her shoulder as a sign of support. "They are honestly pretty weird." He said.

"Emotions can go fuck themselves I say." She said loudly, earning a snort from Reggie in the background. "Thanks for the talk, I don't think I would have made it the rest of the way if I didn't get all that off my chest."

"I know. I've been in those situations myself." Robert said. "Well not exactly this way but uh… okay similar feeling but not situation… yeah that."

"Goodbye for now Robert." Ashley said with an amused roll of her eyes, she meant nothing negative about it, that much was clear because of the small smile on her face.

"You take care of yourself." Robert said as they just kept walking, though he slowed down his pace so that he was now in between Ashley and the others. He looked from the corner of his eye to see that Michael actually joined the conversation, piping in occasionally but mostly only speaking when he is spoken to. He looked back in front of him, before feeling an odd feeling, a feeling like he missed something. He looked back again to take another peek at the students.

 _There is a distinct lack of the color red here…_ He thought to himself as he realized that Ruby was nowhere to be seen.

"Psst, hey professor." Robert jumped slightly at the voice, but calmed himself down with a breath as he turned to his right to see the missing girl walking right next to him. "I heard your conversation with Ashley, thank you for making her feel better." She whispered that out for some reason, but beamed up at him.

"You heard all of that?"

"Duh, I was behind you the whole time." Ruby said with a roll of her eyes, like it should have been obvious.

"Uh… huh…"

"Anyway, I have a question for you, I was just way too curious that I couldn't help myself, can I ask the question?" She asked if she could ask a question in the most awkward way possible.

"Well you just did… and yes you can."

"Great!" She lit up happily. "Why did you want to become a huntsman Mister Urra?" Ruby asked straight after, not missing a single beat as she looked up into his eyes with her silver.

 _Well, that was unexpected._ "Oh… uh, if this is about all the questions I've been asking… uh…"

"You were asking questions to everyone else?" Ruby asked, confused.

"Nevermind… but to be totally honest." Robert paused for a second. "I didn't exactly choose to be a huntsman. I just fell into it really… it just happened, and it was never in my plans… but if I had guess, I can maybe tell why I decided to stay as one."

Ruby waited for him to continue eagerly, nodding along to everything he said with an unmoving smile. Her age really came out sometimes.

"There was time where I was the awkward kid in the corner of the school that didn't have friends and liked to make weird noises and talk to himself, to be alone... I was actually a pretty sad and petty loner, my family tried to help me, but I might not have given them a lot of chances. I could have stayed that way, could have stayed minding my own business, crying to myself and doing nothing about it, I didn't feel I owe anyone anything at that time I also helpless about myself… however amongst all the self loathing I understood that I didn't want to stay that way however I didn't know what to do… And then once they shoved me to be friends with someone and she seemed troubled, much like I had been, I pondered for a time what to do… I didn't owe anything to her, I didn't know her, no one helped me really on that school… but she was having a bad time and was alone, and I knew what it felt like and a part of me didn't want others to be alone and helpless trough all that, and so I decided to help her as best as I could, she became a really good friend before she left the school and was better all together, I decided that if I couldn't help myself, at the very least I could help others."

"Wow… you're just like me… you're socially awkward!" How Ruby only got that out of everything Robert just opened up about, was beyond him. But it did make him burst out into a fit of laughter

"I am… ahaha, more than you might think… but that was my choice, I decided that I wanted to do something, instead of just sitting on the corner seething and feeling self pity… I decided to help people, if no one would help me, then I would help others that were like me when I could, I didn't help many, but whenever I had a chance I did and it always filled me with joy… helping others just feels like I do something. I stayed as a Huntsman because this way I could save people, I could teach others fight monsters, I could fight the monsters that aren't Grimm… I could protect those I care about, release myself and enjoy myself with everything. I could live my life how I wanted, helping people, doing awesome adrenaline inducing things and have a good time despite everything." Robert said.

"Awe, you know, you may look intimidating on the outside, but you are a real softie on the inside." Ruby said with a smile. "You also rant a lot, but don't worry! That's a good thing, it means you are just getting into the… conversation, or something… Yeah, that." She squirmed on the spot as she tried to think of something more to say.

"Hey…I babble more than I rant, but you know that, you are also socially awkward but hey that makes us good listeners. Well at least some of us." He said as he looked back at Ruby. "Thank you for listening."

"Anytime! Thank you for talking- Uh, I mean speaking… you know what I meant." Ruby pouted at her own awkwardness, and averted her eyes back to the leader of their whole group, who lead them all to a large courtyard of sort.

"Zwei? Did you find something?" Ruby asked, running up to catch up to her pet.

"Arf!" Zwei barked, and then broke into a sprint. Everyone suddenly was forced to sprint after him, and they ran for about thirty seconds straight until the reached the top of some stairs.

"I hear something…" Ashley said as her ears twitched. "I hear… screaming? They have to be down here!" She said as she started running down the stairs.

"Ashley wait!" Glynda called out to her, but cut herself off when Michael quickly followed, and then Reggie. Before she could do anything about it, everyone else including Robert were running down the stairs, and with a huff Glynda joined them, forced into a bad situation that she will have to deal with.

When they reached the bottom, the first thing they saw were two members of the White Fang, one completely out cold on the ground with their jaw broken, and the other slumped up against the wall, barely conscious.

Michael stepped up before anyone else could, and picked up the faunus by the collar of his shirt, and slammed him against the wall. "Who attacked you!?" He asked him with a scream. "What happened here!?"

"I… wah?" The faunus stammered, unable to speak properly.

"I said what happened!?" Michael repeated himself.

"You better answer him." Robert said to the White Fang member.

"I… I don't know…" The unknown faunus said. "It all happened so quickly, I looked up the stairs and all I saw was a blur, I was knocked out instantly even through my aura."

"He… huh." Robert nodded his head in understanding, somewhat impressed of the feat his friend pulled off.

"Sound like anyone we know?" Yang asked the group with confidence.

"What did he look like?" Michael asked next, his voice much softer than before. "Did he have red eyes? Black hair, tall guy?"

"I uh… I think? Ugh…" The faunus hung his head, losing consciousness once more. WIth a huff, Michael dropped his unconscious body.

"You know what that means guys, Hector broke out on his own! We must have just missed him." Reggie exclaimed happily. "C'mon, we gotta go back out to find him!"

"Wait." Glynda stopped him, slapping her riding crop against his chest before he could run past her. "If he was escaping, why did he come down from the top of the stairs?" She pointed out. "It doesn't make any sense, it looked like he charged down here and tackled this man into the wall."

Slowly, the realization dawned upon them all.

"He wasn't escaping… he was breaking back in." Robert put the pieces of the puzzle together. "But for wha-..." Slowly Robert realized what Hector was doing, the place they were in.

"Uh… guys?" Blake called to them, making them all turn toward her. She stood with her back faced toward them, and though they couldn't see her face, they could tell that she was shaken. "I think I know where Hector is going."

When Robert ran up to her, he was shocked to see what he saw next.

A trail of bodies, some knocked out, and some dead with pools of blood around them, scorch marks and blood splatters leading all the way down the tunnel.

"... Shit, the train, he's going for the train! The idiot!" Robert shouted as he became a blur and mass of lighting and started to just speed along the trail of dead and unconscious bodies belonging to that of the White Fang.

"Robert wait! What train!?" Glynda called to him as the rest of the group started chasing after him, being careful not to disturb the bodies they ran by.

 _That idiot… he's taking them all on his own._ Robert thought as he sped by. _He's started killing too. How far was he pushed? Just what is he doing… Jesus Hector, what the hell did they do to you?_

He would soon get his answer.

* * *

"Who's there?"

All Hector saw was red, the first thing he did when he made it to the stairs was dash down all of them and tackle a member of the White Fang into a wall, knocking him out instantly after breaking his aura in one blow. He didn't stop there, instead he used his gauntlets to block a flurry of bullets that were fired on him as soon as he dropped the guy he knocked out.

As he blocked the bullets, he pressed down on his right thumb to activate the dust that he had left in that gauntlet, and after deflecting one more bullet, he fired back. A fireball flew out of his right arm as he threw his arm into a punch that wouldn't it, letting the shockwave turn into flames and hit the other member right in the chest, breaking his aura and making him drop his weapon to the ground. Before he could get back up, Hector ran up to him and kicked him in the chin, knocking him out cold while also breaking his jaw.

His toes hurt after that one, but it was necessary to keep his opponent alive, whatever it is actually worth. He cursed to himself when he heard more of his prey- no, enemies coming his way, by the sound of it, they are coming from the tunnel to his left. He simply powered up even further, and pushed forward. Taking the bullets into his aura and punching the closest one to him so hard that his head spun hard to the right, instantly snapping his neck.

Hector widened his eyes in shock after hearing the snap of his neck, and saw the way his body fell limply to the ground.

 _He… didn't have any aura…_ Hector realized as his hands shook, and he felt bullets pelt against his side, snapping him back to reality. He growled animalistically as he held his arms out in front of him to block the shots and kept himself moving. He couldn't be hung up on death, if he didn't kill them, they would kill him. It was as simple as that.

He became a red blur to their eyes, no longer holding back, he used his far superior speed to overwhelm the dozen White Fang members that came at him. Whether he killed them or knocked them unconcious, he wasn't keeping track anymore. All he knew right now was that he needed to keep pushing forward.

He didn't even realize that his arms were covered in blood, and that he was sprinting ahead again with great speed. His nails felt like they were ripped off, but that was the price he needed to pay in order to stop the breach from happening. Further down into the tunnel, he slowed down, seeing a compound of sort weakly fortified right in front of him. He fought down the urge to laugh at it, since when would something like that hold him back.

Wait, what was he thinking!? He was supposed to stop the train, not kill everyone in his sight. He composed himself even though he felt a stinging migraine all over his skull that was just _screaming_ at him to do the opposite.

"I have… to keep… going." He said to himself through gritted teeth as he broke into another sprint, shoulder charging through the sheet metal. He opened his eyes again to see himself surrounded, all their weapons aimed at him. He felt his heart skip a beat as they opened fire on him, and felt his aura work in overdrive in order to protect his body from any fatal damage.

His aura held up strong, somehow, though there was no way he didn't just lose a big chunk of it before he finally started fighting back again. With a roar, he charged at the closest person to him, and caved in their chest with a punch, whether he died or not because of it, he didn't care, he just needed to keep moving forward. With a grunt he batted aside someone recklessly charging at him with a blunt weapon, it broke against his skull and he was quickly batted away like a wet towel. This one didn't have any aura, and so he knocked himself out against the ground and started writing in pain.

He dodged the next flurry of bullets with flips and fired back at them, this time with his lightning dust. His lighting hit one directly in the chest, and it chained to two others. Knocking them both out, he didn't have any more time to celebrate when he sensed someone about to hit him from behind. He quickly turned around and batted away the flimsy bladed weapon, and with an angry purple shine in his eyes he punched the faunus so hard that he was sent flying into a singular train car, and pierced right through the weakened metal. On the other side most of his bones were broken, and his aura was down. He was bleeding out of all of his wounds, Hector didn't even take a second look as he charged toward a group of three.

"This guy is worse then the Grimm!" One of them screamed as they tried to run away from him in terror.

" _ **Yes, we are worse than Grimm, we are Hell incarnate!"**_ Hell exclaimed in Hector's mind, and went ignored.

Hector held his arms out to block more dust bullets with his weapons, and bulldozed through the last two, pushing them hard into a wall where one had their head slammed into the wall, cracking it open. He didn't even spare him a glance as he quickly caught up the one running away and grabbed him by the throat, lifting him up and off the ground by his neck.

He was in pain because of his semblance, he was angry that he had to do something like this, and he hated that he was forced to kill, and he hated that damn voice in his head that kept telling him to do it! All that and more, but he managed to control his strength just enough so that he didn't crush the guys throat.

"Where is the main base?" Hector asked, his voice dark and sounded like two people speaking at once.

"Ack… ough, aaah." The faunus tried to speak, but he couldn't even breath. Hector let his grip loosen just a bit, and he felt the man take a breath.

"Answer me!" Hector demanded, putting his face up close to the one he has in his grip.

"K-keep going down there." The man managed to choke out. "J-just keep going straight, and you'll see a long train, Ack."

Hector got what he needed, but for some reason he didn't let go. No, his grip only got tighter as he looked the man who called him a monster in the eyes.

"So… I believe you were the one who said that I am worse than the Grimm?" Hector asked, his voice dark and echoey. The whites of his eyes darkened slightly, but went back to white as a head splitting migraine almost made him lose consciousness on the spot. "You… you have no idea."

 _Stop!_

He thought he heard a voice, but all he could hear was the way the he heard the man's trachea being crushed as he tightened his grip unconsciously. His eyes felt really heavy, but he had to keep going. He dropped the dead man's body on the ground, but before he could keep going. He heard his name being called out again.

"-ector… Hector!"

His eyes went back down to red, and Hector was able to hear and see clearly again. He stumbled about for a few seconds, but regained his balance and looked down at his body. He was covered in blood, and he knew he was the one to cause all of it to be there. He turned around to the source of the voice, his eyes bright red and his burning hot aura flaming and smoking as he turned around. What he thought was an enemy who just knew his name, actually happened to be a friend of his.

"R- Robert?" Hector choked his name out in a gasp, and a small smile creeped it's way up from the corner of his lips. He felt any weakness in his body disappear as he stood up straighter than before. "You missed the dance." He said with a dark chuckle as he clenched his fists unconsciously.

Robert sighed, and let his blue lightning fade away. "Thanks for reminding me, and you seem to also have missed the fucking instructions I gave you! Hector… I know things have been difficult… but why? Why couldn't have you just read the instructions? We could have avoided all of this." Robert said with a perplexed expression on his face.

"After all this time…" Hector shook with uncontrollable anger. "You see me this way, and you ask _that_!?" His eyes shone purple again, and a flicker of purple also appeared in his aura. "You have some nerve there… you're lucky I have a train to stop." He calmed himself down slightly, and had the decency to try to wipe some of the blood off of his hands, only to smear it across his chest. His flames flickered from red to purple, and kept flickering like that as they continued to stare each other down.

"You are not going there, not alone, not again… We do have to see this through and I'll help but please… could you stop going suicidal for just once!? I cannot allow you to die, not after everything that has happened… I won't let it happen, I owe this to you as your friend."

" _ **Enough of this, I know you won't kill him, so let's just keep going."**_

"Shut up!" Hector screamed suddenly, his head in his hands. He didn't mean it for Robert, but he didn't know that he wasn't referring to him. "You just keep talking… making me do things… making me feel like I am losing my mind."

"Hector… I know I wasn't there to help you, to be there for you… I know I failed at that, I failed at more than you might think, but I don't plan on repeating hat mistake. I know I'm no the best with words and I know I may be vague and also pretty contradictory at times and I know that must get on everyone's nerves with my poor filter for what I say, but please know one the least things I want is for you to die and/or lose yourself, I don't plan on letting that happen and I know you are strong enough to not let that happen, I know you can be stronger than whatever they did to you … I know I shouldn't ask this after everything that has happened but please breath for a second… I assure you this time I can be here to help." Robert said picking at straws… he really didn't know what was happening with Hector, he could tell he was angry, he honestly just hoping he hit something to try and help him.

Hector's aura burned so hot that it evaporated the blood on his body, making the scars of what happened to him a lot more profound. The purple flickering stopped, and his red flames started dying as he calmed himself. It didn't stop him from keeping the flames up, but it was progress.

Robert saw all the scars on his body, all the marks that were left behind, the holes and bruises on his body. He even looked a thinner then he did before. But the aura he let off didn't get any weaker, if anything it felt like he got stronger from the whole experience.

"So this is what they did to you… Hector?" Robert asked, as he got closer to get a better look, he swore he could have seen a letter of sorts made with cuts. But Hector moved away before he could confirm what he saw.

He slowed his breathing down, and turned away from Robert so that he couldn't see all of his wounds. "Later." He growled out. "We'll talk about this later, I'm back in control for now, let's take advantage of it." Hector said as he started walking forward. Robert suddenly appeared in front of him with a lightning dash.

"First regain some strength… I'm not gonna let you go until you do that, something tells me you are gonna need it." Robert said, after that he gave him a hug "Please." He said. It burned him a bit to be so close to him, but this was what he thought his damaged friend needed.

"Oh Rob… ever the optimist eh?" Robert widened his eyes slightly, those were the same words Hector used back when he was just a vision back in the sewers, it brought back some painful memories for him. Hector broke off the hug and backed away from him, the whites of his eyes darkening again, but kept flickering back to white. He shook his head, and the flickering stopped. "We can't stop, they know I am here, which means the train is going to start moving soon, we have to stop it." He said in much calmer voice that still sounded like two people speaking at once, though the blacks of his eyes was more then noticeable for Robert to see.

"Just breathe… I won't move until at least you recover your breath, please." Robert begged to him, holding one of his shoulders so that he wouldn't escape, to this Hector started to calm down thankfully and taking some deep breaths, but he was still not any less livid.

The others started catching up finally, Robert saw them from over Hector's shoulder. It was great timing honestly, because he felt like he might have actually had to physically hold him down in order to stop him from getting himself killed on this suicide mission.

"Hector! There you…" Yang stopped mid sentence. "are… holy shit."

They looked around the room that they were in, the bodies littered around the place, with only just a few of them barely alive. Glynda held a hand up to her mouth as she gasped, in disbelief that one of her students were capable of doing something like this.

Ruby didn't let the shock stop her however, for she sped up in a flurry of rose petals and jumped up in of Hector took his hands in hers suddenly, her silver eyes staring up into his red. She ignored the intense heat that immediately started to make her sweat.

"We found you! We're here." She said as she looked into his eyes, tears building up at the corners of her own eyes..

" _ **Silver… no… get away from her!"**_ Hell cried.

Hector didn't share the same thoughts, if anything, the silver eyes of his best friend calmed him down even further, enough so that the aura he had around his body almost withered out of existence, leaving only a red silhouette around his body. Her eyes was like a light in the darkness for him, a way for him to escape the complexities of his mind that think everyone and everything is an enemy.

"Oh… wow." Hector said in a much calmer voice, and this time it was only his own. "Did your eyes always do that?"

Ruby hugged him as soon as those words came out of his mouth, and this time unlike he did with Robert, he hugged her back. The red of his eyes faded away back to brown, and his eyes went back to normal completely. "What did I just do?" He asked himself more than anyone as he recalled recent events. His voice was shaky and desperate.

"Something that just happened, and there's not much we can do about it now… but all what we can do now is decide how and what are we doing to do next." Robert said to him hand still on his shoulder.

Hector broke away from Ruby, and looked back to see the rest of Team RWBY, along with his own team. He nearly broke down on the spot, barely managing to control his own emotions. He has been lost in his own little hellish world for so long that he barely recognized some of them, Michael seemed to have gotten a new hairstyle while he was away, but even with the bodies surrounding him he smiled at the very sight of his leader, and Reggie looked exactly the same as usual, only he was currently balling his eyes out while muttering something about finally seeing his boss again. His eyes locked onto Ashley's for a few seconds, and the two shared a tense moment. Then he moved on to the eyes of one of his favourite teachers, Glynda Goodwitch, who looked horrified, not because of what he did, but because of the clear signs of what happened to him. It made his heart drop to see her that way, but he looked away and back toward his only friend from Earth. Now was not the time for such emotions, there were more important things to deal with.

"Well… after I take a bit of a breather." Hector moved himself to sit on a locked chest, his hand running through his black hair slick with sweat.

"I think we all have a train to stop."

"Phew," Robert rubbed down his face out of relief. "This is going to be interesting."

A bittersweet reunion.

* * *

 **That was long… what you think? Too much talking?- CrowSkull**

 **I did say that we wouldn't do anymore 20k word chapters, and here we are with a 19k word chapter. I really don't know how to follow through with my own promises. But we just couldn't stop! For those who are wondering, when Hector was speaking to Robert, that wasn't him in any mid transformation or anything, that was him just being mentally scarred to the point of near insanity. Hell didn't make anything better of course, and when Ruby showed up and did her thing, he got better. But that doesn't mean all is good. I just felt like I needed to explain that. -Genatools**

 **You better shut it before you reveal more of our plans. -CrowSkull.**

 **I know what I am doing, I purposely made it vague, no one making accurate predictions here… Forget you all read any of that. -Genatools.**

 **Anyway tell us what you think of the progress so far, how you think we are handling things, what do you like, what you don't yada yada. -CrowSkull**

 **In other words. Please review and let us know what you think of the story so far!**

 **See you all next chapter!**


	31. Rwby: Team HAMR chapter 31

**I don't know if I said anything about last chapter being the thirtieth chapter, but no we are at the thirty-first chapter! Woohoo!**

 **Let's say hi to our reviewers.**

 **Zeldawolffang: Sorry, it's just gotta happen sometimes.**

 **Oblivious Ninja: I don't know if you made it this far yet, but if you have, thank you for reading the entire story! Also for reviewing like almost every chapter.**

 **SyumpGoblinz: Genatools!**

 **Thepowerfullkira: I** _ **think**_ **you are referring to Bleach? If I am so wrong I am sorry, but if you want to see Hell that way, then go right ahead. -Genatools**

 **I think he meant Dark Souls… eh maybe? I kind of see it but not really. -CrowSkull**

 **Thank you all for the reviews! We got a lot this time!**

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 **Now let's get right into the chapter!**

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RWBY: Team HAMR

Chapter 31- Train-ing mission

"This is going to be interesting."

"I'm all for stopping whatever it is about to happen, and I am more than happy to have you back again Boss," Reggie interjected. "But we can't ignore the fact that we can _clearly_ see what happened to you." He stepped up to his leader, kneeling down in front of Hector to get a better look at his whole body. "Are you okay to keep going man?"

"Yes." Hector said with a nod of his head, rolling both of his shoulders as way to stretch and get them ready for quick movements, the weight of his gauntlets moving along with his arms. "I don't know how to explain it, it only happens randomly," He lied, not wanting to reveal Hell just yet. "But I also have some sort of healing factor, it healed up my body when I was being… held, and I was able to escape."

"At what cost?" Mike asked, stepping up next and standing next to the kneeling Reggie. Most of the time he was a man of few words, but those few words was all he needed to say for Hector to clutch at his heart out of stress as he remembered everything he had to do in order to escape. All of the death, all of the pain, all of the murder.

Hector shook his head to be rid of such memories and flashbacks, and he looked back into Michael's light brown eyes with a serious expression on his face. "Yeah, it took a lot out of me, trust me, it took a _lot_ out of me." He chuckled darkly, it sounded empty and bitter, no real amusement behind it. "I would rather not have to think about it at the moment."

"Good, because you're our leader again." Mike put on a small smirk and reached into his side pocket. He pulled out a familiar black shirt, one that Hector perked up at when he noticed it. "Put on a shirt please, those muscles are bothering me. I didn't even know you had that many." Mike said as he threw a copy of Hector's shirt at him, which he caught easily and inspected with a light in his eyes.

"This… thanks Mike." Hector put a lot of emotion behind those words, but swallowed it back down as he slipped his black shirt back on over his head. It was slightly bigger on him now since he lost a lot of weight, but it made him feel better. It didn't look it, but it was really chilly inside that tunnel. "I never thought putting a shirt on would feel so euphoric." He said as he clutched the fabric of the clothing, the red dragon design getting crumbled in his hand as he squeezed the spot over his heart.

"I…" Ashley Cain stepped up, not nearly as far as Michael did, but her intention was clear. As soon as her voice left her mouth, Hector locked eyes with her. There was no hostility behind them, but there was also no kindness in his eyes. A bitter neutrality that made Ashley gulp nervously. "I-I'm sorry…" Was all she could manage while staring into those dark brown eyes of his.

Hector tore his eyes away from her, and leaned forward on his knees with his elbows. He shook his head as he looked at the ground. "We'll talk about _that_ later, for right now, we have more important things to deal with." He said without looking at her.

Ashley nodded her head in agreement, a silent approval between the two of them as she stepped behind Michael as to not have to look at him anymore. She got a full look of all the scars on his body, and it seems like she was correct in her conversation with Robert earlier that day. He was alive, but he is not going to be the same as he was before.

"We're here for you now," Ruby spoke up again, still beside Hector with a hand on his shoulder. "We came here to find you, and we did. So now whatever it is you needed to do, we're all going to help you with it."

Hector looked up at her with a grateful smile.

Next, Ruby looked toward the other three members of Team RWBY, who have already joined the crowd with Michael and Reggie. Ashley lingered in the background, but her intention to help was clear.

"Next time you charge into a unwinnable fight, make sure you call me first!" Yang said with a wink, smiling happily at Hector.

"I'd rather not have _both_ of you do something so stupid," Weiss added. "But I _am_ glad you are okay."

"You're an idiot." Blake said next, all eyes focused on her next. "But… you are our idiot…? Just don't do something like that again, please." She said next as a way to rectify herself.

"While I am glad you have you back Mister Rivers, I thought that the briefing of this Search and Rescue mission was clear." Glynda interrupted the happy reunion moment. "We were to find Hector here, and bring him back to Beacon. Not join in on whatever pointless crusade he was about to embark on."

"Actually… uh, Glynda I need to talk with you for a second." Robert said dragging Glynda with him to try and explain the whole situation.

"What reason do you have for this Urra?" Glynda hissed at him as she tore her arm out of his hand. "You of all people should know what we must do next."

"I know, and that's why this is complicated…" Robert sighed. "Okay, you have talked to Ozpin a lot, you know from where both me and Hector come from right?"

"I am aware of the circumstances." Glynda said in a quieter voice, after she checked that they weren't being eavesdropped on. "But what does that have to do with this?"

"I am sure you know, and realized that we know things that we shouldn't know right… I'm sure Ozpin has realised as well." Robert said.

"Get to the point Urra, we have a very possibly mentally traumatized student here with us that we have been tasked with rescuing." Glynda pointed out again.

Robert winced at the harsh truth, and then spoke. "The White Fang have a train down here that's on a track directly connected to Vale, it's full of explosives," Glynda widened her eyes at this. "And they plan to use them to draw the Grimm that remain in Mountain Glenn to the city, bypassing the walls, the guards, the police everything. Roman Torchwick is also here… and the moment he finds out about all of us, he's going to start that plan early… despite of what other people may tell him." Robert explained as best he could

"And… you _and_ Hector knew about this before the fact?" Glynda asked, turning away from him as she thought about what they had to do.

Robert swallowed, this was harder than he had thought. "Would you believe me if I said coming to this dimension also gave us some… insight on some things, both me and Hector knew far too much of this world even when we just arrived."

"That's why Hector ran back in after he escaped…" Glynda muttered underneath her breath. "This is why he constantly ran around stopping crimes sometimes before they happened, and how he always knew where to look… this is why he fought against those four people in the tower isn't it… It sounds asinine, but it also explains everything."

"Just so you know, it's not perfect… I saw one thing, many things happening, but I didn't know about the Chorus, me being a teacher… Team HAMR in any way shape or form… you and me down here… it's honestly drifting far apart more each time. And Ozpin knows about this, I know he does, he's always giving Hector and I the tools to change things… and he also just sits there and insinuates we know more than we tell." Robert finished. "I honestly don't know how it will change from here… and I also don't know how to deal with it right with Hector in this state."

"You can give me the full explanation once we are done with this." Glynda turned her back to him. "And I expect it to come from both you and Mister Rivers." She didn't give him any more time to respond, for she was already halfway there to the students and speaking out would let them hear him.

With a sigh, Robert followed.

"Okay, so we know you said that we're supposed to take Hector back to Beacon." Ruby started before Glynda could speak. "But while they were holding him Hector found out that the White Fang and Torchwick are going to try and attack the city!"

"I know Miss Rose."

"So we have to help- wait what?" Ruby blinked several times out of surprise. "Come again."

"I filled her in on what's going on." Robert said as he caught up with the group, but he mostly aimed his words at Hector, who caught the hidden meaning with a nod of his head.

"How did you know about it?" Michael questioned, stepping up to the plate to challenge Robert. "Even before, when we found those bodies, you said something about a train, and now apparently not only Hector knew about it as well, but you somehow did as well." He turned back to face Hector, looking him in the eyes. "You have known about things that you shouldn't have all semester, so the bullshit story about how you overheard it from the White Fang is something I just don't believe, but you." He turned back to Robert. "What's going on here? How come you two somehow know things you shouldn't, it doesn't make any logical sense." Michael ended his rant by crossing his arms, all of the points he put up were taken into consideration by the entire party, for they have also been wondering the same thing.

"Well… extra dimensional travel doesn't make sense for us either…" Robert murmured a bit too loud.

"Tch." Michael rolled his eyes and furrowed his brow in anger. "Again with that, if it's not Hector, then it's you, is this some kind of prank or something?" He locked eyes with Glynda. "Aren't you going to denounce some of this?"

Glynda didn't say anything in return, instead she just stared at him with the most serious expression on her face. Michael stared back with surprisingly equal intensity, but as he stared he slowly widened his eyes in realization.

"There's no way… you believe them?"

"Mister Cedric, I agree it doesn't make sense… but I have it in good authority they are not lying about this, but when they say that they are from a… different dimension, for lack of better words, they have both been telling the truth." Glynda said with a unfaltering straight face that had a truth of its own.

Michael looked away from her eyes, hand on his chin and the other draped around his torso, it looked like he was processing something, and was about to say something before he cut himself off and turned his back to the whole group.

"Wait, wait, wait." Yang waved her hands as the realization dawned upon her next. "You're telling me that Hector and Mister Urra here are from a different world!? That whole joke you kept telling before was actually real?" She asked Hector.

"Well… it's not like I tried to hide it from you guys, I just gave up when no one believed me." Hector said with a nod. "I didn't think we were about to reveal this to you guys, but the sooner the better I guess."

"That's… not possible." Weiss muttered.

"In a world where people can run at the speed of sound, fly, have animal parts, zombies made of Dust, giant robots, and literal incarnations of evil and darkness, and all other sorts of crazy things, interdimensional travel isn't the biggest surprise actually." Robert said as he crossed his arms.

"So… does that mean you guys are aliens or something?" Reggie asked with a chuckle. "Because if so, that's actually pretty cool."

"I mean… are we?" Hector asked Robert with genuine concern.

"I don't know… maybe in a sense, but we _are_ human still." Robert said with a shrug.

"That's… so… AWESOME!" Ruby shouted, speeding up to in front of Hector and gripping both of his hands much like she did before. "Does that mean you know the future? Is that why you're so strong? Is that why you're so tall!? Tell me everything!" She exclaimed as she stared into his eyes with a shimmer.

" _ **Please, get away from us."**_ Hell begged, still afraid of looking into her eyes. She didn't hear him of course.

"Uh… yes, I don't know, maybe, and later." Hector answered her questions in the order of what he actually managed to understand.

"To be fair knowledge of the future becomes harder to predict everyday, no scratch that, it can't be predicted anymore... and also about the future we don't have much time to do this." Robert said quickly

"This explains so much…" Blake muttered, missing the last part of Robert's sentence.

"Oh gosh, I made out with an alien." Ashley followed up, having a crisis of her own.

"Arf!" Zwei didn't know what was going on, but he finally managed to catch up with them all.

"Oh hey, I didn't get to meet you yet." Hector said as he started petting the dog.

He then got his hand bit.

"OW, WHY!?"

"Can we _please_ focus!?" Glynda shouted, making everyone wince and shrink into themselves.

Even Zwei released Hector's hand, and sat in his lap with a whimper.

"We don't have much time to lose, if what Hector said before is correct, then we are on a time limit. We have to stop this train before it could get started." She declared, tearing out her riding crop and aiming it down a tunnel. "Is this where we must go?" She asked Hector.

"Yeah… that's where that guy pointed before I… well." He left the last part unsaid, they all already knew. "That's the right way." He confirmed, standing up and allowing his aura to flare up around him in a thin silhouette, he managed to recover a good amount of his aura while he was resting. He thanked whatever gods of this world who blessed him with quick aura regeneration speed.

"Then this is where we must go, prepare yourselves." Glynda adjusted her glasses, and gestured for them all to follow her.

* * *

"Rufus what did I say about that box!?" Roman shouted at a random White Fang member, who looked at him with disgust and annoyance.

"Roman, Rufus died when the monster broke free."

"I know, he was my favourite animal," Roman wiped a imaginary tear from his eye. "So I will be honoring his memory by calling you specifically by his name, so, Rufus Junior, what did I say about that crate over there?" Roman pointed toward a crate full of flame dust with his cane.

Rufus Junior reluctantly followed his orders, and went to go move the damn thing onto the train. "Already on it."

"Good, keep that up and I might promote you to Rufus First Class." Roman winked as he walked off in a different direction, one where Neo is forcing two of the grunts to massage her feet while eating ice cream. "Enjoying yourself?"

Neo nodded her head up and down happily as she scooped another spoonful into her mouth.

"Great, because you need to stop enjoying yourself now." He said as he pulled Neo up to her feet, and dismissed the two grunts who ran away to do literally anything else. "I _did_ say that I needed you to be actively scouting the surrounding tunnels just in case your little boy toy decided that he wants to play hero again, right?"

Neo rolled her eyes and pouted, but nodded her head.

"I thought I had a good memory, I would suggest that you-"

"Roman." A cocky voice sounded up to him.

"Oh, the kids are here!" Roman exclaimed as he turned around to see Emerald and Mercury standing before him, holding his arms out beside him like he was offering them a hug. "Any news kiddos?"

"Other than an entire patrol being wiped out, no, not much." Mercury said in an annoyed voice.

"We lost contact with the South West tunnel patrols is what he means." Emerald reported.

Roman sighed and reached into his pocket to pull out a cigar, lighting it up with his cane and puffing out a cloud of smoke. "Let me guess, our little hero is coming back for a second round?"

"I wouldn't be surprised, this time however we may have to take him down, which means we are going to need some people with the skill of a huntsman. That means you, by the way." Emerald said with a satisfied smirk when she saw the actual fear drape across Roman's features.

"Yeah, against the thing that killed off half of our guys, which was more than _fifty_ by the way, and also killed my favorite animal with his own chainsaw weapon. Yeah, I think I'll pass, you two should too." Roman said as he twirled his cane. "Luckily, I know a great spot where we can hold out! I think that is where I'll be going now, feel free to join me!" He said as he beckoned Neo to follow him.

"I don't think that will happen Roman." Another new and much more dangerous voice sounded out from behind him, making Roman visibly shiver as he heard it.

 _Oh for the love of…_ "Aaron, sir, I'm guessing this is the part where I join in the apprehension of a pal of ours?"

"No, this would be the moment we discuss him, and the many others that also have breached into the subway." Aaron said in a grim tone.

"Oh great, he has friends with him this time." Roman sighed. "You know we're not going to be able to defend against Big Red and his little posse right?" He almost asked how he knew about Hector not being alone, but knowing how scary this guy can be, he figured that he found out his own way.

"`Big Red` is not as scary as you believe him to be, at least not right now. And what makes you think we can't?" Aaron asked, a clear testing question.

"Well… these two kids, Neo, _and_ Cinder fought against just _one_ of them, and that was when he was weaker than than he is now. So yeah, I don't really like our odds."

"You seem to have failed to notice that he was not nearly strong or good enough to defeat them unless he pushed his semblance beyond his limits, and even then he still lost, and your little mute rat here only interfered in the last moments." Neo stared daggers at Aaron, and he dared her to do something about it, but she looked away and to the ground, making him scoff.

"So it was just a three on one. At most, he _might_ be able to defeat those two over there on his own, but not Cinder, I taught her better than that, she could have defeated him on her own if she simply didn't take him so lightly, and besides he's not the issue, his other friend is here… what did you call him? Urra?" Aaron asked.

"Yeah, Blue is what I call him. What about him? I can take him if that is what you're worried about." Roman said with a shrug, Aaron almost chuckled.

"With what he did at the tunnels… you'll impress me if you do. That's not the actual issue, both of them and their other friends seem to be going right here, with purpose. Did you tell him anything about the train while you tortured him?" Aaron demanded.

"I didn't tell him anything, Neo mostly dealt with with the whole torture thing. We weren't able to get anything out of him, and we had to stop when we realized he was just getting stronger out of it." Roman sighed softly as he remembered what he watched happen. "Even starving him out didn't work, I showed you the footage. When he broke free of those chains, he was a completely different person. Killed over half a hundred of the grunts, most of them had aura, and then he went on to kill Rufus, he was the best I had here. He was a monster, that kid." Roman explained.

"Why are you explaining me this as if it made a difference to me?" Aaron asked

"Hey, I know you'd probably be able to deal with him, but what if you don't get to him in time? I got my own skin to look out for you know, and Neo's." Roman said.

"Roman." Aaron said a bit more menacingly. "Do you have any idea how much he knows? Does anyone knows how much he knows?" He asked the whole group.

Emerald and Mercury looked away from his gaze, Roman managed to keep it, albeit barely, and Neo looked away from him long before anyone else did.

"He knows about things he shouldn't…" Mercury spoke to him quietly.

"Like the book store, about us, about Cinder." Emerald followed up.

"And about Neo and I." Roman finished with a sigh. "We get it, he knows too much, you'll get your chance to question him yourself when he gets here."

"Was he there just in time at that book store you mentioned, did he ever seem at least one step ahead?"

"Almost every time, we were only able to lead him into a trap in the CCT because we planned ahead specifically for him." Emerald said.

"Uh huh… so I can assume that at least one of them is a prophet then, and a precise one too… that explains a lot, maybe both of them…"

"What are you-"

"Say Roman, if I wasn't here, if you never had him held here, and maybe even if Emerald and Mercury weren't here, what would you have done if a group of huntsmen or huntresses found this place? And I want you to be sincere." Aaron demanded again, leaving no room for questions to be asked.

"Well… if you want me to be honest. I probably would have started the train early, because if I didn't, all this time we spent getting this thing ready would have been for nothing. Might as well do _some_ damage right?" Roman explained honestly, and simply.

"Well, I want you to do just that."

"Pardon?"

"Start the train Roman." Aaron said in a commanding tone.

"Oh, okay then." Roman nodded and turned to face the White Fang. "All of you saddle up! We're starting this train ride early!" He shouted to them all, causing a small degree of panic as they all finished whatever it was they were doing and started entering the train itself. "You know, when I said all that I really wasn't expecting you to say yes to it." Roman said as he looked over to his shoulder.

"I'm just making sure of something…" Aaron said offhandedly. "Get to the front of the train, all three of you." He said to Emerald, Roman, and Mercury. "And you, mute one, are coming with me." He pointed to Neo, who widened her eyes with surprise. "Yes you, I'll explain why to you later."

"Okay… I don't mean to question your authority, but I can't help but be just a little worried about this sudden turn of events." Roman said even as Emerald and Mercury strode up beside him without even giving it a second thought.

"Then don't be worried." Aaron simply said. "Just obey, and you'll have nothing to worry about. Just remember the plan."

 _For some reason, that makes me worry even more_. Roman thought as he nodded his head lightly, and then shared a glance with Neo to give her his silent farewells. He was pulled along by Emerald and Mercury right after, to the front of the train.

Aaron let Neo step up into the train first, then he looked off into the distance of the tunnel where his desired targets would most likely come through. He smirked to himself as he already heard the sounds of fighting.

"I can sense both of you getting closer… please, do fall right into place for me, it'll make our day."

* * *

Glynda walks forward, her shoulders tense and semblance active, not that the White Fang challenging her have noticed yet. They tried to shoot her but each bullet is stopped by a barrier before it could even touch her aura. Behind her is a storm of rubble, bullets, and rock surrounding her like an aura. Before all at once, she shoots it out like a cone in front of her, knocking those out of cover unconscious and destroying the covers of those that were smart enough to take it. Some stones even became guided projectiles chasing after the ones that ran away, leaving trails of purple in their way.

From behind the aura of purple, a blur of red and blue burst out from behind her, the blue one going to the left side of the tunnel, blue lightning trailing behind him, and the red one to the right, leaving flames trailing behind him.

"Kaioken!" Hector shouted, his eyes turning red as he dashed toward his enemies.

"Kaio-what?" One of the White Fang members asked right before he got punched in the stomach, spittle and blood spilling out of his mouth as he felt something crack in his stomach. He was thrown into the wall with the momentum that came with his fist. Next, Hector slid on his knees to dodge a flurry of bullets, before springing off his toes up to the ceiling, before kicking himself back down like a missile toward two other grunts, cracking the stone where he landed hard, and while they were in mid air he kicked one like a soccer ball right in the forehead, while at the same time elbowing the one behind him in the back of his head, knocking them both out at the same time. "I so didn't mean to do that." He said as he continued forward, bulldozing through weakened rubble and shoulder charging the one on the other side.

The one member flying to their went in another direction as Robert rushed as a mass of lightning with a flying roundhouse, he then sped up again with both his lightning blades started attacking the rest of the White Fang. Just like in the warehouse he slashed shoulders, arm and legs to get them incapacitated while dodging with side skillful side steps and countering with vicious judo throws and kicks, he moved left and right never staying in one place and not leaving time for them to even fire on a single spot. After cutting through several members with multiple slashes in one swift dash he turned around to another group and lightning dashed in with roundhouse kicks, elbows, punches and also arm breakers and leg breakers before going back to using his blades, no one was able to even touch him, and he was just ruthless and relentless on his attacks.

A punch to left and kicks to the right with multiple blade slashes in the direction behind as he used one member as a springboard to fight more people, he stopped for a second and looked around, then he spotted multiple shooter in high perches and other groups, that's when he started to throw lightning bolts and launching missiles and grenades of lightning, jumping high to aim and fire them while still moving like a blur and slashing and snapping bones of every White Fang member that appeared on his path. "Heh heh… oooh it's been too long."

"It hasn't been long enough for me." Hector said to him right as he landed next to him, his flames burning hot around his arms along with the flame dust he activated midfight. He kicked off to the right again and with flaming hands he punched the weapon out of his hands, and then grasping the member by the collar of his shirt and slamming him against the wall, red eyes burning angrily as he readied his other fist to punch him in the face.

"I-I surrender!" The White Fang member pleaded, it was a young girl by the sound of it, not a man like he thought he was dealing with.

" _ **Kill…"**_ A demon's voice said in the back of his mind, filling him with rage.

A flashback of memories filled his mind a second later. He gritted his teeth and furrowed his brow, throwing his fist forward and crushing it against the concrete right beside the girls head, making her screech out of fear as he dropped her and turned away.

"Don't move." Hector demanded as his hands shook in front of him, the trauma of everything he has been through was affecting him still, it wasn't about to go away anytime soon.

Robert moved in to roundhouse kick a guy that was about to strike Hector from behind, right in the gut and knocking him to the ground with a punch. "Are you okay?" He asked as he unsheathed his blades again, and slashed more people that came close to them, launched a guided missile in the air and started to shoot a stream of lightning to another group of White Fang, electrocuting, making them scream and subduing them.

"I'll manage." Hector said simply, and didn't thank him as he charged off ahead of him, only to be cut off my a blur of yellow.

"What did I say about charging into fights without me?" Yang asked as she ran by, jumping into the fray before he could. Hector smirked and joined her, and with flashes of orange the two of them fought together in a different part of the tunnel where another pack of White Fang were taking shots at them. Hector caught up quickly, and ricocheted a bullet off of his gauntlet and let Yang jump in front of him. Ember Celica smoked as she fired two explosive flares toward the one who tried to shoot him, and an orange explosion blew up from beneath him.

One tried to come up from behind Hector, but he was anticipating it this time, raising his left forearm to make good use of the Etricium gauntlet, the bat broke into splinters off of the metal, and the grunt looked at him, back down to his bat, and then back up to him and smiled nervously.

"Surrender." Hector simply demanded.

The White Fang members got onto his knees and placed his hands behind his head. Hector turned back around and together with Yang, kept pushing forward against the other seven members.

Ashley Cain fought ruthlessly, she moved with great speed and her thin frame allowed for incredible agility. She held one of her blades in a reverse grip, and the other in a regular grip. With the two blades she cut apart bullets that came at her. She kept moving like that as she caught up with a group of six White Fang members, her faunus ears felt something whiz right in between them. She didn't want to think about what could have happened if it hit her ear.

"Traitor!" One of the grunts yelled at her as they tried to slam the butt of her gun into her face.

Ashley parried the attack easily, then slashed an X on the front of the woman's body, cutting away at her aura.

"I was never with you in the first place!" Ashley shouted back as she kicked the woman in the stomach with strength she didn't know she had. Her dark blue eyes flared angrily as the other five came at her at once. It all went on in slow motion from there. Ashley showed off the skill that she had by bending backwards at an unnatural angle, kicked her feet up along with her to strike the man directly in the groin and then with the strength of her legs threw him off behind her. She landed on all fours and dashed to the side as a hailstorm of bullets came at her at near point blank range, then Ashley ricocheted one bullet into the gun of another, exploding the dust that was in the magazine and nearly blowing off that one's hands, he still lost three fingers in the process however.

He went down screaming in pain, and now it was just four left. Ashley blocked and reflected more bullets, hitting someone else in the knee, that one had no aura, and so she was now out of the fight. Then she got close enough to slash three times in the span of a second, one at the thigh, then the side, and the last one at his shoulder. Before ending the combo with another vicious roundhouse kick into his face, sending him flying to the other side of the tunnel.

One more left, and this one seemed to be of a higher rank then the others before them. It didn't mean anything to Ashley however, she was trained by Sienna Khan herself, she wouldn't be taken down my mere grunts. She ducked under the blade that this one had with her, dual swords like her own. Ashley reflected the other blade as she tried to stab her in the face, and then with a loud bright blue spark, she perfectly parried a angled downward slash, and cut away at the woman's midsection, her blades taking a majority of her aura with it.

While she winced in pain, Ashley slid in between her legs, cutting both of her knees as she did so. The woman fell to the ground, and her aura was spent. She must have not had that much aura either. Ashlye finished it off by stabbing the woman in the hip, an intentional non fatal stab wound that she would survive from.

"Fucking… Bitch." The woman rasped as she fell to her side.

Ashleys dog ears twitched in her direction, followed up by a smug smirk.

"You're damn right I am." She said as she ran off into a different direction.

Away from them, not one, but two chains with sickles at the end of them wrapped around the arm and leg of one of his enemies. Mike pulled on his chain and lifted them off the ground, telling them around his body once and threw them into another. Knocking them both down and severely damaged their auras. Straight after, without even looking, he used his semblance to create a bubble around himself just as bullets were about to hit him, the metal fell to the ground into many little pieces.

"Coming in!" Reggie yelled as he swung his battleaxe like a golf club, catching his own opponent on the shin and making them flip twice into the air. Before they could land, Reggie swung the axe like a bat next, and like the baseball that his poor enemy was, they were hit into a wall, embedding themselves there. Next, he turned his right side into metal and blocked a flurry bullets that bounced off of his metallic skin with sparks.

Michael got an idea as he watched his partner and boyfriend get pinned down by bullets, with both of his chains, he swung them and wrapped them around two different White Fang members, and then pulled them off balance. At the same time, he created a half bubble shield to his right side, and let the chains hit the side of the bubble, flinging the two members into the group of faunus that were shooting at his boyfriend. The tumbled into a bundle of limbs, and once he retracted his chains back, he created another half bubble over the top of them, pinning them down.

"Thank you my love!" Reggie exclaimed, blowing a kiss in his direction.

"Mhm." Mike hummed as he kept the members pinned there, and moved his body around the shield he created for himself to protect him from another barrage of bullets. "I'm just a little pinned down here is all, a little help?" He called out to Team RWBY, the ones that were actually fighting together as a team.

Weiss and Ruby broke off from Blake, who went to go assist Glynda Goodwitch as she faced a horde of enemies of her own. Ruby used her speed to grab Michael, the two of them appearing as a flurry of red and green as Weiss created an ice barrier around the five members of the White Fang that Michael managed to pin down with just the use of his semblance.

"Thanks." Michael said as he and Ruby stopped behind Reggie, whose whole body was now metal as he stopped bullets from hitting the two of them. Mike hid the fact that he was a little nauseous after the sudden burst of speed.

"No problem, lets keep going!" Ruby exclaimed as she shot Crescent Rose off to her side to give her a burst of speed. "Ice Flower!" She called out their team attack name to her partner after stabbing the blade of her weapon into the ground once she got into a good sniping position.

Weiss nodded her head in understanding, and rose Myrtenaster up to place a glyph around Ruby's rifle, right as Ruby herself loaded bullets into her weapon. The glyph turned red as it charged up, and with a smirk and precise aim, she pulled the trigger. An explosion of ice followed up from in the middle of the majority of the White Fang group huddled up in one of the substations. They were all frozen in ice with only their heads exposed so that they could breathe, and though some weren't nearly as lucky, the ones who gave up fighting were already trying to hack away at the ice.

Michael aimed at them with both of his sickles, holding them both out like handguns. With a press of a button, they transformed into mini submachine guns.

"Woah, Mike don't!" Reggie cried, fearing the worst.

Instead of shooting those who were trying to free their comrades, instead he shot the ice itself with a fire round. It melted the ice enough so that the ones trapped underneath the ice were still trapped, but were now able to breathe.

Reggie looked back at Michael as he put one of his weapons away, back to the usual one Kusarigama that he was known for. "What?" Michael asked, confused by the absolutely lit up expression Reggie had on his face.

"You do care about other people!" Reggie cried as he hugged Mike, picking him up into the air even as a bullet bounced off of his metal skin.

Despite the situation, Michael blushed at the intimate gesture. "R-Reggie! Now is not the time for this!" He cried as he tried to pry himself out of his grip.

As those two were having a moment, Robert laughed at the sight, earning a death glare from Michael. "I am so scared for that match." He said sarcastically, he immediately rushed away after choking out White Fang member he had in stranglehold, he let him fall unconscious.

He went right next to Blake who was fighting her own group of members, he dashed in slashing and kicking seven member down and launching two point blank bolts at others nearby, they started to target him. But that's when Blake appeared behind them and subdued them using the hilts of Gambol Shroud the and flat end of her blades to knock people down, three people went down and the started to shoot at her, she used her semblance to disappear and jump away and in quickly came Robert. Shooting lightning and slashing legs, he electrocuted one member, slashed at other two and caught another one with a reverse elbow all in a fluid motion before creating his shields to defend against some quick bullets and strikes that came his way, then Blake appeared again hitting the attackers behind the head, delivering a quick to another and opening space for Robert to attack.

This tag team continued, they fought awfully well, they knew when to cover each other and how not to get in each other's way, it worked incredibly well, then Robert made a sign for Blake to toss him one end of Gambol Shroud, she did an together they dashed in with their respective Semblance and together wrapped the black ribbon around a large group of the White Fang at incredible speed, once they were all wrapped up Robert electrocuted them running lightning through black ribbon, they were all knocked out in seconds.

"Phew… nicely done." Robert said his hand into a fist bump for Blake.

"Yes… good work." Blake said, and then stared at his fist for a few awkward seconds. She slowly rose her fist up and weakly pounded it against his fist.

"That's the spirit." Robert said as he turned around and quickly dashed against another group.

Blake stood there as she caught her breath, and then heard quick soft steps coming up from behind her, she turned around ready to fend the threat off. But her eyes only widened with terror.

"Arf!" Zwei barked, jumping into her chest and licking her face.

As Blake fought to push Zwei off of her face, Glynda pushed onward, using her semblance to hoist Zwei off of her so that she could escape. As she ran, Hector and Yang jumped down beside her, both of them on fire with what she hopes is coming from their semblances and both with red eyes, on her other side, Robert appeared as a mass of lighting, running alongside her with both of his swords off to his sides. Ruby sped up beside her sister and Hector, after that, the rest caught up slowly but surely. Weiss running behind Robert, and Blake running away from Zwei to her right. Mike and Reggie appeared on either side respectively. Lastly, Ashley flipped in from behind them. Running alongside Weiss on her other side and in between Glynda. Blue eyes met blue and they nodded to each other.

The small army of ten, eleven if you count Zwei, sprinted down the tunnels, as the cohesive unit they now were, the remaining White Fang that blocked their path were of little issue. Easily being batted aside by the teamwork between Team HAMR and RWBY. They saw a light at the end of the tunnel, and as the opening grew larger, they saw a long silver train, more White Fang around and stolen paladins already active and blocking their path.

"Okay, fuck these guys." Hector said as he powered up further, his eyes shining even brighter. "Hey Rob, You like teamwork right? Kaioken times eight!" He screamed as his speed multiplied many times, and he bursted ahead of everyone else.

"You piece of… okay fine, let's just do it quick!" Robert relented as he powerd himself up and dashed at even faster speeds and appeared as a mass of lightning behind the first paladin

From the front, Hector roared and threw his first forward, and when it connected a massive explosion fired off out of his Dragon Fist. The dragon design on his shirt also glowed red as he roared and threw the paladin up into the air slightly with his fist, his muscles screamed and swelled up as he pushed his body and weight into the haymaker, and straight toward a waiting Robert. He threw a massive thunderbolt at it's back that made it lost balance and dashed with slashes at the back of the legs, he climbed up jumped oversive Mech in a swift motion leaving lightning grenades behind and making them explode and from the air started firing a torrent of lighting missiles and thunder bolts. He immediately dodged out of the way of an actual missile and blocked another one combined with machine gun fire with his shields.

As he was blocking the bullets, Hector spun the dials on his Dragon fists. It stopped on lightning as he slammed his knee straight into the back of the paladins knee, forcing it to buckle over and start missing Robert, and then with a roar mixed with two loud voices, he threw his fist toward the other leg as it was stood up in front of him. His muscles swelled up even larger and his veins started to pop out of his forehead and arm as he thrusted his arm forward once again, his knuckles and aura slamming into the leg of the paladin with crackling yellow electricity which turned orange when mixed into his aura.

"TIMES TEN!" Hector screamed and for a split second his body went as far as he needed it to, and he blasted the leg off of the paladin and jumped away before it could fall on top of him. He clutched at his heart as it beated painfully, but he already did all he needed to do and he lowered himself down back to safer levels.

The paladin somehow managed to land on it's stump of a missing leg and was about to shoot with missile that came from it's arm Hector, he prepared himself to take it head on with his arms crossed over each other, since he didn't have the needed speed to dodge it currently. His eyes and aura flashed a dark purple out of pure hatred as he readied himself to take on a missle, but Robert dashed in charge with lightning, and with a spinning jump he cut the arm of the Paladin right off, he threw two thunderbolts to disorient and short circuit what was left of the paladin, followed by a lightning missile, then he literally dropped kicked the center of it and viciously started slicing and hacking away at the different parts of the central plate, after over a dozen slashes he drove his palm into the center and with an explosion the armor came off in several pieces… and so did other parts of the paladin, the cabin was still intact however, with his blades he cut it right open to to a terrified White Fang member.

"I… uh-" He didn't get time to finish as Robert grabbed him by the throat and then punched him to the ground, leaving him unconscious.

"Well… hah… that hurt." Hector said as he clutched at his chest, but still smiled at Rob and held his fist out for him to bump it. "Teamwork makes the dream work as they say right?"

" _ **I seriously hate you for saying that."**_ Hell commented

" _Shut up, I'm having a moment."_ Hector thought back to Hell.

"I only wish for the dream to keep on going." Robert said as bumped the fist and gave Hector a hand. "Seriously… don't always do that, it scares me."

"Hey, you're not the only one who got stronger." Hector said as he looked toward the train, his eyes turning back to brown temporarily. "My body has taken much worse, trust me." He added as an afterthought right as his eyes turned red again, his aura coming back to life as his eyes locked onto the train. He was thinking about who could be on that train, and there was a few people he didn't mind getting some payback on.

"Fair enough, now we just need to… are those guys over there bunching up?" Robert said as he spotted a group of White Fang gunners.

"I… it looks like that." Hector said with a confused arch of his eyebrow.

Right then and there, Glynda and the others finally caught up to them all, their eyes set angrily on the two of them.

"Seriously, I am not built for running." Reggie said with a pant as he let his metal fade away from his skin. "Being around 800 pounds is hard when you're sprinting."

"What's going on here?" Mike asked, ignoring Reggie entirely as he looked at the bundle of White Fang members.

"Uh… people made a mistake, okay where is he?" Immediately after that Robert whistled with both his fingers, immediately Zwei appeared next to him. "It's time for the fluff zaper boy." Robert said to Zwei.

"Arf!" Zwei barked and immediately became a ball that Robert grabbed, charged with lightning, shaken violently and as if it was a game of hot potato threw him at the group of gunners. As soon as Zwei came close to them he stopped being a tiny ball of fur and exploded in a mass of lightning, electrocuting every gunner while Zwei was hovering above them with spiky hair and a doggy smile almost looking like some sort of disco ball.

"Aahaha ha, glorious!" Robert shouted with his fist raised.

"Huh, that was cool." Hector said with a chuckle. "Okay, so while that is happening, we need to get on that train- and shit the train is moving already. Lets go!" Hector exclaimed as he started sprinting again, multiplying his speed by five so he can catch up with the large machine.

Ruby beat him to it, grabbing the closest person to her which was Ashley, and using her semblance to burst herself and her to the top of the train, they landed on the second train car, Glynda was next, using her semblance to raise a slab of rock out of the ground, and allowing Reggie to step on it along with her, she used that to propel both of them toward the train, landing on the back of it just in time before it got too fast for them. Michael swung his chain as hard and as far as he could, hooking it around a girder, and then he ran back as far as he could, and jumped, retracting his chain so that he could get some height and unhooking his sickle so that he could slingshot himself toward the train, he barely made it in time, it was only thanks to the help of Glynda's semblance that he was able to land on the back of the train. Robert used his lightning as a burst of speed, much like Ruby did, and landed along beside her.

On the bottom, Hector grabbed onto the second train car safety bar, and pulled himself up, he used on hand to hold himself there as he reached out his other toward Yang, Blake, and Weiss, who are all using speed glyphs so that they can catch up with the train. He helped Blake up first, and then pulled up Yang, Weiss started lagging behind as the train sped up.

"Hold onto me!" Hector yelled to Yang, who gripped his hand just in time as he let go of the metal bar, and leaned out even further to just barely catch Weiss' hand, and then with his strength he pulled himself and her onto the train. The speed glyphs disappeared soon after.

The rest of his team were on top of the train, along with Ruby, Glynda, and Robert. He was left with Weiss, Blake, and Yang inside of the train. It was almost too unbelievable that the same people would end up in the same roles on this train mission. But with everything he's been through, he could believe it.

"Rob! You hear me?" He yelled out to the top of the train as the girls he was with entered the train car itself.

No answer.

"Oh great." Hector went inside the train car next, sliding the door shut behind him. "Well, we're on our own for now." He said as he met everyone else's eyes.

"We can do damage on the inside, and also find a way to stop this thing." Yang said as she prepared to destroy the coupling keeping the train cars together.

Hector pulled her back before she could. "In case you forgot the rest of our party our still up there!" He berated her. "There's also bombs in the train cars, remember? Even if you did let one go it would just blow up the streets above us and every single Grimm in a mile will hear it. That's what they want us to do."

"Ugh, I get it." Yang said with a shake of her head. "Alright then, since you're a leader, it looks like we are your teammates for now."

"Oh lovely." Hector hung his head and shook it. She seemed to have forgotten that he hasn't really got the chance to be a leader for a while now.

"I agree with Yang here." Blake said.

"I don't even want to ask why, lets just keep going." Hector said with a wave of his hands as he strolled to the end of that train car.

A flash of memories hit him hard, the same train car splattered with blood, bodies littering the floor, blood dripping from his hands and mouth as he cackles maniacally. Then back to reality, where he clutched his heart again in pain.

" _ **We've been here before."**_ Hell pointed out the obvious.

"Oh really, I didn't know." Hector said out loud, and then curses himself for doing so.

"What? We didn't say anything." Yang questioned, one of her eyebrows arching up in confusion.

"How's all of your aura?" Hector asked, dodging the question entirely.

"Oh, well, I'm at 80%, still plenty to play around with."

"83%." Blake said simply.

"With what I just did to get us over here, I only have 48% left." Weiss rasped, sweat still dropping from her face.

"Right… well, Weiss you stay back as we take care of the other occupants of this train, Yang and Blake will fight them head on with me. Sound like a plan?"

"Sounds like a plan." Yang echoed.

"Great…" Hector cocked his Dragon Fists. "I hope everyone has their tickets, because if not, I'm going to drop the _HAMR_ on them."

Only Yang snickered at his pun.

* * *

The top the train was far more chaotic, another paladin showed up, but this one was dealt with much more ease then the one before. Glynda stopped the projectiles while both Ruby and Robert hacked at the legs, Reggie came in full iron and shoulder bashed it and striked with his battle axe, Ashley and Mike hacked away the guns at the top, after that Glynda held it in place and threw two massive boulders taken straight from the walls to it, after that Robert sliced of one of the legs and an arm while Ashley and Ruby worked together to slice the other leg. Robert fired missiles and thunder bolts, and sliced the main piece of armor, once again and explosion of lightning came from the center, Glynda then grabbed hold of it and tared the armor apart, Mike grabbed the Fang member inside the cabin with his chain and tossed him his comrades while Glynda and Robert pushed off the remains the paladin off the train together.

It seemed like there was more White Fang on the outside of the train then in it, and the blistering wind speed of how fast this train was moving didn't make things any easier.

Ruby and Michael have been tasked with defusing the bombs. Since Ruby is a tech geek, she knew a lot about explosives, and Michael followed her around from train car to train car, using his semblance to defend them both from any and all ranged attacks.

On the front line was Robert, Glynda, Reggie, Ashley, and of course, Zwei, who hitched a ride on Roberts foot right before he took off. They all took on the role of clearing the top of the train of enemies, but they just kept coming. Everytime they got rid of a few, another dozen would pop up, along with yet another paladin.

"How's it going back there Ruby!?" Reggie asked as he tanked a rocket propelled grenade with his metallic body, not even being scratched by it.

"Almost done with this one!" Ruby yelled back to him. "Got it!" She exclaimed when she cut the right wire, and the bomb was successfully deactivated right as the counter hit seven seconds.

"We have to push forward again!" Glynda yelled as she used her semblance to throw an already defeated paladin off of the train. They moved as a unit, Ruby and Michael in the back providing covering fire.

"There's just so much being shot at us, how are we going to keep going?" Reggie asked as his metal skin was forced to cover only the front of his body.

"Agh!" Ashley cried, her aura taking a big blow as she was blasted backward, Ruby caught her before she could fall off the train.

Michael heard them, and realized that without more protection, they wouldn't be able to keep going like this. He shut his eyes and his hands glowed green with aura and light, he had a small bubble in his hands which slowly expanded to greater size, it covered Ruby and himself, but he needed more. He cracked his eyes open to see that the situation wasn't getting any better, Robert and Glynda were forced to fight more defensively since they were behind them, they couldn't afford to go out either.

Michael needed to surpass himself, it was time to test out his new move.

"HAH!" he roared as he threw his hands out to the side, palms outward. His green bubble expanded widely, covering their entire train car in length, and even larger in width. He grit his teeth and stepped forward, the bubble moving with him. "I can't hold this up for long… GO!" He yelled at Robert and Glynda, who were shocked to see a projection of aura so massive surrounding the entire train car. All of the projectiles exploded harmlessly on the shield, nothing that they threw at them was able to pierce it.

"This is so cool!" Ruby cheered as she went to work on the next bomb under the protection of the green shield.

"Not bad Michael, keep it up! Glynda, I think is time for the heavy artillery to let loose." Robert said.

"After you apprentice." Glynda agreed.

They were allowed through the barrier and rushed the members of the White Fang, Glynda created her own barrier with runes and symbols in front of them defending them, Robert then put his hand on a triangle again, he began to be surrounded by sparks and lightning, the barrier and the runes began to be electrified as well, and as Robert stretched the triangle he formed with his hands and Glynda pointed her riding crop to the gunners, from the purple barrier and runes came a ridiculous amount of purple and lighting missiles, scatter lightning bombs, bolts, beams of purple aura and pretty much any kind of projectile imaginable came and just bombarded the members of the White Fang without mercy. Many of the just collapsed, other members went off the edge of the train due to the massive amount of explosions.

"That should buy some time." Robert said as the purple barrier disappeared.

"You should go on ahead, we won't get another chance to rush forward and get them before they can get up here. I can hold here." Glynda proposed to Robert.

"Hmm, very well." Robert said as he crouched down slightly, charged up and then became a lighting blur that started running on the side of the wall next to the train, avoiding the White Fang members and going straight past them to where they were coming from, he appeared on a blur and knocked down several members he appeared next to.

"Hello friends." He said as he began taking them down relentlessly.

* * *

The fight on the inside of the train was much more manageable, with Weiss providing support in the back, and Yang and hector just on their own in the front were able to push through many train cars without much difficulty. Blake ended up being the ranged attack because of the speed of which Hector and Yang plowed through their enemies.

That all stopped when they entered the next train car, there were no White Fang, just an empty room, with a smirking girl with an ice cream based outfit. She blew a kiss toward Hector as soon as she saw him entering the room.

"Neo…" Hector growled through his teeth angrily, his eyes turning purple instead of red out of anger. "I have a bone to pick with this one, you three keep going on ahead."

"Like hell I am!" Yang exclaimed, stepping up beside him. "Remember what I said before? No more having fun without me, and besides." She cocked Ember Celica. "I have a bone to pick with this one too."

"We should be able to defeat her if we _all_ worked together." Weiss pointed out.

"You two don't have to fight on your own, this girl was able to go toe to toe with Professor Urra, she is dangerous." Blake added.

"Oh you have no idea." Hector said with a dark chuckle, stepping forward. "You three chose me to be your temporary leader, I am ordering you two, Weiss and Blake, to keep going forward and find a way to stop the train. Yang and I here will be more than enough for just her."

" _ **I love this killing intent you have brother… I can't wait to see what you'll do to her."**_

"I am making an exception with this one." Hector said as he cocked his Dragon Fists. "You two, go, now. She won't stop you."

"How do you know that?"

"Because I do, just go."

Reluctantly, Weiss and Blake gave up on convincing him otherwise, instead, they ran by Neo. Who of course did not try to stop them from running straight past her and into the next train car.

Neo bowed toward Yang and Hector, who both entered nearly identical mirrored stances. They almost sprung straight toward Neo, but stopped when they saw another man step into the room, even taller than Hector, hazel eyes locked onto his purple as he smirked at him.

"Good to finally meet you, prophet." Aaron said as he took his hands out of his pocket and cracked his knuckles.

"Who the hell are you?" Hector asked, eyes flashing angrily. "Friend or Foe?"

"My name is Aaron Hayes, and to answer your question, I could be either, if you could just come with me without causing any problems." Aaron said as he stepped forward and stopped beside Neo, and cracked his neck. "Though, I think I already know what you'll choose."

Hector took a step forward, and threw his arm forward to blast a ball of fire toward the man. "Hows that for an answer!?" He yelled through the plume of smoke.

Aaron was unphased, he simply sighed and brushed some dust off of his coat as he looked back toward Hector. "A predictable choice… and a predictable attack, one you're going to regret." He said as he entered a very centered and tight yet relaxed fighting stance. "Don't say I didn't give you a chance to join me without any violence."

Hector `Tched` as he readied himself for combat. "I'll take this one… you deal with Neo." He knew that Yang wouldn't be able to beat her, but he felt like he had to be the one to face this man. Something just told him that he had to, and it wasn't Hell.

"Be careful, I don't like the look of that guy." Yang said as she sprung off the back of her foot, and charged at Neo. They began their fight in a different part of the train car as Hector and Aaron stared each other down.

"Kaioken!" Hector screamed as he charged at him, throwing his fist towards Aaron's face.

It was blocked with two fingers that went to the side of the fist. Hector widened his eyes when he used those same fingers to redirect his entire arm, and then kick him straight in the gut. Spittle and blood came flying out of his mouth as he was launched into the back of the train car, his back bouncing off the metal as he landed on all fours, clutching his belly in pain.

"I'll stop hurting you if you come with me." Aaron said as he walked toward him, a bored expression on his face.

"Tch, like I'd do that!" Hector roared as he sprung off his heels. "Times seven!" He screamed as he fainted a right hook, and went low to kick the knee out of the taller man. Aaron kicked his leg out and completely overpowered his own leg, and then grabbed him by the face and slammed him into the floor, the metal denting as he was pushed into it.

"Weak! How could someone such as you ever managed to give Cinder that black eye?" He taunted as he grinded the back of his head into the floor.

Hector's eyes shone as he gripped Aarons hand with both of his, and pried it off with Kaioken times ten strength. He swung his legs over his arm and locked them. Keep Aaron's arm stuck in an arm bar, and with all his strength his tried to break it.

That single arm was strong enough to stop it from being bent into an unnatural angle, and he was lifted up into the air by that same arm. A fist drove itself into his kidney and Hector almost let go right there, and then another one hit him and he let go. Sliding off his arm and kicking off of his shoulder to gain some distance.

He knelt on the ground, one eye squeezed shut as he held onto his side with a grimace.

"Can't you see it's useless?" Aaron asked as he fixed his sleeve. "Your resistance is needless, you will either come with me willingly, or with your body broken."

"Or… and hear me out here." Hector stood up again, and with defiance his aura started to flare up again, a deep red mixed with some purple as gre angrier. "You can go fuck yourself."

Aaron sighed and rolled his eyes, even as Hector pushed even farther past his limits.

"I was hoping to not have to go this far… but, well, since when did anything ever go my way?" Hector asked through gritted teeth, his muscles increased in size, and the pain was excruciating, even worse then how it was when he fought Cinder.

"KAIOKEN TIMES FIFTEEN!" He roared, and the train car was lit up with a dark red.

Aaron simply rolled his shoulders, and stepped forward.

"Come then, let me see his power. It might be a good warmup for me."

Hector charged at him not a second later.

* * *

Weiss and Blake made it to the front train car, and yes, they did find Torchwick. What they weren't expected was to find two others with him, and to find themselves outnumbered, and outmatched. Blake was busy fighting with the silver haired boy, and Weiss was stuck against the green haired girl and Roman. She was losing horribly.

Her aura was low, she didn't have any time to use any of her glyphs, and she just wasn't fast enough to keep up with the two of them. She found herself on her back, with the end of a cane pointed toward her face.

"I'd rather not mess up that cute face of yours, but orders are orders." Roman taunted as the front of the cane flipped open. "You can't be allowed to stop this train, sayonara!"

Weiss shut her eyes tight and waited for a death or at least massive hurting, it never came, instead, she heard the top of the train car open up, and then crackling lighting. Before she knew it, she was dragged backward and the sound of a grunt was heard.

Blake managed to beat back Mercury, and then regrouped with her and who she now knows is one of her teachers. This one being Robert Urra.

"Yeah… you made a big mistake there Roman... no one here is allowed to kill my students." Robert said as stood between Weiss and the trio that was Emerald, Mercury, and Roman.

"Ah! Blue, it has been so long. How've you been man?" Roman asked with a very sarcastic happiness in his voice.

"Went through literal shit and to hell and back, thanks for asking." Robert said.

"Sounds about right, but hey, at least we're going to be leaving you alive once we're done putting the kids in timeout." Roman said as he twirled his cane, and then held it out like a sword. "I'm afraid my boss wants you and the other kid alive, for whatever sick reason. So be a doll and surrender?"

"Roman for all your bravado, you should really pick you fights better." Robert said as he unsheathed his lightning blades.

Roman sighed and shook his head. "Again with this? I've had enough of the heroes coming out of the woodworks! First little red, and then big red, and then blue, and just on and on and here we are!" Emerald and Mercury got into their stances along with him. "Face the truth, sometimes things just can't be done." Roman said in a much more serious tone.

"Logistically speaking here, there are more people coming to take you down, and you are honestly screwed. Cinder is gonna possibly kill you once you become worthless to her and you almost already are… we might be the dumb heroes, but we actually have a chance… tell me what chance do you even have left?" Robert asked with a grin.

Roman grinned back to his surprise.

"We'll just have to see now don't we?"

Emerald and Mercury attacked first, and were met with Blake and Weiss respectively, leaving room for Robert and Roman to have their own duel while they go at it.

"Hmm… I guess we'll have to." Robert wondered to himself as he had his blades by his sides, he however knew he couldn't afford to focus solely on Roman. No he was going to have to also fight Emerald and Mercury to protect both Weiss and Blake…

This was going to be fun.

* * *

 **And another cliffhanger, so let's see here… Hector and Yang vs Aaron and Neo, Ruby, AMR, and Glynda on top of the train defusing bombs, and Robert, and WB are up against Roman, Emerald, and Mercury. Well… this is going to be fun, I wonder what's going to happen next chapter? What do you think Crow? -Genatools**

 **I think we might write crazy amounts again with what we have planned. -CrowSkull**

 **We got this, I have faith. In other news, once this arc is over, both me and Crowskull are going to be rewriting the first… Uh… lot of chapters of this story, there's a lot of things we need to fix, and at the time of the beginning of this story, I was writing this on my own. So it's time to up the quality a bit for the earlier chapters, and also try to make the appearance of Robert a little less sudden and forced, and that is just ONE of the things we need to fix… Yeah, it's going to be a lot. When that happens, we are going to be alternating which chapters are going to be progressing the story, and the ones that will be the updates of the beginnings of this story… Wish us luck!**

 **Oh, and in other news, CrowSkull is now my Beta for all my stories, that'll make things a lot easier on my end too.**

 **I'll do my best as a spell checking useless Koala that just likes to hang around. -CrowSkull**

 **Haha… you do that you sly dog. -Genatools**

 **Please review and let us know what you think of the story!**


	32. Rwby: Team HAMR chapter 32

**Fighting chapter time! Man, I feel like I have been writing so many recently, it's because I have of course with all my other stories.**

* * *

 **Oblivious Ninja: You seem to enjoy this story a lot, thank you for reading this story and for your entertaining reviews.**

 **Zeldawolffang: Not in this story, not yet, it's going to be a loooong time before he can push himself that far.**

 **Guest: Hey, look at that, someone has been paying attention. But yeah, that's basically the reason for Zwei's attack.**

 **Guest 2: Maybe some time in the future, but that seems more like a Coeur Al Aran story than anything. I'm not really a** _ **huge**_ **Jaune fan like he is. -Genatools**

 **Plus, I think what you just described it's actually story that just appeared some days ago, if you look well enough you might be able to find it. -CrowSkull.**

* * *

 **Okay, let's get right into the action now!**

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RWBY: Team HAMR

Chapter 32- Desperate Times Call

"Kaioken times fifteen!"

"Lets see how well you use his power."

From the corner of his red eye, Hector could see Neo and Yang's fight is going just about as he expected it would, with Neo just completely toying with Yang. With this new power level he is now able to reach, he needs to win this fight fast in order to help her.

Without putting anymore thought to it, Hector launches himself toward Aaron off of his back foot, bending and denting the metal where he once stood. He moved faster then he ever has before, it surprises him that in such a short time he was able to grow this much stronger and faster. It seems impossible given the situation he has been in ever since the dance, and yet, he could barely keep up with his own body's strength and speed.

He attacked with a thunderous clash, Aaron actually used both hands in order to block Hector's punch this time, but still didn't look like he was putting in too much effort to do so. The only sign of the barest of struggles came as a grunt as he pushed back and forced Hector away.

Hector used his speed to jump back with the momentum of Aarons push, and came running back at him in zig zags. Aaron followed his movements easily as Hector slid to try to sweep his legs out from under him. He hopped over Hector's leg and then nearly crushed it with his boot, a narrow dodge for Hector that might have saved him a broken bone if that were to hit his leg.

He used his own momentum from the dodge to push himself back onto his feet, and stood off against Aaron. Hector widened his eyes when he saw that Aaron was already closing in on him, and was actually already throwing a punch toward his face. It all seemed like slow motion while Hector barely flicked his neck in time to only get grazed by his punch, but even then it bruised his cheek and almost deafen him when it hit his ear instead.

"Agh!" Hector groaned in pain as one hand came up to cup his ringing ear on his left. He cracked one eye open just in time to see a flurry of fists hit him three times in his body, each one feeling like the force of a speeding car clashing with his bare body. Hector coughed up blood when Aaron finished the short combo with a knee to the stomach, and then grabbed Hector by the back of his neck and threw him toward Yang and Neo's fight, who both separate when they both see a flaming red body crash in between them and fly bounce off to the other side of the train.

"Hector, you okay!?" Yang asked, concerned for her friend. She was about to go help him up but Neo cut her off, nearly piercing through her neck with her parasol right as Yang took her first step.

Hector didn't answer, instead he jumped back to his feet and wiped away at the blood around his mouth, and what started to come out of his nose.

Aaron simply stood across from him and made a gesture for Hector to come at him, riling him up a bit. He nearly fell for it with a brief flash of purple in his eyes before calming himself down and to Aarons genuine surprise, powering down to a safer more manageable version of Kaioken.

"Well, well, well, looks like someone knows how to adapt." Aaron complimented as he rolled his shoulder and entered an actual fighting stance for once.

" _ **What are you doing!? You're not strong enough to fight him like this!"**_ Hell yelled at Hector in their mind, concerned for their lives.

Hector didn't respond, at least not verbally or mentally. Instead he focused every bit of his semblance on speed rather then his strength. He is at a times eight multiplier this time, but compared to before the dance this state of power is much more comfortable, feeling like a hot warmth rather than the surface of the sun beaming down on every inch of his body.

He brought his own hands up into an almost boxing like posture, and they both stare each other in the eyes as Neo and Yang fight in front of them, waiting for the other to initiate. Aaron cocked an eyebrow at this different approach, but isn't very worried about it. If he wanted him to come at him instead of the other way around, then so be it.

In a blink of an eye Aaron was on Hector, his hands moving as blurs as he struck at Hector's guard. Hector grimaced at the electric pain running along his forearms as he blocked the strikes, but every three punches or so he would start throwing a punch of his own, that would immediately get deflected and answered with another punch. Until after a couple seconds that felt like minutes he started to somewhat keep up with the pace. Wincing after every punch that landed on him, and blocked whatever he can with the metal of his Dragon Fists as they fought.

Finally, Hector saw an opening, right in between Aarons arms and directly to his solar plexus did he finally throw a stronger punch with the speed his has gained from his semblance. In a red flaming shockwave that dispersed as quickly as it can, Aaron shifted and used his elbow to block the punch, he skid back a measly two feet once the aura enhanced fist connected with his elbow. Instead of buckling over like most people would, he smirked at Hector as he entered his stance once more, earning a scowl from his opponent as he entered his own.

"Better, but you sacrificed nearly all your strength for speed, it's going to take a lot more than that to even make a dent on my aura." Aaron said.

Hector narrowed his eyes up at the taller man, he figured him out so easily. It is true that at this moment, even though he is at Kaioken times eight, his strength is little more then his base strength. While it gave his body a sort of break from the muscle tearing strength that his semblance gave him, he doesn't have nearly as much power behind his punches as he did before.

From behind Aaron, Hector saw Yang with her back turned to him, and that cracked open an idea for him.

"Yang! Switch!" Hector called out as he darted past Aaron before he could comprehend what he just said.

If Yang heard him, she definitely showed it by spinning around and passing Hector and going right after Aaron, her shotgun blast combined with her punch blowing Aaron back just enough for him to be unable to get to his target without getting through Yang.

Hector quickly noticed that at the rate he was going at, he wasn't going to win against Aaron, but he _might_ be able to win against someone else. Neo smirked at him as he cocked his fist back and threw it at her, the punch itself not connecting, but the flames that came afterward nearly burning her hair off.

She flipped backwards to dodge to follow up attack, and then bent in an unnatural angle to dodge the kick that came after that. Neo slipped her thin sword out of its sheath and cut across the leg that nearly hit her, but the blade bounced off his Hector's much stronger aura. Using his speed, he was able to punish her by slamming his knuckles into her wrist, disarming her of her weapon and it being thrown against the wall, embedding itself into it.

Neo's smile disappeared after that, and was forced to fight without the use of her sword and only with her acrobatics and parasol. Unlike last time, Hector is fast enough to keep up with Neo's speed, and he actually knows how to fight now. His style was similar to Yang, but had a sense of unpredictability within it with the kicks and elbows he throws as mixups as he fights.

Their fight was cut short when Yang jumped back into them, and clashed backs with Hector. Whether it was a signal to switch again or not, he didn't know, but he spun along with her momentum and punched a flaming sonic punch toward Aaron as Yang caught herself and threw a punch back at Neo, who narrowly dodged her fist by the width of a hair.

With Neo disarmed, Yang should have a easier time with her. Which was _totally_ a part of Hector's plan as he ducked under Aarons fist and expertly blocked Aarons knee with his chin, and bounced off the ceiling with the top of his head. He saw stars as he landed some feet behind Aaron, and spun around based off of Hell screaming at him just in time to roll away from a hand cannon bullet that went right through the train car's floor.

Hector had the good sense to start moving after that when he saw Aaron with a very large and smoking pistol in his hand. Even while blocking with his Etricium gauntlets, it still felt like a truck was hitting him dead on with every shot he blocked. He ended up giving up on dodging it altogether, and trying to close the distance.

 _These bullets are really fast._ He thought to himself as he charged at Aaron with his arms crossed into an X before him, every shot after that missed his gauntlets and pelted him in his stomach, and two on each leg before he was close enough to force Aaron to start fighting with his fists again. Or that was what he thought was going to happen.

Aaron took the hand that was behind his back that Hector just now noticed, and threw a flashbang right into Hector's face. He widened his eyes in surprise and shock just in time for his vision to go white and for his ears to ring even louder. Along with a head splitting headache that came with it.

As Hector clawed away at his own eyes in a desperate attempt to give himself his vision back, Aaron took full advantage of his vulnerability. First he punched Hector in his side with his left fist, and then as he recoiled from the force of his fist he shot at near point blank range with his hand cannon. Putting two wide holes in his shirt to reveal black and purple bruises that appeared immediately after the moment of impact. As he recoiled from that Aaron roared as he spun his leg around his body and slammed the bottom of his boot into the side of Hector's leg.

Hector felt and _heard_ a crack once that kick landed on his leg, and cried out in pain as he fell down to one knee and clutched his injured leg. His vision came back as a blur, and only for him to see another kick hitting him directly in the face, sending him tumbling backward until his back slammed against the door to the next train car, and then broke right through that one as well. He only stopped when he crashed through one of the crates full of dust and the friction of the powered dust slowing his momentum down enough for him to stop himself.

Aaron walked calmly into the traincar next, and aimed his hand cannon at him, only to pause and look around the train car. He put his gun away back into his holster, he would rather not blow up half the train needlessly, and it also ran the risk of killing Hector who would have been in the center of the explosion.

Yang followed right after, Aaron twisting his body in time for the blonde to fly right past him and for Hector to catch her before she could go any farther. Neo danced her way into the room next, her blade back in her hand and with a drop of blood dropping off the tip of it. Hector's eyes darted over to Yang to see that she had a cut wound on her shoulder, it wasn't deep, but it was enough for her clothes to begin to get stained with red.

 _Her aura is running low… How's mine?_ Hector asked himself.

" _ **Out of your own willpower, you've managed to retain little less than half**_ **.** " Hell reported. Another time, Hell might have complained about being some kind of reporter, but with their lives on the line and the life of Yang with them, not that Hell cares about Yang in anyway, not so much. This situation calls for a little bit of cooperation.

"Shit…" Hector said as he realized how dire the situation just now got. If Yang was already bleeding, then that means her aura must be on critical levels, and if she went down, he would be alone against an opponent arguably equal to him, and someone far above him. He wouldn't stand a chance.

" _Now would be a really good time for you to come out Hell!"_ Hector thought to Hell as he placed himself between his enemies and Yang, ignoring her protests that she doesn't need to be protected.

" _ **You still have too much aura, trust me, I would have by now if I could."**_

"This is your last chance Hector Rivers, surrender now, and I'll spare your blonde friend and take you with me. This is the last chance you'll ever get to solve this between us without violence." Aaron warned as he took a step forward, making Hector and Yang take a step back. "Choose wisely."

Hector grunted as he pushed Yang behind him forcefully and protectively, making the message clear to her that he is not going to let her fight in the state that she is in. Even with his right leg in so much pain that he can barely stand, he has to stand up against him. He highly doubts and knows that even if he did surrender, Yang would still be up against Neo on her own, and he knows that she won't be able to win that fight.

His heart beats slowly and is so loud he can hear it himself, that is how nervous and _afraid_ he is right now. He knows he has only one option left, to go all out and hope that it is enough to buy himself and Yang some time to get away and to the others, they could maybe get to the roof of the train and to Glynda, Ruby and the rest of his team. However, only one of them would be able to get away.

"Yang, get back." Hector ordered as he pushed her back further away, Yang stumbled over some dust but kept her balance. "I'll go all out and hold them off, you get to the roof of the train, and to our friends."

"Like hell I will! I won't let you fight alone, not again!" Yang yelled, her own eyes going red out of desperate anger as she pushed past Hector's arm, her hair flaming with pale bright yellow flames as she activates her semblance.

Hector shook his head and stepped up with her. If he wasn't able to convince Yang to get away, then he would go down with her. "Fine just… be careful."

"Tch, that's coming from you of all people?" Yang teased as she cocked Ember Celica.

They both screamed as they powered up at the same time, Hector going back to Kaioken times fifteen and Yang drawing forth every bit of power she absorbed from today's long drawn out battle. With twin red eyes, they lock onto Aaron and Neo, each with a serious, and angry expression on their faces as their aura colors merge to create a bright orange light.

Aaron sighed and shook his head, Neo danced up beside him and wielded both her parasol and blade in each hand.

"Very well, the hard way it is…"

All four met in the middle for a second round.

* * *

At the front of the train Robert was standing off against Roman Torchwick, both waiting for the other to make the first move while the others fought around him. Blake using her speed and semblance to keep up with and evade Mercury's kicks and the occasional projectile, she could keep up but not really get a good hit on the guy. Weiss was doing everything in her power to combat Emerald, and that was going way differently. She could keep up with her in speed, but not in skill, and that wasn't counting on her illusions, who knew what was she making Weiss see.

Robert had his blades as his sides and Roman twirling his cane between his fingers, it hadn't been even twenty seconds yet but they were both waiting. After some consideration Robert decided to move first… by attacking Emerald from the side.

"Tch, Dammit Blue." Roman said as he moved to assist his mint haired ally.

Robert appeared as a blur of lightning behind Emerald and swiftly tripped her legs with a kick and slashed downwards with both blades to knock her to the ground with yelp from her, Roman came behind him with a shot from his cane, Robert evaded the shot by arching his back slightly and rushed Roman with slashes at his ankles. Roman blocked those with his cane and continued to block and exchange a few more strikes from Robert as he kept up the pressure, as Robert dashed to the left. Roman got hit by something else, three quick jabs from Weiss that dashed with her glyphs right next to him, Roman became wide open to Robert's attack, a cut with both blades to his side, a spinning hook kick and a lightning palm that exploded on contact and flung Roman to one end of the train cart.

Emerald stood back up, and fired her guns to Weiss and Robert quickly, both of them parried the bullets with their respective blades and went after her. Robert briefly locked blades with Emerald to give Weiss an opening, Emerald noticed but didn't get to do much as she was headbutted hard and slashed across the shoulder and then jabbed on the stomach by Weiss, she got knocked back and then got pushed back in the other direction as Robert kicked her towards Weiss while he went for Roman. Weiss had the initiative and the upperhand for a moment and Robert hoped it would be enough, right now he had to deal with Roman, who was firing explosives shots at him in rapid fire.

Rober ducked, slided and jumped with a roll over the shots to get close to Roman as he fired, when he got close he dashed in and relentlessly threw slashes and cut and kicks to get him, Robert parried one of the strikes from the cane and knocked aside to try and catch Roman with a diagonal strike, but Roman fluidly flipped his cane to knock slightly aside the blade, this continued for the next three strikes. Robert swung his blades but Roman managed to knock them aside at the last moment, however on the forth attack Robert used both his blades. Roman was able block the attack but got pushed back due to the force of it, he fired a shot from his cane and Robert jumped over it bringing both his blades down on him, Roman parried the blow holding his cane horizontally up, but got caught by the immediate two roundhouse kicks that Robert threw at his stomach, followed by a hook to the cheek, and another quick punch that he managed to block that got followed by a reverse elbow to his ribs and then a sidekick that he blocked with his cane but that once again pushed him back, this time almost against the wall and the door to the next cart.

Roman grunted as he thought about what to do, _Blue had certainly gotten better… no way better, back when I fought him at the docks he wasn't this aggressive, not this proactive, not this quick and certainly he didn't have those gauntlets with lightning blades or his lightning semblance… he also adapted quicker. Someone's been doing their homework._

Roman was slippery enough to keep him at bay but not forever… he was going to need to do something before Blue got the better of him, and one mistake, and he might get diced into pieces.

Robert dashed in a lightning blur and again relentlessly chained slashes, cuts, strikes and kicks and elbows to try and catch Roman, but Roman was holding up. He deflected a lightning blade and threw kick to stop one of Robert's, he used his cane to parry and block most of Robert's strikes, and also tried to shot at the floor and point blank at Robert while he deflected his strikes. Eventually Robert threw a thunderbolt from his hand that Roman blocked with his cane, he still felt some of the effects of the attack however, still Roman retaliated with another explosive shot that Robert rolled out of the way of and dashed away with lightning, he appeared behind Roman and shot another lightning bolt, Roman barely blocked the the lightning with his cane behind his back.

Robert then appeared to the side and slashed at him and although he blocked one of the strikes, he got caught on the leg by another. Robert backflipped to avoid the explosion of a shot to the ground and fired consecutive lightning bolts towards Roman, Roman blocked the first two and rolled and dodged out of the way of the following ones, however as he came out of the onslaught Robert fired something else, out of his hand came three little balls of lightning, that quickly guided themselves towards Roman at different speeds, the first two Roman avoided, the little missiles for their size exploded in fairly large area, but the last one however went straight towards where he went to avoid the second missile, he pushed back again.

Robert sprinted towards Roman dragging his lightning blade across the ground, with a slash he brung it up, and with it came a vertical wave of lightning directly towards Roman, he avoided the wave stepping to the side, but Robert dashed to his side and hit him with a quick lightning bolt, Roman buckled slightly and Robert saw this as his chance to strike him down, so he rushed in ready to slash with both blades, but Roman predicted the attack and caught Robert on the stomach with the end of his cane and with a quick flip he hit Robert right on the chin.

Robert rolled backwards to get away, and Roman fired a shot at him, Robert covered himself with his shields and rushed back in again, exchanging some quick strikes and slashes before dashing to the side with a spinning slash to try an catch Roman's side. Roman obviously blocked it but Robert rushed him and slided between his legs, nicking his leg slightly, Roman grunted and turned around to shoot at the floor, but Robert jumped towards the wall and jumped off of it with a spinning roundhouse kick that caught Roman by surprise.

Roman recoiled and stepped away from the end of the cart while Robert kept pushing forward, he met Roman and they exchanged more blows. Roman carefully tried to get away from Robert. Robert threw three slices before dashing with lightning and kicking the back of Roman's leg, Roman striked back with a back kick that Robert evaded and then with a strike of the cane that Robert blocked with his blade, Robert then countered with a kick that went straight to the back Roman's head and made him stumble, Robert went back in front of him and slashed at Roman with his blades with five slashes, Roman blocked and evaded all but the final one, and that one opened him up for Robert to strike at him with a heavy scissor slash.

Roman rolled on the ground and skidded to a standing position after being hit, and ignoring the static from the lightning and the pain he fired multiple shots, Robert deflected them aside with his blades and fired another thunderbolt, Roman evaded it and threw his cane at the floor, just like in the Bullhead from the docks, it started to bounce around the walls very quickly, Robert just like last time dodged graciously and quickly out of the way of the flying cane. He jumped forward and flipped horizontally on the air to avoid it… however, much to Roman's surprise Robert did something different this time, he caught the cane by the end of the barrel. With Melodic Cudgel in hand Robert spun around in the air and quickly used it to hit Roman across the face with it, his own weapon, Robert went for another hit, but Roman caught the hook of the cane and tried to fire a shot.

Robert noticed with gasp and with a hold on the barrel he moved the end of it away from him, the shot missed and neither of them was letting go of the cane, Roman was gripping it with both hands while Robert used the opportunity to get close and roundhouse Roman's shin and throw a sidekick to his stomach, he followed up with a quick slash with his free hand to Roman's stomach and quickly threw an elbow and another kick, Roman endured and got a better hold on his cane and used to hit Robert on the nose, Robert answered with a knee and a quick dropkick that sent Roman away.

Roman fired another shot as he recovered and Robert sprinted in with a shield and a lightning bolt, Roman blocked the lightning bolt but got knocked aside when Robert dashed in with a flying roundhouse. Roman fired more point blank shot that Robert dodged and deflected, Robert quickly rushed in with another vertical wave of lightning that knocked Roman slightly back, he dashed at his side as blur of lightning and got a slash with both blades to each side and kick to the back. Roman took it but kept up his defences as he blocked the next cut, but got pushed back again as Robert drove his palm to the ground creating a small explosion of lightning.

Robert went in with a roundhouse kick that Roman dodge, and a reverse elbow that hit Roman in the gut. Roman got angry and despite the pain attacked and finally caught Robert in the back of the leg with a hit of his cane, and another to his ribs. Robert dropped slightly and Roman was about to go for a hit to the head, but Robert crouched down and activated his blades, letting the cane slide on top of them as he dodged to the side and with blades slashed at Roman's midsection, making his aura flare dangerously, he then pushed his hand forward and shocked Roman, paralyzing him momentarily and with and upwards spin kick threw him to the air, made him bounce on the roof and then jumped up and with spin slash smashed him right back into the ground.

Robert landed and chuckled to himself as he felt satisfied in landing a heavy blow onto his opponent, but he looked to his side and saw that Blake was having trouble with Mercury, he adapted to Blake's maneuvers and was catching up to her. Robert dashed in as form of lightning and landed a kick to Mercury's ribs, he yelped at the sudden attack and quickly recoiled, Robert kept going for him with multiple slashes that Mercury dodged and blocked with his knees, however it he realised it was bad idea to try and block those blades with his legs, it wasn't easy to block so much energy when it made contact with your body, mechanical or not. Robert kept up his attacks and matched Mercury in close quarters, he threw several roundhouses and hook kicks but Robert evaded them and closed the distance even more and threw his own punches and kicks.

He landed three punches towards at Mercury's mid section, ducked under a kick and blocked a follow up one, and countered with an elbow to the ribs followed up by three slashed from his blades, and then back trip kick that flowed seamlessly into three consecutive roundhouses and split kick directly to Mercury's chin. It knocked Mercury to the ground and he growled in anger at being beaten just like that, he got up with flip and with a few kicks fired a projectiles, Robert easily deflected them with his blades and was going to rush Mercury again, however to Mercury's surprise, Blake appeared out of nowhere and attacked him from behind, striking with her own sword and cleaver, Mercury blocked the first strike but immediately received a slash on the back by Robert and a kick that pushed him to the side towards Blake, both Robert and and Blake attacked at the same time from opposite angles, giving Mercury no time to breath, he took the beating and tried to retaliate but both his opponents where to fast, and Robert dodged and blocked in ways that made him completely overextend and become open for other hits, whether it would be Blake or Robert himself. Mercury was losing bad.

Robert had figured out Mercury and spotted to major weaknesses, if he couldn't overpower his opponent he over extended and the other, to completely out speed and punish someone, he had to caught them on a straight line to throw his kicks. So Robert deflected Mercury's kicks and countered with slashes, punches and kicks and also dodge to the side and behind him to catch him by surprise, he dodged a kick and answered with three slashes and a quick elbow, Mercury tried to punch him but Robert grabbed his wrist and twisted in a simple motion to pin him, Blake came from the side hit Mercury across the back, Robert continued his onslaught with four punches, deflecting kick with another kick of his own and making it go directly to Mercury's face, two slashed to the side, two kicks to the back of the thighs and a spinning hook kick to the face, Blake slashed at Mercury's legs, preventing him to throw another kick and finally Robert slashed him twice, kicked him three times, reverse elbowed his gut, backhanded his face and punched the back of his head to the ground.

Mercury was on his knees, Blake and Robert wrapped Gambol Shrouds ribbon around his neck and Robert proceeded to electrocute Mercury, the both of them holding him down, then Roman came back again, and they also heard a yelp of pain from Weiss, she was down again. Robert stopped electrocuting Mercury and focused on Roman, he deflected the hits of the cane and pushed him back with a lightning bolt to his stomach.

"Go help Weiss, I got this!" Robert told Blake, she nodded and unwrapped the ribbon from Mercury's neck, he was panting and seething anger at the both of them, but mostly at Robert.

Robert himself stomped on Mercury's head and grabbed him by the legs, he then flung him towards Roman, Roman obviously evaded and let Mercury hit the floor behind him and fired more shots at Robert, He blocked the shots with his shields this time and answered with pure raw lightning missiles, both Mercury and Roman came out of the explosion seemenly unschated, they engaged Robert up close and he hold them back, Robert completely deflected the strikes from Roman's cane and kicked him aside in time to answer Mercury's flying kick by blocking it and answering with a flying roundhouse of his own. He kept going back and forth between them, blocking and evading their attacks graciously and forcing Roman back… and punch or kick Mercury to the ground.

He blocked another strike from the cane but got hit by a kick from his side, Mercury finally caught him, and he looked smug about it too, it didn't last long as Robert rolled away with the kick and dashed at Mercury while enveloped in lightning, and with three slashes and two kicks he knocked him down again. Next, he blocked Roman's shot with his shields and dashed and kick him on the shin, he then deflected more of Mercury's projectiles and also some Roman's hit with his blades, Robert kept up the defense until he rolled back and hit both Roman and Mercury as he threw two thunderbolts in opposite directions as they were about to rush him, they fell to the ground.

Then he saw Emerald get pushed towards him, he took the opportunity and grabbed her flipped her over him and with a kick flun her to the wall. Weiss was now kneeling on the ground, gasping for air, but she still looked like she had aura, albeit barely. Blake was still ready to fight.

Robert and Blake stared down at their three opponents, they got up if a bit shakely and squared of against them, both teams rushed each other and clashed their weapons, Robert focused Mercury to try and get him out of the fight as quickly as possible, he slashed at his thigh to me him buckle and shift his focus on Roman, he quickly deflected the hits from the cane and countered with slashes that sent him back. He the switched with Blake and went straight for Emerald, he saw something we she approached her… he saw a weird version of Hector, he did his best to ignore it and push through the illusions, he struck at Emerald but she wasn't there, she immediately was somewhere else, she was quick with those. Robert fired a thunderbolt that was quick enough to hit her and knock her on her back, he then went back to Blake to help her with Roman and by extend Mercury, he towards them and together and quickly Robert overpowered Mercury and Blake evaded and managed to get a couple of hits on Roman thanks to her semblance, they quickly switched targets and Robert clashed with Roman.

Roman deflected two slashes but got caught by the third, Robert sidekicked him in the face and dashed around to land a lightning bolt and two kicks to the side, he finally knocked him down with a cut with both his blades. Then Mercury came and nearly landed an full dropkick on his head, Robert bent backwards and dashed as a mass of lightning out of the follow up. The switched places as they exchanged blows and Robert quickly kicked Mercury on the back when something happened, Blake attacked Robert.

Robert got caught of guard as Blake got him on the arm and proceeded to attack at him, Robert parried Gambould Shroud with Raios, and at that moment Blake's face morphed with shock as she realized what was going on.

"Blake?" Robert asked.

"I… I saw…" Blake stuttered, Robert looked behind her and saw Emerald, that's all he needed to know to realize what happened, he quickly disengaged Blake and fired lightning bolt at Emerald, however Mercury used that time to his advantage.

"Blake look out!" Robert yelled, but it was too late, Blake gasped as Mercury hit her with a strong flying kick and sent her to a wall, Blake hit her head, and seemed to be knocked out. Robert fought Emerald and Mercury and viciously went back and forth between them and kicking and slashing Mercury to the ground and grappling Emerald and also knock her to the ground, he was about to land a big blade strike at Mercury when Roman appeared and hit him on the face with his cane and shot him on the stomach, sending Robert rolling on the ground.

"Give it up Blue… you… can't stand against all three of us." Roman said between heavy pants, Robert stood up from his crouched position and cracked his neck.

"Oh, you are sorely mistaken Roman." Robert said with a growl as he seemed to be surrounded by sparks and lightning.

"Oh come on… you can't-" Roman didn't get to say more as Robert rushed the three of them with all his speed, he was using and spending the energy from his semblance more freely now, he was faster and his strikes, punches and kicks made small explosions of lightning, he rushed Roman and elbowed him on the gut and back kicked him away, the he targeted Emerald before she could make more illusions, she parried his first strike but failed to block the strike at he lower legs,he threw several kicks and struck her at her face and her stomach, he immediately rolled out of the way out of Mercury's kicks, he switched targets and started to see illusions, several things, false Romans and Mercurys, Hector and also other people attacking him, he kept his blades up made small dodges to avoid the illusions just in case, mostly the fake Roman and Mercurys, he caught the real Mercury after he landed kicks directly to his face.

In retaliation he landed three hooks, two kicks and an uppercut at him, then grabbed him by the legs and smashed him on the ground, Roman shot at him and he blocked with his shields and he knocked him away with a small explosion of a grenade that he stuck to his cane, then went straight for Emerald, he threw lightning at both the ceiling and the floor, at the ceiling to create a torrent of lighting that came down on her, she evaded part of it, but got hit still.

However she didn't get away from the lightning to the floor, that made a static current go through it and lock on something, on the real Emerald's feet, now she had a circle of lightning at her feet. Robert targeted her and with vicious slashes made her aura flare and then with a lightning wave pushed her to the wall, Roman came up with shots and Robert blocked and rolled out of the way, Mercury appeared and he parried and knocked him down to the ground again, Emerald appeared and Robert did his best to avoid the illusions and spot the real Emerald.

This kept going with Robert masterfully and quickly dodging and bending and rolling to avoid being hit, he wasn't perfect however, Emerald once caught him with her chains and made him target to a hit by Roman and some kicks by Mercury, Roman also hit across the face twice with his cane and Mercury landed a flying kick on him… but no matter how much they hit him. Robert continued to roll with the punches and fought back twice as hard, he started to fire thunderbolts in quick succession, lightning waves in different arcs and firing different kind of grenades and projectiles He also used his speed to completely dismantle Mercury and with more slashes kicks and elbows brought him down each time, Roman was better at not over extending but he got overpowered by the ridiculous amount of lightning coming out of… everywhere, Robert fought both of them and sometimes caught Emerald, dashing in and out, dodging, blocking and attacking with viscous strikes at multiple angles. It was a spectacle really, he looked like a mass of lightning that was fighting three on one and almost winning, but Robert needed a definite blow, he was pummeling them but he still couldn't bring them down, together they were as annoying as the wraith and the cult leader, Emerald in particular was a problem, he needed to hit her, but more than few times he hit a fake.

"Fuck!" Robert yelled as he struck another fake Emerald, and received some shots to his back and a kick from Mercury as punishment, he flipped on the air to evaded more kick from Mercury and and hits from Roman, he needed something better to signal where Emerald was.

And then he saw it, a white glyph on the middle of nowhere, it looked like it was a signal, and soon he realized.

" _Oh Weiss I love you, I really owe you one."_ Robert thought as he evaded more hits and while in the air, brought his hands together and fired a potent and massive thunderbolt at the glyph, and lo and behold he struck the real Emerald hard. However Emerald sent another illusion as she was hit, it was brief but he saw it clearly, it was a shirtless scarred Hector with black aura, pale skin and dark grey hair, along with a pair of Grimm eyes, and an evil smile on his face as he charged at Robert.

" _What the-"_ Robert didn't get to finish the thought as he was hit hard by a dropkick from Mercury and got tossed to some crates, the Roman fired his cane and the entire side of the train cart exploded, the wall completely gone and Robert nowhere in sight.

"No!" Blake shouted, she and Weiss faced the trio again.

"Now… okay… now that that is… huh… done, you should really-" Roman panted but soon heard something, it was like very quick running steps… and sparks, the he looked to the side and saw Robert running on the wall of the tunnel barely able to keep up with the train.

"Oh come on Blue! Throw me a bone here!" Roman yelled in exasperation.

"Yaaargh!" Robert yelled as he propelled from the wall and dropped kicked Mercury to the wall, Roman tried to move, but he saw his feet stuck on a black glyph, Weiss then three a fire wave and hit both Roman and Emerald, who was also immobilized, Blake went and knocked Mercury back down before he could get back up, Robert then faced Roman and Emerald… he looked pissed, and together with Weiss the threw more waves of lightning at them, rushed them and sliced at them, and with them pinned he jumped up and threw missiles and descended with an explosion of lightning. He finally put his hands together and with signal to Weiss they together made a glyph that morphed into a triangular shaped rune, Blake striked at the weakened Mercury and grappled him with the ribbon and threw him to the tune, the Robert made a hand motion, and with a thunderbolt the rune went through the door and wall to the next cart, carrying Mercury, Roman and Emerald that sprawled on the ground, Robert walked towards them with Blake and Weiss side by side.

"Last chance Roman! If you keep getting up I have no problem on completely breaking all you to make surrender." Robert said to him.

Roman was shakenly getting up, " _This is bad, Blue… Mr Thunderbolts is way better that I thought, how are we supposed to do this? We're fighting a bastard that waves his semblance around like almost nothing, on top of that he is skilled enough to fight all three of us on his own, and with two other kids helping him…"_ As Roman made that thought, he made a correlation that he was very terrified to have found out.

" _Oh… Oh noooo…"_ He thought.

"If you keep getting up, I won't be responsible for what I might have to do to bring you down, if you keep on fighting Cinder might not be the one to kill you." Robert threatened.

Roman, Mercury and Emerald shakely got up. "Huh… Blue, I… I don't really have a choice." Roman said, he sounded desperate. Robert for his part just stared at him with a deep frown. "Some things sometimes only have one possible option kiddo, the path has already been set for me."

"Very well." Robert said as he looked to both Weiss and Blake, they nodded, signaling that they had his back, Robert smirked and unsheathed his blades again.

"Checkmate!" Robert called out, Weiss and Blake didn't even question him about his knowledge of the team attack, and together they rushed their opponents again.

* * *

The combination of Hector and Yang's assault proved to be quite the dangerous combo if the two weren't broke apart. Neo dashed away at the last second to let Aaron, the much stronger one take the brunt of the two brawlers. Aaron actually had to try a bit harder in order to keep the two fighters back, and they were of relatively equal power and their coordination was actually pretty good.

Aaron sidestepped Yang's punch and crashed his elbow down on the back of her neck, her aura taking the full force of the attack. Hector tried to tackle his while his body was exposed to him, but it did nothing but push Aaron farther away from Yang, who was then attacked by Neo who was hiding in the shadows. Once Hector noticed that he immediately broke off from Aaron to go assist her. Yang can't beat Neo, he knew that, Aaron grunted his frustration as he dashed after his target to catch him before he could get to his ice cream themed ally.

Neo wasn't as lucky, before she could do anything else to Yang her vision was clouded by deep red flames. Hector didn't have the time to actually throw a good punch at her, and instead swiped his hand across in an arc. It missed Neo by a good half foot, but the cutting shockwave it launched out cut through the metal behind her. Yang showed him her gratitude by jumping out in front of Aarons fist, blocking it with the flesh of her arm and absorbing the kinetic force that his fist gave out, making her even stronger than before.

Hector dashed around the side of Yang and through the hardest kick he has ever thrown into Aarons hastily made guard, and crashed his shin into Aarons arms. The shockwave from that kick was enough to yet again make the entire train car shake, and actually was able to break his guard for once with the amount of strength he put behind it.

After spinning the dials on his Dragon Fists, he landed it on ice dust. After kicking Aaron away and after trusting Yang to distract Neo long enough for him to cock his fist up and aim it at the ground, he yelled as he threw his fist as hard as he could into the floor, denting it and sending out a wave of ice in the shape of a cone ahead of him. Aaron was actually a little caught off guard by this, and pulled out his hand cannons to shoot the ice before it could reach him. After just one bullet, he was able to bring one arm up and destroy the rest of it with a swipe of his hand.

Hector switched dust crystals again, and this time it was something purple. He had no idea what it did but it was the one his dials landed on. Aaron thrusted forward and threw another right hook at Hector after holstering his pistol, and it was barely blocked by Hector who placed his hands together to absorb the impact force. His Dragon Fist's glowed a soft purple for a moment before transfering that light to Aarons fist.

Aaron grunted as he felt his hand get ten times heavier, and he jumped back to see what could have gone wrong. _I know I didn't use that much force… what is this?_ He asked himself as he looked down to inspect his arm hanging down to his side. His eyes widened in realization when he saw Hector with a similar problem, his right arm hanging to his side with a thin layer of purple wrapped around that arm. But with his strength he was still able to hold it up just enough to make it look like he was doing alright.

"Where did you get gravity dust from?" Aaron asked as he shook off his arm of the purple dust, a black and green aura forming around that arm for just a second before disappearing just as fast as it came.

"Gravity dust? Oh… that explains a lot." Hector said as he struggled to lift his arm, he learned the hard way that he should probably let his shockwaves take care of the gravity dust attacks.

Aaron scoffed as he observed the sorry state that Hector's arm is in. He even had the gall to place his hands on his hips and just laugh at him. "Never used it before huh? Don't worry, once you come with me we can make you the strongest there ever was, silly mistakes like this won't happen anymore."

"I'm starting to get worried for my innocence now." Hector joked as held up his left hand to fight with, it wasn't the first time he was down an arm in a fight, and this time he isn't in as much pain, even though his nose is bleeding and isn't stopping, and his muscles still feel like they're on fire and melting off of his bones.

"Cute, you have jokes. You and Tyrian would get along well if you keep that up." Aaron said with a roll of his eyes.

Hector widened his eyes at the familiar name of someone he's never personally met before, but he kept his face straight and switched his dust crystals back to lightning, and let his fist crackle with yellow electricity as he prepares himself to fight again.

Aaron went straight from amused to deadly serious, and Hector just blinked once before he felt his own stomach churn in on himself as a fist dug into his body, forcing the air out of his lungs and causing even more blood to spill out of his mouth and nose. He folded around Aarons arm just enough for him to grab Hector by his hair and slam the back of his head against the metal wall.

"You prophets, knowing things you shouldn't." Aaron said as he let more of his strength come forth, overpowering Hector completely as he pushed his head deeper and deeper into the metal.

"RAAHH!" Yang roared as she slammed her fist into the side of Aaron's face with everything she had, and then fired Ember Celica at the same time to add even more force to her punch. Aarons aura blocked all the damage, but it still hurt. It stunned him enough for Hector to slip out of his grip and kick him away from the two of them before falling down on one knee, clutching the leg that Aaron kicked earlier. It was hurting even more now, and his Kaioken wasn't doing much to make him feel better about it.

It was Yang's turn to defend Hector this time, placing herself between Hector and their enemies and loading her Ember Celica with fresh incendiary shotgun shells. Hector tried to push himself back up to his feet, but once he put weight on his injured leg he fell back down to one leg, and only just then did the gravity dust around his arm fade away.

"You okay Hex? Gonna need you in a sec here." Yang said as she fired off Ember Celica toward Neo, and then toward Aaron. The former broke away into glass and teleported to the side, while the latter simply batted away the flare with the back of his hand.

"Workin' on it." Hector said as he rubbed his knee to try and rid it from the pain, or at least that was what he was trying to make it look.

" _Hey, can you do the thing were you heal all of my wounds?"_ He asked Hell for support instead.

" _ **I might, but there is a strong possibility that your healing factor will be heavily diluted."**_

"That's all I need." Hector said out loud as he forced himself back up to his feet with the help of the wall, allowing a black red aura wrap around his right knee. He already felt his leg feeling better after just a few seconds of this healing process, but he already saw the flaw in this ability of his. He couldn't move while doing it, and his heart ached like Hell for every second his body healed.

His heart felt like it was about to pop when he stopped the healing process, it still hurt, but at least now he was able to put some weight on it.

Hector didn't get any time to celebrate when he saw Yang get kicked to the side by Neo, and he was forced to not duck, but fall to the ground on his butt as the thin blade just barely missed his head, cutting through his hair instead and grinding against the metal of the train's wall. The sparks fell onto his face as he pushed a palm out and pushed Neo away from him, not far, but enough for Yang to catch up with her. Neo cracked away into glass just as Yang's fist crashed through her body, and while she was overextended Aaron was there to punish Yang, nearly shattering her aura as he jabbed the end of his hand cannon into her stomach, and then pulled the trigger.

"Yang!" Hector cried out as he forced himself back onto his feet, only for Neo to come back and pin him down against the wall, her blade only being stopping by his bare hands just before it could cut his throat open.

Yang widened her eyes and cried out in pain as she was thrown to the other side of the train car, she clutched her stomach where the bullet fell out of her aura, and her flames died out into cinders as she groaned in pain and her eyes returning to their natural lilac color.

Now Hector was on his own, Yang was down, and whatever aura she had left was being used to repair the damage done to her body. With a roar of defiance, he gripped Neo's blade even harder and threw her to the side, pushing himself up into the air and over Aarons bullet that came for his injured knee. Neo almost got caught up in the friendly fire but teleported away before the bullet could hit her.

Hector landed on the ceiling and like he did in the tunnels earlier, he kicked off of the ceiling and straight into Aaron, Aaron bent and sidestepped slightly, Hector's fist dug into the metal floor and folded the metal around his around it. Hector was forced to roll with his own momentum, he recovered and shot a lightning bolt toward Aaron, which he caught with his forearms and dispersed the electricity throughout his whole body.

When Hector shot the bolt Neo was already on him, slashing away with great speeds. Hector blocked and poorly parried what he could, but after getting shot in the back by Aaron Neo managed to get a good slash across his chest, just in time to spin him around and for Aaron to side kick him in the stomach, pushing him back into Neo's parasol which wrapped around his head and disoriented him and kicking him toward Aarons arm which clotheslined him with an elbow. Making him flip twice into the air and almost knocking him out when he landed head first on the ground, which split the skin apart above his left eye, his aura getting lower and lower to the point where some attacks would hurt his body, and his willpower was weighing thin.

"Hector!" Yang coughed as she tried to stand up again, but the exhaustion was too much for her and she fell back down on her butt, her lilac eyes looking at Hector with worry.

Hector looked back at her, one of his eyes forced shut by the blood pouring out from above his eye.

"Stay. Down." Aaron warned, a black and green aura flowing around his body as his frustration grew. This whole time he has been holding back, and doesn't have a speck of damage on his body. It all seemed hopeless, the odds of actually winning was slim to none, especially with Neo here.

Against all odds, he still pushed himself back onto his feet, the anger within Hector growing to new heights as his aura flickered from red to purple. He stood back up, leaning on one leg more than the other, and raising just one fist up in defiance as his aura flames up once again.

"No." Hector said as his eyes stayed purple for more than a few seconds, before turning back to red with a flare of his last reserves. All he has to do is lose his aura… and he might have a chance of getting Yang out of here alive.

Aaron growled loudly and yelled, a mist of black and green filling the train car, the dark power within this through Hector for a loop as he was forced to see visions of what he has done, all the murder and the pain of his torture. Yang on the other hand was clutching her head with pain and tears falling from her eyes. She screamed in terror and crawled backward to the corner of the train car.

Hector fell down to one knee as the black and green mist flowed around his body, the visions getting worse and worse and more violent as he watched himself tear people apart and kill them. His hair turned a dark gray and his skin paled, black veins formed around his eyes and flickered for a moment right as he whipped his head up to stare Aaron in the eyes.

Aaron simply had one hand palmed out toward him, his eyes glowing green and black veins around his own eyes as he stared back at Hector with a dark expression on his face.

The whites of Hector's eyes turned a deep black, and his screaming stopped.

Hell started to stand up, his overwhelming strength and his black and red aura flaming around him as he pushed against the dark mist.

Hector returned with a pained whimper, and he fell right back to his hands and knees as Aaron retracted his hand and blinked his eyes. They went back to normal and his veins returned to their natural color as he took slow steps one by one towards Hector.

"Any longer, and I might have actually killed you, but once I saw his power swell up from within you." Aaron went down on one knee and cupped Hector's cheeks, forcing him to look back into his eyes. "I was reminded of why I wanted you."

Aaron spun Hector around, and pinned his arms against his back and pushed him back down on his stomach, he forced his red eyes to look towards Yang, who just recovered in time to see Neo kick her in the side of the head and make her lie on her back. Neo rose her sword up into the air, and pointed it down at Yang, all while looking Hector in the eyes with a smirk. She even blew a kiss at him as she jabbed her sword down, just stopping before piercing Yang's neck.

"No! Stop, please!" Hector begged, he knew very well that Neo would kill Yang right there if she wanted to, the only thing that was stopping her was Aaron.

Aaron leaned down to place his mouth next to Hector's ear, and spoke to him.

"You gave me a lot of trouble Rivers, I was nice enough to give you a chance to come peacefully, I was merciful enough to not break every bone in your body, and had the good sense to be holding back the whole time. I was even going to let your girlfriend here live… but now I am going to make you watch as she drowns in her own blood."

"No!" Hector screamed so loud that his voice cracked, trying to break out of Aarons hold and to no avail. Tears burned from behind his eyes as he saw Yang's eyes barely open to look into his.

"It's… not… your fault." Yang choked out to him as the blade was pressed up against her neck.

"Aaron, please, I'll go with you. I will!" Hector claimed. "Just please don't hurt her…"

Aaron considered it for a moment, thinking to himself for a few second before shaking his head and making a decision.

"I need to make an example out of you… I still got another one I need to receive." Hector's eyes widened out of shock and fear as he heard those words.

"Neo. Do it."

"NO!" Hector struggled to break out of Aarons grip, but he wasn't strong enough, his semblance turned off out of overexertion a minute ago, and he couldn't draw it out again. He was forced to watch as Neo rose her sword back up, and stabbed down at Yang.

Only for a crimson katana out of a black and red portal to parry the blade, and for a foot to come crashing into Neo's face and away from Yang.

A woman in a black and red combat outfit and a Grimm mask stepped out of the portal, and met the eyes of Hector momentarily before standing in defense of Yang, who just passed out from the strain. She slowly drew out her long red katana and aimed it at Aaron, who scowled at the sight of her and let go of Hector, the black veins in his face and around his eyes returning.

"Raven Branwen… finally deciding to be a mother?" He asked as he stepped off of Hector, but kept his foot in the middle of his back.

Hector widened his eyes in relief as he heard that name, out of everything he committed to memory, he somehow forgot about Raven goddamn Branwen, who came to save Yang from Neo in the original timeline. He felt his willpower come back to him and he rolled out from underneath Aaron, and jumped to the side and activated his semblance once more.

"Kaioken!" He yelled as he stood alongside Raven, bleeding wounds and everything, he now had to will to keep on fighting, his aura even regenerated partially as his second wind.

Raven regarded him for a second, but once red eyes met red and Hector nodded at her, she deemed him as a temporary ally.

Neo's eyes turned white as she rubbed the darkening bruise on her cheek, and Aarons eyes shone a dark green as he thought about what he should do here. He looked down for a second toward a watch, and he saw that there wasn't much time left.

"Damn it!" He exclaimed as he backed away from Raven, who kept her sword aimed at him the entire time.

"Neo… take us out." Aaron ordered quietly. "This isn't a fight that can be won quickly, it's not worth the risk."

Neo looked at him with shock, and then grabbed him by the arm. Before they could disappear however, he looked back toward Hector, who glared back at him after spitting a wad of spit and blood out of his mouth.

"Remember Rivers, I will be taking you with me one day, it may not be today, may not even be a year from now, but know that one day, I will take you." Aaron promised.

"And I swear to you _Aaron Hayes_ , that If you try that again, I'm going to rip your fucking **h** e **a** d **o** f **f**." Hector made a promise of his own, his voice mixing into two as his aura darkened and grew even stronger then before.

"Hmph… we shall see." Aaron said right before him and Neo broke away into glass, shattering all over the floor.

Hector relaxed, but kept his guard up. He looked back at Raven who was now looking at him. "Thanks, uh, Raven right?" He didn't really know what else to say, but he used the excuse to know her name because Aaron said it earlier.

Raven didn't say anything back, and simply turned to face Yang, who was stirring slightly and had her eyes barely open. Not a second later, she cut into the air next to her and created a black and red swirl of a portal.

Hector was panicking, here she was, Raven Branwen standing right in front of him, this is his one and only chance to even attempt to try and get her to help with anything positive, it would be a year later before he saw her again, and by then he wouldn't be able to do anything to get her on the good side.

Out of panic, just before Raven could walk through her portal. Hector said the stupidest thing that has ever had the displeasure of coming out of his mouth.

"I know you're the Spring Maiden!"

Raven stopped in her tracks, and turned around _very_ slowly, even taking off her mask in the process so that Hector could really see how dark her eyes were. Those red orbs stared into his for what felt like hours, and his heart was beating a million times a second as he wondered just what he got himself into.

The next second he found himself backpedaling, and holding his Dragon Fist's up to block the deep red cutting edge of Ravens sword. She was _so_ strong, his red aura burned as he drew forth whatever strength he had left. He was staring into Ravens eyes, and she had to look befitting that of a killer.

Out of desperation, Hector roared and drew even more strength forward a brief flash of purple bursted out of his body as he pushed back against Raven and away from him. Once his back left the wall he dashed to his left and held his arms up in defence, placing himself between her and Yang..

 _Fuck that was a terrible idea…_ Hector thought to himself. His arms were shaking, and his heart was beating even faster. He was getting destroyed by Aaron and he was holding back on him. Against Raven? He knew before they even started fighting that he wouldn't stand a chance.

Imagine his surprise when Raven sheathed her blade, and actually smirked at him, as if she was impressed by him. It didn't do anything to make Hector relax however, if anything it just made him more tense.

"You're very strong for age, and you have a powerful semblance." Raven spoke for the first time, red eyes meeting red as she looked at him like she was observing him. She noticed all the damage Hector had on his body, she was _not_ a weak person, for someone so young to be able to push her back slightly, and then have the bravery to be willing to fight her? She admired strength like that. But…

"How do you know?" Raven didn't form that question as an actual question, and really made it sound like a demand.

"I… know a lot…" Hector answered honestly.

"Hmph, do you know who I am?" Raven asked next, crossing her arms as she eyed Hector up and down as if she was looking for something.

"...Yes." Hector answered honestly again, he had a feeling that if he lied, nothing good would come out of it.

"You know that if we fight, I'll kill you."

Hector sighed, and nodded his head.

"I don't want to fight you, I just need your help."

"Tell me, why would I do that?" Raven asked, amused.

Hector just shrugged, he considered bringing up Yang, but again he feels like revealing more of what he knows would just get him into more trouble. "I'm just banking on you saying yes, I don't really have much of a plan if you don't help me, and my friends and I might all die if you don't. You don't have much to gain out of this, but I would be very grateful if you did help me out here."

Hector lowered his arms ever so slightly, but when Raven brought a hand up to grip the hilt of her sword, he brought his hands back up and tensed. Raven scoffed and took her hand off of the hilt of her sword, as if it was some kind of test that he passed by accident.

Hector couldn't keep up as Raven seemingly teleported in front of him, and then pushed him into a wall, pinning him there with one hand. Hector winced and looked into her eyes. Which were flaming with red flames. He saw his life flash before his eyes as she leaned into him, her hand as cold as ice even through his burning hot flames.

"Let's make a deal." She said as she stepped back, and let Hector off of the wall.

To Hector's shock, he actually wasn't being killed at the moment.

It only added more to his shock as he listened to this deal being proposed to him that he didn't have any real option of declining.

He accepted the deal quickly.

* * *

 **Well, well, well. Raven is actually not just going to kill him just for the sake of it, fun stuff like that. This chapter was purely fighting, I hope you guys enjoyed it! Not going to say much else on the matter here, you'll just have to wait until next week! -Genatools**

 **For me it was fun I'll tell you that much, and the craziness it's not over.** Hoped any of you liked this fight centric chapter, I would really like your opinions **-Crowskull**

 **Please review and let us know what you think of the story!**


	33. Rwby: Team HAMR chapter 33

**Here we are with more Team HAMR! This is going to mark the end of an era, I have something very special planned for this chapter. I've been waiting to do it for weeks now. You'll get what I mean as soon as you see it.**

* * *

 **IF YOU ARE HERE ONCE YOU SAW AN UPDATE AND DO NOT SEE CHAPTER 34. GO BACK TO ONE OF PREVIOUS CHAPTERS. THIS STORY IS UNDER A REWRITE TO FIX THE MISTAKES WE MADE IN THE PAST!**

* * *

 **Zeldawolffang: Yes, very close.**

 **Guest: Protracted.**

 **Transition**

 **Now let us get straight into the story!**

* * *

RWBY: Team HAMR

Chapter 33- For Desperate Measures

"Yang… wake up!"

Yang was already awake, and conscious, but she couldn't quite find the strength to open her eyes, nor the rest of her muscles in her limbs. She felt herself be shaken, but then she heard a sigh and felt herself be lifted onto someone's back.

It was really warm there, she snuggled into it instinctively. She vaguely remembered what happened before that moment in time. She was fighting that short multicolored girl with the weird eyes, Hector was fighting that really strong guy that shot her in the stomach, and she nearly died. She was about to but _someone_ saved her.

She felt a strange familiarity in the black haired woman that saved her life, she watched with a blurry vision as she saw the woman stand off against their enemies alongside Hector, after they retreated her vision started to go black again, but she could still hear. She just lost a lot of blood.

Hector said something about a… Maiden? After that she heard who she now thinks is her long lost mother fight him for a bit, and they had a short conversation. Yang faded in and out of consciousness during this talk, but she barely caught the end of it.

 _Fine, I'll make this deal for you, as long as…_ Yang lost consciousness before she could hear the rest of it, and the next thing she knew, she was riding on Hector's back as he carried her through the train, being careful with her weak body as he carried her with his arms, bridal style. There was nothing really romantic about it, Hector just couldn't afford to waste what little time they have left on this train and had to pick her up the quickest and safest way he could.

Lilac eyes met beaming brown as they came to a stop in one of the train cars, he let her down gently and let her lean back and rest against his knee as he made sure nothing else was wrong with her. She could feel her aura naturally start to return to her, and she just barely managed to smile at him after coughing a few times.

"What… happened?" She asked, still a little dizzy after their fight.

"Our enemies were a lot stronger than we thought, but I managed to push them back enough to get you out of there." Yang knew that he was lying, but she just didn't have the energy to call him out on it like she usually would if she weren't so injured.

"Thanks…" She said instead, legitimately grateful for her friend going through the trouble of carrying her and no doubt protecting her for however long she has been unable to move. The blood on his face and was indication enough that he was more then willing to protect her. But the genuinely happy smile on his face betrayed the way he was influenced by the raw adrenaline.

"I would do it every time." Hector simply said. "Are you able to move?" He asked next, looking at her whole body.

"I think?" She said, not really convinced even though she was the on to say it.

Hector frowned, Yang's aura was broken earlier, and to his knowledge it took a while for it to start regenerating at a healthy rate. Unlike him, where it was almost always regenerating. However it depends on his willpower to keep going forward. With a sigh, he brought one hand up to his chin as he feared the worst for his blonde friend, who lost a dangerous amount of blood because of Neo.

" _Hell, is there a way I can give her some of my aura?"_ He asked the demon in his head, desperate for any kind of way to guarantee Yang's survival.

" _ **Why would I know that? I exist to destroy."**_ Hell pointed out in an arrogant irritated voice. He got like that once their fight was over, back to the rude and monstrous personality that Hector has grown used too over the amount of days he was forced to get used to the second voice in his head.

"Damn it, I still have to try _something_ at least!" Hector exclaimed out loud, his voice strained and emotional as he pressed his hand on Yang's wound, and then ripped off a piece of his shirt, exposing his right arm and shoulder as he made to tie some kind of tourniquet around her bleeding wound. "That'll stop the bleeding for now."

Yang didn't respond to him, and he found his hands covered in blood. In a panic, he picked Yang back up and rested her back on his knee. "Yang? Yang! Come on, don't do this to me right now." He begged, slapping her face lightly to try to wake her back up. "Fuck!" He cursed to himself, and placed two of his fingers on her neck to feel for her pulse.

Her heart was beating, but it was faint, slow, soft. It was barely beating anymore. Hector felt a pang of guilt and sadness as he noticed another wound on the side of her body, he didn't know much first aid, but with the way her back was soaked in blood, it didn't look good.

Out of pure desperation, Hector opened up her leather short sleeved jacket and placed his hand on the center of her chest, completely uncaring of the way his hand brushed up against her breasts and closing his eyes shut. Trying to concentrate the best he can in this dire situation. His red aura flared up around his body and hand, and underneath his closed eyes, the brown color turned red as he did his best to try and figure out how to transfer aura over to someone else.

" _ **Brother, stop this meaningless crusade. Not everyone can be saved."**_ Hell said in a bored tone, completely apathetic to the entire situation.

"She's not meaningless Hell!" Hector screamed, opening his eyes back up and trying his very best to transfer his aura over to Yang.

" _ **You'll learn very quickly that other humans are not worth the effort. Perhaps this can be the first step."**_

Hector growled loudly at Hell for that one, blocking out the rest of his words as he felt his own body grow hotter and hotter as he increased the intensity of the aura in his arm in an effort to save his friend.

"Yang… please." Hector begged whatever God existed in this world to give him the power to save her life. Her face has gained a dangerous pale color, nothing like the rosy peach that he has gotten used to seeing for the past few months. A flash of memories of all of the time that he has spent with Yang specifically, they were all good memories. He doesn't have any bad ones with her. She was the one he was inspired by to fight with his fists, he even imitated her style when he fought. They fought together all the time, and they were great friends.

"I wouldn't be able to handle it if you died… imagine what I'd have to tell Ruby." Hector chuckled bitterly, no real amusement behind it.

His hand glowed not a red color, but a faint purple as he let his emotions take hold of his body. Slowly, his aura also turned purple, a dark purple as he felt some of his aura leave his body.

"I can't… _won't_ be able to handle it… so please." Hector opened his eyes, a dark purple color to them instead of red. "Just take some of my aura, and live." He said as he concentrated harder than he ever has before, closing his eyes again and relaxing as he felt his aura enter Yang's body, his hand felt like it was being electrocuted, but he kept at it. Feeling his own reserves slowly drain away until he was barely at ten percent aura left.

In a flash of purple and yellow. Hector was forced to cover his eyes as he saw Yang snap herself awake, panting heavily and clutching one of her wounds. Glowing a bright yellow as she felt her body's strength come back to her. Hector's own glow faded away and he nearly passed out, but kept himself awake. His heart was beating painfully again, but this time he didn't care about it. He just kept a hand clutched on what remained of his shirt and smiled brightly at the now healing Yang, whose aura has regenerated almost all the way.

If Yang had to guess, she'd say that she'd have about sixty percent of her aura left! Which was a miracle, she was completely out until just a second ago. She had a vague memory of what went down in the past couple of hours, before with a gasp she remembered _everything_ up until that point. She looked into Hector's brown eyes which she barely caught faded down from purple.

"Hector? What happened?" She asked, confused with this course of events.

"You were dying." Hector answered honestly, feeling his heart squeeze when he sensed the sadness in Yang's eyes. "You were out of aura, and bleeding a lot."

"Then… how?" She looked down at her yellow glowing body and clothes, her aura was rejuvenated somehow. Yang looked to Hector as she realized what must have happened, then she let out a single emotional laugh as soon as he shrugged out there with not a very guilt expression on her face. "You gave me some of your aura?" She asked after she laughed happily.

"Whatever I had left, I'm really low now, but it was either that or let you die. You can see the choice I've made." Hector said with a smirk, he was sweating profusely, and his own wounds were still bleeding and there was no doubt that every single one of his muscles were in an incredible amount of pain at the moment.

Giving aura to someone else was incredibly dangerous and a forbidden technique. There was just too much that could go wrong. One could die, and the other could live, or they could both die in the process due to the extreme aura exhaustion. Someone needed to have the willpower and a very large reserve of aura to be able to pull it off without dying, and even if it was successful, they could lose a part of themselves.

Hector wasn't showing it, but he did feel like he lost something, it wasn't a big something, but it was more than worth it to give it to Yang if it meant saving her life. He had the aura for it, and he definitely had the willpower for it.

Yang on the other hand felt incredibly powerful, her aura almost back up to full charge _and_ she felt even stronger then she did before. That is probably the part of Hector that he gave up in order to save her life. Similar to a connection two would feel when one unlocks the aura of another, she could sense the relief in Hector, along with dozens of other emotions she was admittedly concerned about.

But that didn't matter at the moment, what mattered was that he saved her life, and gave up a part of his soul to do so. With tears threatening to spill from her eyes, she leaned into Hector's chest, who was still leaning beside her with a hand on her back. They shared the hug for a few more seconds before Hector stood up with a surprising amount of ease. Yang followed right after, with more than enough ease.

"We can talk about this later." Hector said as he turned around, ignoring the surprise and pure happiness he can now sense from Yang.

"Yeah, we have a _lot_ to talk about after today." Yang teased, referring to more then one topic as she subtly hints as to her knowing about the talk he apparently had with her mother. She has been searching for that closure all her life, and now she finally has the most decent lead she has ever found. That would be something to speak about later however, with a silent agreement with Hector. She nodded and followed him through the train car.

Hector suddenly stopped and slumped forward, eyes rolling to the back of his head and barely catching himself on the doorframe to the next train car at the last second. Yang was already under one of his arms even though he was helping himself up.

"Weiss… Blake… ahead… help..." Hector mumbled, barely conscious after his spill.

"I know Hex, I know." Yang said, supporting him as they continued forward. Luckily the sounds of fighting above them was an indication that the White Fang was already preoccupied, so they had a straight path straight to their friends. "I would leave you here to rest, but I don't know if one of those guys would find you if I leave you alone. And I would be damned before I leave you after what you just did for me." Yang looked at him with a teasing smirk on her face. "Congrats, you managed to get me to forever be in your debt."

"Ugh…" Hector groaned, not in irritation but just because of how tired he was.

"Trust me, I feel the same way." Yang said with a chuckle. "Now let's go help our friends, you better feel better by the time we get there."

"Uh huh…"

* * *

Robert and Roman exchanged blows again, Robert doing far better with an exhausted Roman, his strikes with his blades were bypassing his blocks and his deflects were becoming sloppy. Robert sidekicked Roman right in the gut and opened him up for several quick dual slashes, the continued to pummel him with four quick punches, and roundhouse followed by a spinning hook kick that sent Roman away. However Robert imediately had to cover his right side as Mercury hit his guard with two quick side kicks, a roundhouse and a spinning axe kick. Robert blocked the kicks, one of the with his electrical blades making Mercury recoil, and evaded the axe kick and using the momentum of the dodge to go to Mercury's side and strike him with both his blades.

Mercury got flung back, and Robert followed him with a lightning dash and pounced on top of him while kneeing him on the stomach. Once on top of him he punched him in the face repeatedly while Mercury did the best to cover his face with his arms, after a solid punch to Mercury's face Robert looked to the side and saw Blake having trouble with Emerald while Weiss did her best to distract Roman. He shot a thunderbolt at the real Emerald and left Blake to take care of her while he went and assisted Weiss on her fight.

Weiss created a baby blue barrier to protect her from Roman's shots and cane attacks, after the last shot Robert appeared in front of Roman gathering his energy, Weiss dispelled the barrier and attacked Roman by lunging at him in quick succession from three different angles, as she attacked Robert morphed the energy he had stored and released it as powerful thunderbolt and some quick lightning missiles that impacted all on Roman's chest, knocking him to the ground and scorching part of his clothes and leaving some noticeable bruises. They were finally completely breaking their aura.

"About time they started to go down." Robert said with a huff.

"We still need... to properly knock them down." Weiss said with a heavy breath.

"Then we'll do it together." Robert said, soon as he said that they heard Blake skid towards them, Mercury was back up again and was helping Emerald, together Weiss, Blake and Robert faced them. Robert initiated dashing in and exchanging kicks and slashes between both Mercury and Emerald, they blocked the first few, both were continuously hit by the following ones he landed seven punches to Mercury followed some slashes to Emerald's side and a side kick followed by evading a kick from Mercury and making a cut at his back and so on, Weiss and Blake followed Robert's example, Blake by using her semblance to rapidly bounce between the two and attack them and Weiss by using her glyphs and time dilatation to attack from all direction in different ways.

Robert landed three punches at Mercury, slashed at his sides evading his attacks and threw one point blank lightning bolt at him, then using his blade to send a wave of lightning and kicked him upwards into a twin slash, he then grabbed Mercury by his torso and made him convulse with electricity and explode in sparks, making him fly into the air and fall to the ground. Mercury was barely able to get back up, but only out of sheer will power. Robert dashed in on him and landed four consecutive kicks, then a two punches, a reverse elbow, a back kick followed by an axe one, a back hand punch to his face and twin slashes to his legs, Mercury cursed under his breath at that last attack and tried to retaliate by punching Robert.

Robert grabbed his arm and judo throwed him to the ground while still holding his arm, Mercury got up to a knee and tried to get free, but Robert kneed him in the face and then grabbed his leg, lifted it up and kneed him twice in the balls. Mercury let out a soundless gasp.

"Hah!" Robert grunted as he kicked Mercury down and delivered a punch of lightning to his face that would leave him on the ground for the time being.

"Phew, finally." Robert said as he looked for Weiss and Blake, they both focused Emerald with quick slashes, lunges and dust techniques, Weiss used her time dilation in unison with Blake to land multiple quick and unrelenting strikes at Emerald, it was brutal, she was already trapped, unable to do anything with her illusions and Blake and Weiss kept their unified assault without mercy, Blake created a fire clone with the help of Weiss that exploded close to Emerald, and the Weiss created spikes of ice the exploded close to her, finally using both her semblances together they became blurs of black and white that landed multiple strikes and finally made a final combined attack that shattered Emerald's aura, and knocked her to the ground and unable to move.

Robert felt a genuine smile crep to his face, he was honestly quite proud of the both them, they stood together looking at both Emerald and Mercury, then they heard another sound coming behind them, Roman stood up.

"I… look kids, can we just…" Roman coughed awkwardly as he watched Mercury's body weakly trying to get back up not too far from him, he didn't get to finish what he was saying as Robert became a blur of lightning and grabbed him by the throat and slammed him into the ground, Balke and him then wrapped the ribbon on Roman's neck, Robert electrocuted him for a bit and then both lined him up for Weiss, who using earth dust created a pillar rock that came out of the ground and impacted directly on Roman's ribcage and sent him further back down the cart, Roman tried to move but together Robert, Weiss and Blake ganged up on him and shattered and pummeled his aura until there was nothing left and he had several cuts, scar, burns and bruises do to the way the destroyed his aura all together, Roman finally fell to the ground at the other side of the train car and was badly injured now, however he was still grunting and coughing, so he was still awake.

"I… I think we did it." Robert said to both of them. Emerald and Mercury were trying to move but they quickly had weapons pointed at them, they stopped trying with that.

"Yeah… I think." Blake answered.

"I feel like… like I could rest a bit now." Weiss said exhausted, Robert nodded, out of everyone she had been at her lowest on aura, she had the injuries, dirt and bruises to prove it, and she still manage to pull through to the end, but she wasn't the only one tired, they were all tired, it had been an eventful day. Robert didn't know how Blake was, she also looked bruised, tired and overall battle damaged, Robert himself was tired, he also had his fair share of bruises, disheveled hair and a lot of dirt and burned clothes, also some scars.

With all the fighting, the paladins, the White Fang and the explosion that to be honest nearly could have killed him he really felt like he needed catch a breather, he checked quickly and he was at twenty seven percent on aura, not bad really.

"Someone should guard them, and then we should check on the others, they were-" Blake stopped mid sentence as they all felt a chilling presence behind them, they all felt an immense amount of fear and cold from behind them, Blake's and Weiss's hands shook as they held their weapons, Robert was a bit better, but it felt almost too familiar for him… for him it felt like he was back in front of the Monarch.

Robert turned around first and saw a man with a black trench coat, Neo was behind him… and he was also quickly walking towards them with a not very happy expression on his face.

"Shit." Robert cursed as he got close.

Robert dashed as lightning to him, then Blake and Weiss were finally able to turn around, Robert kicked and punched to try and evade the man's defenses, but he blocked all of his attacks with simple quick movements, after blocking a kick he countered with a punch that stunned Robert, and went and landed landed three more punches on him, two to his sides and one to the side of his head that made Robert's skull vibrate, with that punch he knocked Robert down and away from him. He started walking towards him while he held his head, but Weiss and Blake intervened and tried to attack him, he dodged their lunges and knocked them aside, Blake to the opposite end of the train car, and Weiss to the closes wall, they were both unable knocked down from the hits.

The man faced Robert again and made a move to punch his face to the ground, but Robert rolled away and dashed back in as lightning and came in with two slashes, from the man's coat came a black smoke with ghostly green highlight, and it quickly morphed into a sword that he used to parry Robert's slashes, he perfectly countered and sent a slash himself, Robert avoided the attack and went for stab at the man's chest, but the man caught his arm and twisted, however with a flick of the wrist in the other direction Robert got his hand freed. The man in the trencoat didn't expect the move and grunted in annoyance, he seemed more pissed now.

Robert dashed away as lightning as he escaped and fired bolts of lightning at the man, and the man himself caught them with his bare hands, not seemingly affecting him. Robert felt frustrated now, he sent in a lightning wave and dashed back in. The man obviously avoided the wave met Robert's blades again with his sword of black ghostly smoke, Robert went in for a slash with his left arm, the man parried the blade with his sword and locked his blade with Robert's. But Robert saw it as a chance to attack with his other one, and he did, and the man parried his attack with his bare arm.

" _Oh…"_ Robert thought.

Immediately a lightning quick knee full of momentum and strength went into Robert's ribs, and he swore he felt at least one of them crack, the man then punched Robert twice in the face, grabbed his arm and pinned him, he sent another strong knee to his face, making Robert's nose bleed, the man let go of Robert's arm and continued to punch him, once in the face, another in the gut, and another time in the same rib he had broken, now Robert had definitely more than one rib broken. Robert shakely stumbled away holding his sides, the man came in and roundhouse kicked his back with immense strength, Robert crumbled to the ground and heard his back crack, thankfully it wasn't broken yet, the man then proceeded to pull out a hand cannon from his coat, Robert had barely managed to recover enough and make his shield and block the shot, the man then pushed kicked Robert's shield and made him fly to the end of the train cart, his back slamming into the wall, and cracking something else in the process.

Robert landed on his feet after making a dent on the wall of the train, but as he landed he keeled over and coughed up blood.

" _Fuck… he really did broke something this time… that knee was so strong…"_ Robert thought, he was in pain, his aura was not broken but it was fully in the red now and almost completely gone, the man also threw so many strong hits, strong enough to bypass his aura and cause damage that both made most of his aura went away to fix it and also knocked him out of his charge and focus for his semblance. Not only that but the man had basically put him out of the fight in one solid hit, that broken rib made him practically useless now, he probably couldn't even escape.

He made a mistake, he realised, he didn't think, he didn't think the man was that far above him, he didn't thought about being more careful after the man catches his bolts like nothing, he didn't thought of putting Blake and Weiss in a safe place or go with them to look for help… and now they were stuck with this guy on this train car and he was practically useless… he really did fucked up.

" _Fuck no… no no no no no no…"_ Robert thought, he was scared now, he made another mistake, and other people than him could pay for it.

"Hmm, now I'll admit, I wasn't in a mood to play or drag things out, and you still managed to last a bit, you are more of what I was expecting, someone more skilled and proactive… maybe you could be smarter but is not like you really knew what you were up against. However, you are still someone that fought through an army, and also managed to defeat these three idiots…" Aaron said spreading his arms to signal at Emerald, Mercury and Roman, who were all just starting to get back up.

"Even if it was with the help of two little girls." Robert at this stood up shakely, ignoring the pain from his ribs and activating one his blades again while the other hand held to his side.

"And resilient enough to stand back up, well done Robert, nothing extraordinary, but not bad at all. Practically made me put in the same amount of effort as the other prophet." Aaron said as he put his hands on his pockets.

"Do I know you?" Robert asked.

"Hmm, you might have heard of me, did you speak to Cassius?" The man in the trench coat asked.

"Who?"

"The man you killed that was in league with us, the leader of a cult under the city." He elaborated.

"Ah…" Robert now remembered who this man was supposed to be. "So, I assume you are Aaron then?"

"Got it in one." Aaron said with an amused smirk.

"I really was hoping I was wrong really." Robert said.

"Yeah well, bad things happen to good people all the time." Aaron shrugged. "I'll be taking you with me now, not really a choice on your part so don't make me hurt you any more then I have too."

"..." Robert just stared, he didn't really have an answer, so he decided to do what he always did when that happened, stay quiet… and maybe in this case try to stall.

Aaron didn't even give him the time for that, because he started walking toward him. Putting his sword away and letting it blow away with the force of the train. Robert tried to get back up to continue fighting and resisting, since he had no other ideas and Aaron was _very_ fast. He lit up one of his electrical swords, and got ready to swing it at him as he came closer, to form some sort of last stand.

"Get away from him!" Just before Aaron could get close enough to attack Robert, Weiss thrusted her rapier into his neck, narrowly missing when Aaron leant backwards and caught the rapier with his bare hand. Weiss yelped as she was pulled along with her weapon before she could let go, than Aaron grabbed her hair with one hand and pulled her into his body, squeezing her with one arm as he threw her weapon away. He pulled her up until her feet was off of the ground and slipped his large arm underneath her chin, choking her not enough to kill her, but enough for her to have trouble breathing.

"No!" Robert exclaimed, coming up from Aarons side and slashing at him.

Yet again, Aaron blocked his sword with one arm and then punched him in the stomach with his free arm, blowing Robert back into the wall where once again he found himself coughing up a little blood, something cracked again in his chest, and he was barely able to catch his breath.

Roman, in this fiasco of a miracle saw it as an opportunity to get himself to safety on the other side of the train car. But before he could take two steps forward, a black ribbon wrapped around his leg and arm, tripping him over and he felt himself be dragged across the metal floor.

"Oh _come ooooon_." Roman complained as he felt a knee push itself into his back and a black blade tickling his neck.

"Let her go!" Blake snarled at Aaron. "Or I'll slit his throat."

"Would you really girl?" Aaron asked with an amused snort, tightening his grip around Weiss just a little bit harder. Blake felt her hand tremble a bit, she felt the same fear from before too, Robert crawled to her from the side and and pushed himself up to one knee beside Blake, and pushed her hand out of the way.

"Be sure that I will!" Robert said as he created his one of his lightning blades and put the tip right next to Roman's neck. "You can hurt me, but you can't hurt them, I won't allow it."

"Ah… Blue, you should really jus- OW!" Roman screamed as Robert started to press the energy blade further, making his skin burn. "Come on now I am going to have to put on even _more_ makeup after this."

"Shut up Roman!" Robert and Aaron said at the same time. Earning an amused shrug out of Aaron.

"Sure, go ahead, kill him." Aaron said with a smirk.

"W-what?" Robert said, in disbelief.

"Yeah, I also don't like that plan." Roman said frantically.

"You're expendable Roman, we won't be needing you for much longer anyway. At this point I can do what we planned to have you do anyway." Aaron said, his arm still around Weiss' neck.

"As far as I'm aware he's still a decent scapegoat, you don't need that?" Robert argued.

"Oh please, I know you care about the Schnee girl a lot more than I care about Roman's health." Aaron pointed out. "If you kill him, I'll kill this girl, and then I'll kill the other girl. Then even if you kill Roman, I'll just take you with me anyway. It's a win win for me anyway." Even though what he was saying was technically true, Neo visibly shook as she thought about Roman dying for little reason. She glared at him as she helped Mercury and Emerald back up to their feet. Her multicolored eyes switching to white as she showed actual emotion.

"If you kill her, I'll still resist as much as I can… and I think time is running out for all of us." Robert said, referring to the train.

"Heh, that's the same thing that other kid said to me as I was about to let the mute kill his blonde girlfriend." Aaron said with a smug smirk as he saw the shocked and concerned faces of both Robert and Blake. "Though, I'm pretty sure the mute cut an artery anyway, so she won't be lasting much longer."

Robert cringed his teeth, thinking of what Aaron might have done, but mentally slapped himself, he had to focus on Weiss's safety. "... We are still running short on time so let her go, and I will walk Roman over there myself."

Aaron actually considered this, and he even let Weiss' feet touch the ground and allow her to catch her breath as he thought about it. He would not only get Roman, but he would also get Robert. In truth they _were_ running out of time, any minute now the train was going to slam into Vale, and while he would live, he would rather not have both of his prophets die. "Deal." He said with a smirk as he moved his hand to the back of Weiss' neck.

"Mister Urra don't do this!" Blake cried, not at all with the idea of letting her professor just hand himself and Roman over without much of a fight.

Robert didn't answer, he simply stood up and continued to hold Roman by the neck, and holding one arm to his side so he couldn't try anything.

"We agreed to something, Urra, unless you really don't care for the Schnee." Aaron tested, bringing his other hand to threaten Weiss' neck. Robert gritted his teeth and slowly started walking with the best of his ability towards Aaron.

"... Fuck you Aaron… just let her go." Robert said as he and Roman came closer.

Aaron scoffed at the select choice of words, and started stepping forward himself. No more words were said and the atmosphere was tense. Aaron's smile slowly faded as they grew nearer, mere feets separating the two of them as they pushed forward their respective hostages.

Robert sighed to himself and took another step forward, getting onto Aarons side of the train.

Right when Aaron smiled, a red blade slashed right across his face and with a blast of ice, he was blasted over to the other side of the train car, his hand already let go of Weiss just before this happened.

Robert stared wide eyed and pulled both himself and Roman back toward Blake in a lightning blur, who ran up to him and took Roman as he stared at their would be saviour.

Raven… Raven fucking Branwen, was right in front of him. She kicked Neo away and aimed her sword toward Emerald and Mercury, who simply just caught Neo and ran to Aaron, who was shaking himself of the stars he saw and stood back up a little wobbly. His green eyes staring angrily into the Grimm mask of Raven Branwen as he got ready to fight back with what little time they have left.

"Aaron, we need to go." Emerald told him. "This isn't a fight even you can win quickly, we have less than five minutes until we collide with Vale."

Robert saw Weiss on the cross fire and felt his adrenaline kick in again, he dashed in, grabbed her and held her close as he pull her and himself out of the way next to Blake and Roman.

"You will leave, all of you." Raven said to all three of them without even looking at them. "I will handle this myself, you'll only get in the way."

Aaron made a frustrated grunting sound as he allowed Neo to grip his arm. "Raven, you are making a grave mistake crossing me again. You better watch yourself in the near future." He said right before Neo teleported all three of them away to a distant location.

"Somehow, I doubt that." Raven said as she sheathed her sword after they broke away into glass.

Before Robert could even say anything to her, Raven aimed one palm toward the side of the train car, and fired a fireball out of her hand, blowing away the wall and creating a large opening. She then flew out without saying anything else to them, leaving all three of them shocked and processing everything they had just seen.

"... Hector, this has to be your fault, there's no way it's not." Robert said as he keeled over again and held his sides.

"Oh he did a lot more than just that, trust me." Yang's voice said from behind them.

Robert turned around along with Weiss and Blake to see a blood covered Hector being supported by another blood covered Yang, but they both had smirks on their faces as they entered the last train car. Hector a little more tiredly as he used Yang's shoulder to support himself into a more comfortable standing position.

"So… I sorta did a thing that I _definitely_ can't explain to you later." Hector said with a cough as he wiped away at his blood covered eye.

"... Hector, ugh… I don't even have strength to complain right now." Robert said.

"Good, because we have a train to somehow stop." Yang said as the two of them limped toward him. "How are you three, are you okay?" She asked.

"More or less." Blake said with a sigh.

"My neck hurts." Weiss simply answered with as she rubbed her neck.

"Broken ribs and uh… much more… but I can stand up and move if… if… if you give me a moment."

"Well for your information, I'm not in all that great shape either." Hector said as he clutched his painfully beating heart. With new strength that seemingly came out of nowhere, Hector ran to the controls at the front of the traincar, what was left of it anyway. "We need to find a way to stop the train." Hector pointed out the obvious.

"Yeah no shit, how are we going to do that?" Yang asked with an arched eyebrow as she now supported Robert.

"Uh… hehe… hey Rob?" Hector called to him with a nervous smile.

"... Do I even want to know?" Robert asked with a shake of his head.

"It depends… have you ever watched Spider-Man 2?" Hector asked as he started rolling his shoulders and rubbing his left exposed shoulder.

"..." It took a while for Robert to understand what his Earth friend was suggesting. "Are you insane!? How? I mean if we somehow manage it okay sure but you are not doing that stupidity alone and without Spider-Man powers… are you also going to go in front of the train? Please tell me no."

"Okay, I feel like I'm missing something here, who the hell is Spiderman?" Yang asked, her confusion showing.

"Not important." Hector said as he took off his shirt, and threw it at their feet. Then turned around to face the tunnel. "What is important, is how the hell I am going to stop this thing with my bare hands while… she does her thing." He said with a trembling sigh.

"Wha- Absolutely not!" Weiss screamed at him. "As if we are going to let you kill yourself like that, there has to be another way!"

"Bare hands? Really…. Ugh, okay, fuck it just tell me how and I'll at least hear it out." Robert said with yet another sigh.

"Well… let's be honest hear. Physically, out of everyone here, I am the strongest. That can't be argued right?" Hector asked as he started taking deep breaths.

"Even without everything you went through, It's debatable, well first thing you are not doing it alone, next step." Robert said.

"Well… I kinda _need_ my aura to blow out, that's another thing to tell you later, but let's just leave it at I get a lot stronger somehow when my aura is down." Hector continued.

" _ **I am also against this idea by the way, I want you to know that."**_ Hell said.

"I know Hell, I know." Hector muttered to himself quietly so that the others wouldn't hear.

"Uh huh… okay, if that's true then what? Just put yourself in front of the train?"

"That's where Weiss' speed glyphs come in, we also need to get to the top of the train." Hector said as he went to the large gaping hole in the wall, and jumped up to start pulling himself up on top of the train. "Come on, follow me up here!" He said as he pulled himself up.

"I really find it hard to not hate him, but if this somehow works, I am going to owe him a lot more than I already do now." Yang said.

"He has gone suicidal hasn't he? Blake watch Roman, we'll make sure he doesn't kill himself." Robert said.

Blake was left alone in the train car seconds later, Yang jumping up to the top of the train and then helping Robert up next since his ribs were cracked and broken. She looked down at the now tied up Roman who looks up at her with an amused grin on his face.

"Wanna snuggle up as we die?" Roman asked as he made room for her beside him.

Blake kicked him in the head after that, knocking him out.

* * *

The group on top of the train managed to push their way to the front of the the train car, all of the bombs are defused thanks to Ruby's knowledge about explosive, and Michael finally but down his defensive ward and nearly fell over out of exhaustion, his green aura flickered away and fell apart as Reggie caught him before he could fall.

The White Fang themselves seemed to have jumped ship when they realized that things were not going their way. So there was thankfully no one else to fight. Ruby was busy fawning over her injured sister to see if she were okay, and then sped up to Hector when Yang told her that he saved her life and hugged him tightly. He chuckled and pushed her away gently and it was time for his own team and Miss Goodwitch to catch up with him.

"Mister Rivers, I am glad to see you alive." Glynda said with a small smile. "You as well Mister Urra."

"Barely…" Robert said

"Why is your shirt off?" Reggie asked the dumbest question he could.

"Well… that is because I am about to do something very stupid." Hector said as he patted Reggies now skinny shoulder.

"... Define stupid." Ashley said as she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Oh no, I already know." Michael said as he pushed himself off of Reggie and clamped both hands on Hector's shoulder and stared him straight in the eyes. "You are _not_ going to try to stop this train on your own are you?"

"Well… not alone." Hector said with a sigh, for some strange reason Robert had a feeling he somehow convinced Raven to help them out. But he kept quiet about it for now.

"Wait, what are you going to try?" Ruby asked innocently, her silver eyes staring into the side of Hector's head.

"Well… something along the lines of… _forcing_ the train to stop." Hector said with a bitter chuckle as he went back to stretching his arms and shoulders.

"Mister Rivers… please tell me you're not going to try to stop the train with you bare hands." Glynda said, actually afraid for her students life.

Hector snapped. "What else are we going to do? If we let the train crash, we could survive sure, but what about the people above ground? The explosion will kill dozens of people on it's own."

"Can't we just jam the wheels from the side or I don't know use aura and semblances to force it them to…" Robert looked around and no one was listening. "Okay, okay fine have it your way." Robert said exasperated and just surrendered.

"I defused the bombs though, it won't be that destructive at all!" Ruby exclaimed, now frantic as she thought about her best friend ending up as a red smear on the ground.

"Ruby, listen to me." Hector said as he placed one hand on her shoulder. "Do you _really_ think that people won't be hurt when this train slams into something underground?" He asked slowly.

"I… uh."

"Think about it, even without the explosives, there is guaranteed to at least be a cave in. And if people are above ground at the time, which at this time they _definitely_ will be people above ground… they'll die." Hector said coldly, and then let go of Ruby's shoulder when she looked to the ground.

"Okay we need to stop the train but do we have to do it like that?" Reggie asked, stepping in front of Ruby. "Do you have any idea how heavy a train is? Or how much force it will have behind it while it's going at like five hundred miles an hour!? Dude, I'll admit that you're strong, but nothing here on the _planet_ would be able to stop a train like that. You will die if you try."

"What else can we do then?" Hector asked his teammate.

"I… I don't know, just not _that_." Reggie said with a shrug.

"Hector this is crazy," Ashley started.

"Just… don't Ashley." Hector said bitterly, snapping his now angry red eyes in her direction. "Not from you."

"As a teacher I cannot allow this." Glynda stepped forward. "It is impossible to stop a train in this way, and it is my duty to keep my students safe and alive. This entire mission was to come save you I'll have you know!"

Hector showed a bit of a reaction to that, sagging his shoulders forward and taking two steps away from the group toward Weiss. His eyes locked onto hers and he asked a silent question.

"I have to at least try…" Hector said, his voice thick with emotion. "If I don't, and people die because of it… all while knowing that I might have been able to do _something_ to stop this thing to prevent that…" He rubbed a hand down his face. "I won't be able to handle it, not along with everything else I have on my shoulders now."

"Ugh… Fuck it just... I... ugh… why can't… oh no ho no..." Robert held his face. "I'll watch him, and make sure everything goes alright for him, just let's follow his plan for now." Robert said, the words forcefully coming out of his mouth.

Hector turned around and nodded at Robert, thankful for his support.

"This is nonsensical, asinine, and is bound to go wrong." Michael said next, standing up on his own and wiping sweat off of his brow. "Sounds like a Team HAMR plan."

"Shit, I guess I'm okay with this too." Reggie said next.

"I'll try to find a way to activate the brakes in the meantime." Ashley said as she stepped toward the edge of the train, and moved to get back into the train. "I won't be much help up here." Is all the reason she gave as she hopped down in between train cars.

"I…" Glynda sighed, and then took her wand out. "I'll do my best to slow down the train with my semblance, but I will only be able to for so long. You will have the weight of the entire train on you, I hope you are ready for that."

"Oh I know I'm not, but I'll have to be." Hector said with a chuckled as he walked up to Michael and Reggie.

" _ **I feel the need to reiterate that I am not okay with this plan**_." Hell yelled in his mind.

" _Literally no one cares."_

"Mike… Michael." Hector said as he placed a hand on both of their shoulders. "Just in case this doesn't work, and I die, I am hereby promoting you to be the leader of the team, please, just accept the damn offer." He added as Michael opened his mouth to protest.

"It won't come to that, somehow I know you're out of dimension ass is going to find a way to pull this off. But… yeah, I'll take up the role." Michael said with a sad nod of his head.

Hector smiled at him as thanks, and then looked to Reggie next.

Reggie didn't need to use words, because he just hugged him as hard as he could, and made it last about twenty seconds. He broke away afterwards and turned around, unable to face his leader whom he just reunited with just a short time ago.

Understanding his message, he turned to Yang and Ruby next.

"You're a dumbass." Yang said with a flat expression on her face. "But you're our dumbass, so I'll do what I can to help you with this."

"That is actually the nicest thing that I've heard in awhile." Hector chuckled, and then turned to Ruby. "Okay uh… this is the part where I actually need you."

"What?" Ruby asked as she looked up at him, already hugging him.

"Lets just say I am about to break the record for strongest running start."

/-/

Weiss set up a row of speed glyphs across the top of the train, and constantly kept making even more ahead of the train. Ruby and Hector were in the beginning. The plan was to combine Ruby's semblance with Weiss' speed glyphs, and have Ruby throw Hector with her semblance right at the front of the train. At that moment, Hector is going to activate Kaioken to the maximum he can possible get it too without killing himself, and as soon as he hits the railroad tracks, he is going to turn around and ram into the train at full force.

If all goes well, he might not die on impact.

"Are we good to go?" Robert asked everyone, who all gave him a range of yes' and nods of their heads. "Great… okay, oh I hate myself for this."

"I'm going to need you go get out of the way man." Hector said as he let Ruby grab hold of him, wrapping her arms around his waist.

"Just… uh, I don't know at this point, just don't die… if anything happens, I guess we'll try to catch in time or something."

Hector nodded his head and smiled at Robert, not having any more words to say to him. One last time, he looked back at Michael, and Reggie, who are both hanging onto the train for dear life in preparation for what is hopeful going to be a hard impact and for the train to start skidding to a stop. Next he saw Glynda Goodwitch, her semblance already prepared to be activated around the train. She nodded back at him and got down on one knee to stabilize herself. Yang was in a similar position off to his right.

He tore his eyes away from them, and took a deep breath.

"You better not die you idiot." Weiss said as she kept her rapier stabbed into the ground, an ice wall to her back just in case the plan actually worked.

"I'll try not too."

"If this works, you owe me cookies." Ruby said next.

"Isn't it supposed to be the other way around or something?" Hector asked with a chuckle.

"Nope."

"Thought so… alright… on a count to three."

"1 2 3!" Ruby exclaimed as she activated her semblance to the maximum speed she can get too, and amplified with the speed glyphs she was going even faster then the train itself. Hector's eyes teared up as the wind blew into them, it all went by in slow motion.

His heart was beating up in his ears, his muscles were already hurting because of the constant fighting he has been doing. He was still bleeding, and he didn't like the thought of what his bones were going to look like after this.

He was thrown at lightning speed, his body flew through the air like an arrow and a white hem appeared over his body as he broke the sound barrier because of how hard Ruby threw him. Though color quickly returned as he went down the tunnels by a good few thousand feet or so.

He landed on the ground with a roll, and turned around as planned. He had about twenty seconds until the train hit him, which meant he didn't have enough time to really pull every single ounce of power out of his body right away.

"Kaioken... times…" He growled and groaned in pain as his wounds opened up again, and his muscles enlarged to accommodate his growing strength. His red aura was burning his skin with how far he was going, giving himself third degree burns as his body grew stronger and stronger.

"Kaioken times TWENTY!" Hector screamed at the top of his lungs, even the air was superheated as he was blown out of his lungs.

He had less than ten seconds now, and the train was already closing in on him.

" _ **This is stupid, and I can't believe I am going to die like this."**_ Hell said, Hector could imagine he was facepalming in his mind right now.

"Yeah… well." Hector said as he gave himself the best stance to take the force of a train in the easiest way possible. "I _really_ liked Spider-Man 2."

The train slammed into him a moment later.

His aura broke upon impact, and every single muscle in his body tensed and teared under the massive weight of the train. But something was different, all the damage that was being caused to his body was healing just as fast. His skin paled, and his hair was a now a light gray color, almost like Mercury's.

Hector opened his eyes which were surrounded by purple veins, and stared down the train he was just barely slowing down with a roar. His eyes were a deep red, and the whites of his eyes was now a pitch black. Hell was in control, he took control the very same second Hector's aura shattered upon impact from the train.

His muscles literally melted off of his body and was healing with great speed as he pushed back against the train. Every single vein in his body was popping out on the skin. His injured leg hurt even more than it did before, and his aura became much, much blacker with red appearing around the edges of the flames.

Up above on the top of the train, everyone nearly fell off of the train because of the sudden impact and the way it slowed down almost immediately. Robert picked himself back up, and looked toward the front of the train.

The whole front of the train was red hot, and the flames of his friends was a pitch black color as it appeared over the edges.

"He's doing it… holy shit he's doing it!" Robert said with a laugh as he held on.

To their terror, the train started speeding up again slowly. Hell was doing his very best to keep himself alive, screaming the entire time in both pain and an exertion of effort. The bones in his body were already breaking, and most were already broken. His feet dug into the stone and broke every single wooden bar along the way. He pushed his hands so far into the train that his hands were nearly invisible because of how hard his has been pushing back against the train.

But it wasn't enough, even though Hell was extremely strong, and stacked with the Kaioken he was even stronger, he just couldn't slow down the train enough.

Somewhere near the back of the train, Raven keeps pace with the train, turning back into a human and landing on the last train car. She looks down at the grinding sparking wheels, and scoffs.

"Well, time to hold my end of the deal." She said as she held out a hand and froze the wheels on that side of the traincar. Before running over to the other side and doing the same. The wheels stopping moving entirely because of how cold her ice was.

She kept doing this until she was able to see the backs of all of Hector's friends looking on in disbelief as he was actually pushing back the train just a tiny bit.

Raven smirked to herself, her side of the deal was fulfilled.

As she cut into the air and created a black and red portal, a pair of lilac eyes met her. Yang was staring right at her, just a few train cars away. Raven stared back, even taking off her mask to reveal her face. Yang looked like she wanted to run over there, but the moment she glanced back toward Hector, Raven scoffed and stepped through the portal.

When Yang looked back, she was gone. Her one and probably only chance that she ever got the chance to speak to her mother. She shook such thoughts away, it wasn't important right now. Instead, she does something very stupid.

"Hah!" Yang yelled as she slammed her fists together, and activated her semblance.

"What are you doing!?" Ruby and Weiss asked her as they held onto the constantly slowing down train.

"He won't be able to do it on his own, and I have a full aura with a lot of power behind it!" Yang said as she ran down the train, jumping over the gaps as they came to her. Her eyes shined red as she made it to the front, her boots burning because of the red hot metal and the heat of the black flames was making her sweat. She took off her leather jacket and threw it behind her, the article of clothing being caught by her dog Zwei before it can fly off of the train.

"Yang are you fucking kidding me!? Get your ass back over here!" Michael screamed at her as he stabbed his Kusarigama into the roof of the train to keep himself steady.

"Nope!" Yang yelled as she jumped down and right beside Hector.

Yang immediately felt the pressure of the entire train pushing on her, threatening to plow her over as she pushed back against the train. Her arms immediately felt like they were about to fall off, and her bones were shaking so hard. Not to mention just being next to Hector at the moment was giving her a sunburn. Through all of that, she drew forth every drop of power that she had left, and pushed back against the train with her own yellow flames. She couldn't even open her eyes because of the intense heat, which was good for her sake.

Hell wanted to berate her for doing something so stupid, but he was too busy screaming as he pushed back against the train. It was _slightly_ easier to do so this time, Yang wasn't doing much, but she was helping nonetheless. The train was actually slowing down now, between the frozen wheels, Glynda's semblance slowing down the train just a little bit, and the two powerful brawlers doing their best to stop the train.

Reggie looked toward the black and red and yellow flames merging into a dark orange and cursed to himself. His orange aura flared as he encased his body with the hardest metal he can think of. Etricium. He has been around it enough to know what it looks like and how hard it would be.

"Reggie no!" Michael cried as he realized what his boyfriend was about to do.

"Fuck it." Reggie said as he started sprinting toward the front of the train, taking his battleaxe out from behind him and stabbing the end of it into the roof of the train as he ran by Robert. "Take care of that would you?!"

"Oh, yeah, sure. Cause that is what I have been reduced to apparently." Robert said as he used the staff of the battleaxe to help himself from falling off the train.

Without a second thought, Reggie hopped down in front of the train, and with his Etricium metal body, he digs his foot into the stone and pushed his back up against the train. His metal body grew more and more orange as the heat from his leaders body was actually making the metal skin on his body turn a dark orange color. But not enough to soften his metal or start to melt it. He started screaming in pain next as his entire body constantly vibrated as all three of them started to push against the train together.

And by the Gods it was working.

Hell was in the middle, pushing up against the train with his monstrous strength enhanced by the Kaioken. Yang to his left, stronger then she has ever been before as she pushed against the train with a flaming yellow aura, and Reggie to his right, his Etricium metal body helping out immensely.

All three of them roared as the train slowed down more and more, and Hell felt himself get stronger as less damage was done to his body, and his healing factor started to come into play. The bones in his arms may as well have been grounded to dust, but the muscles were still fine, both of his legs were broken, but in time they would heal. Not to mention that both of his shoulders are now dislocated.

Their feet actually stopped digging into the stone ground, and before the realized it, the train was skidding to a stop. The sparks on the front wheels of the train stopped flying into them, and after just a few painful seconds, the train finally came to a stop.

Just twenty feet or so away from the rubble it would have crashed into.

Yang and Reggie fell to the side, passed out after helping pull off such an impossible sounding task. The Dragon Fists around Hells arms were miraculously still in one piece, but was a bright white color because of how they were attached to his steaming hot body.

Hell ripped his hands out of the train, and stumbled two steps back, his hair turning back into a dark grey and the purple veins in his eyes fading away. His Dragon Fists slipped off of his arms and the power of the times twenty Kaioken faded away. Leaving him to heal all of the damage done to his body.

Out from inside the train, Blake poked her head out of one of the windows. "What the hell just happened?" She asked. Ashley poked her head out next and had a similar question.

Ruby used her semblance to get to the front of the train, and immediately to Yang's side as she was on her side completely out cold. Her gloves were burned off, and she had burns on the palms of her hand, but other then that, she was still alive.

Michael tended to Reggie, who was face down and back into his skinny self. He was barely conscious, and he was alive.

"Children!?" Gynda called to them as she ran out from around the train, gasping at the sight of the three students who are all somehow still alive.

Robert came around the other side, Reggie's battleaxe still in his hand but not for long since he threw it down at Reggie's side. He muttered a thank you as Robert went to go see how Hector is doing.

This whole time, as everyone cheered and someone was walking toward him, Hector's body was twitching and healing. The thick scars on his forearms from when he fought the White Fang Lieutenant were still there, and his forearms down to his hands were practically black. His arms hung limply at his sides, the bones within them broken in hundreds of places, and he was barely standing up with broken legs. His breathing was ragged, and he couldn't really hear what was going around around him.

Robert grabbed him by the shoulder from behind. "Hector are you-"

He was cut off when he saw the Grimm eyes staring back at him, and for a forehead to slam itself into his nose and sending him falling a few feet away. He writhed in pain for a bit after the sucker attack, feeling something crack in his nose, but he cracked one eye open to see Hector, or what he thinks is supposed to be Hector, his entire eye red with a black pupil in the middle of it. But the worst about it was that he was _smiling_ , grinning at him as he held his now bleeding nose.

"What the hell?" Robert said as he looked at his friend.

A black and purple aura wrapped around Hector, and pinned his broken arms to his side. Hector roared like an animal as he tried to break free, and he nearly did a few times. Glynda was exhausted after helping stop an entire train, so she wouldn't be able to hold him for long.

"Hector Rivers, stand down!" She ordered as she gripped her wand with both hands, putting an extreme amount of effort into keeping her semblance strong

"Hector, what are you doing!?" Robert asked as he got stood up from the ground, one hand around his ribs and the other trying to stop the bleeding from his nose.

Everyone else finally seemed to notice that Hector was attacking them as he tried to break free from Glynda's semblance, even with two broken arms and legs, he was nearly getting out of it. It was only due to his extreme exhaustion that he wasn't able too. But in time, he will.

Weiss tried to help by summoning ice around his feet, but with how hot his body still was, it was melting quickly.

Michael wrapped his chains around his body, and pulled hard. The strength of his leader still almost too much for him to handle even with the help of others. "Hector! It's us, don't you recognize us!?" He asked as he tugged on the chain with all his might.

Hector cried out in pain as his broken arms were forced into his sides.

"Stop! You're hurting him!" Blake yelled as she and Ashley ran out from the train.

Michael widened his eyes as he heard his leader cry out in pain, and let go of the chain. The chain whipped around and fell off of his body, and Hector nearly broke out of Glynda's semblance again, forcing himself to use his arms to try and combat the purple and black aura.

Until a girl with a red hood grabbed him by the face, and forced him to look into his eyes.

"Ruby what are you doing!" Weiss cried out to Ruby.

"Hector, it's us! We aren't going to hurt you." Ruby ignored her partner and soothed her friend even as she winced when her aura stopped her hands from being burned. "We're your friends."

Hector looked terrified as he looked into her eyes, silver piercing into whole red as they started to recede back to normal. He tried to get away from her, completely forgetting that he was trying to break free in the first place as he tried to lean back as far as he possibly could. But then, his breath started slowing down back to normal, and his all red eyes started to recede the longer he stared into her silver eyes.

" **Ru…** by?" he asked after a few seconds, his voice sounded like it was dark and that two people were speaking at once, and his eyes flickered form a bloody red to a chocolate brown, slightly lighter than they were before.

"Yeah, it's me." Ruby said with a chuckle. "I've been doing this a lot recently huh?" She said as she felt his skin cool down to a comfortable warmth, and watched as his hair darkened back to black, and a small smile creep up from the corner of his lips.

"Hehe… yeah…" Hector said as his eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he slumped forward, unconscious. Ruby caught him but strained underneath his weight.

"Oof, little help here?" She asked the closest person.

"I got him, don't worry." Robert said as he rushed to them and helped Ruby held Hector up.

"Is he… better?" Reggie asked, still a little out of it. "Wow I see a lot of stars."

"Shut up you idiot." Michael said as he slapped a hand against his mouth and with his other hand reeled in his chain. "But yeah, is he better? And I mean minus the fact that both his arms and legs are broken."

"I have no idea… but since he didn't seem to be growling or raving like an animal when he went to sleep, I'll think he might be." Robert said.

"What the hell did they do to him…?" Blake said to herself, but it was loud enough for everyone to hear her.

"I do not know, but he will be needing many counseling sessions after this." Glynda said between pants as she used her riding crop as a walking stick. "For him to attack us like that… something is majorly wrong with him mentally, there is no doubt about it." She looked over to Team HAMR and RWBY, with Zwei in the middle panting with his tongue hanging out, and Robert still supporting Hector's unconscious body. Yang was still out of it, but she was beginning to stir, though she was more injured than Reggie, she was much less injured then Hector was.

"We have therapists and/or councillors?" Robert asked curiously.

"Not… Officially, though Doctor Oobleck is a certified therapist, he would most like take on sessions with him." Glynda explained. "But for now, we must get Hector to Beacon's hospital, I am afraid a normal one wouldn't be able to fix wounds like these, at least not quickly."

"Go back to Beacon? Now that is a notion I can get behind." Reggie slurred as his head slumped onto Michael's shoulder as he kept him on his feet.

"Yes, Mister Nole, we will be going back to Beacon." Glynda said with a sigh. "We seem to be in Vale already, so all we have to do is either find a way out, or break through the ceiling and into the middle of the street."

"Is it too much to ask for them to just, drill the ceiling, pull us up and gives us a ride to Beacon? Maybe even give us a massage on the way?" Robert asked.

"I am already on it apprentice." Glynda said as she fished for her scroll in her pocket, and dialed a number quickly. "And I know just the person who would do something so stupid…"

Robert barely got a glance at who she was calling, and what he saw was 'Drunken Bastard', so he had a good idea of who was coming to drill a hole in the middle of the road.

"Yes, we are stuck underground somewhere in Vale… how? Well three of my students and myself were able to stop the train before it would hit the city… No… that's disgusting, and your nieces team are actually one of the ones that came with me and they're- Which one?" Glynda looked around to see Ruby looking at her curiously, and Yang who is still flat on her back knocked out. "Both." With that, she hung up the scroll, and turned back to face Robert. "Good news, help is on the way."

"Does it include a massage or atleast snacks?"

"Amusing, but no. Though I am sure your favorite nurse is going to be _ecstatic_ to see that half of our party are injured and are in need of medical aid." She said with an actual shudder. "That is going to be so much paperwork."

Robert sighed, "I'll do half… again." He said.

"Appreciated."

About ten minutes later, dust started to fall from the ceiling, and a faint drilling sound was heard as it grew closer and closer to them all. Robert aimed his scroll up at the ceiling with the flashlight on to see what it was. With a loud crash, rocks and rubble fell into the middle of the tracks, and head of black hair peeked into it upside down and looked at all of them all, stopping when he saw Ruby and Yang and the other injured people. Reggie in his slur waved at him.

"What the hell did you two do this time?" The man asked them.

"Hey Uncle Qrow!" Ruby cheered and waved at him.

"What… Qrow is here?" Yang asked, finally waking up from her little nap. "Heeeeey." She greeted with a wave, before letting her hand fall back to the ground.

Qrow rolled his eyes. "Just hold on you kids, I'm going to throw down a rope."

* * *

Qrow pulled everyone one by one out of the ground and it was just a whole lot of fun trying to get Hector up there without hurting him even more, but it was managed. After all of them were pulled out of the tunnel, Roman Torchwick was arrested and handed over to the Atlesian military. After that, all of Team HAMR were now in Beacon's infirmary, where Hector, and Reggie shared a room with Yang and Weiss. Who were also accompanied by Ashley, Ruby, Blake, and Michael, who were also hurt in their own ways. Angie was now tending the broken nose and ribs of Robert.

"You were gone for literally a day, and now you're right back in here! Not only that, but you bring two teams worth of huntsman in training and apparently they were all injured too! What the hell did I do to deserve this?" She asked herself as she placed a bandage around Roberts nose after fixing it.

"Hey, this almost didn't happen, I just… became an idiot at the last second." Robert sighed couldn't even lie about it, he was mad, he didn't like being thrown into that helpless position so easily, even less when it was his fault.

"Ugh, just be quiet. Huntsman lose all the time, don't beat yourself too much about it, even if I want to." Angitia said as she finished wrapped the bandages around his chest. "There, you don't heal as fast as that little shit." She pointed to Hector, who was still unconscious and didn't even have casts on his body yet. "But give it a day or two with some aura boosters, and you should be okay to start walking around again like nothing happened."

"Why doesn't he have casts on? He broke his arms and legs stopping a train." Robert asked.

Angitia didn't even dignify that with a response, instead she stormed off out of the room, and then came back in with X-rays, and handed it to him before going back to check on Yang and Reggie.

Robert looked down at the X-rays of Hector's body, they had to do that to him the moment he was rolled into the infirmary, and what he saw was actually shocking. All the bones that were broken on the way there, were now back in one piece. They looked different then normal bones, since there was a different pigmentation in them that made them look unnatural, but still. Every bone in Hector's body that was broken, has someone stitched itself all back together. His muscle density also seemed to have skyrocketed somehow, making him stronger than before.

He set the X-rays down on the table beside him and looked toward Hector. Their mission was technically accomplished, but he remembers the look in his eyes when he went to go see if he was okay. Those weren't Hector's eyes, they _were_ but at the same time they _weren't._ Having Grimm colored eyes was not normal and was very concerning, and now that he was thinking about it. Hector's aura never turned purple or black before, nor did his voice ever change.

There was something very wrong with his friend, and even though they got him out of that Hell, he doesn't know for sure if the Hell got out of Hector.

He leaned back in his hospital bed and sighed. "Of course…" Robert said to himself as he thought about what to do about that situation.

For now however, they _all_ needed some time to recover. After that, he has about a hundred questions to ask him, many of which is how the hell he convinced Raven fucking Branwen to help them, hard training to do so this doesn't happen again, paper work, go back to classes as an assistant, go back to his cleaning duties, restock classroom J-1, find out more about Aaron and maybe whatever else Ozpin comes up with.

"Ugh… how is it that it never ends?" Robert asked no one in particular.

Unbeknownst to every else, Hector was having a struggle within himself. Hell was kept under control again, and he was _not_ happy about it.

* * *

 **Well, that was an eventful chapter. So Raven is an anti hero now, Aaron beat the shit out of everybody, and Hell stopped a train with the help of Hector's friends. Oh, and he also broke Robert's nose and healed Hector's broken down body.**

 **Since this chapter is over now however, it is time for Team HAMR to get its well awaited rework. I'm going to be honest guys, I fucked up about the first 12-15 chapters of this story, we started getting better after that but still, the early chapters NEED a rework. So, in the meantime, you can say that this story is on hiatus as me and Crowskull work to rewrite the story, make things better, and I mean a LOT of things better. So until then, this story will not make any forward progress until then.**

 **So for now, this is where we are going to be leaving it off at, with the finale of Volume 2, and Hell and Hector somehow pulling off a feat of stopping a fucking train. So you know, that was fun. Also, for you UH fans out there, did you get as excited as I did when Hector went Kaioken times twenty in this chapter? I know I did a little bit.**

 **So yes, for now, Team HAMR is under a rewrite, and once we feel like everything is better, the forward progress will continue. Give us a few weeks, and we can get it done. For now, be patient for us please. I still have three other stories to write, and Crowskull won't always be able to write.**

 **All of the above- Genatools**

 **I also admit I made a lot of mistakes, including a mountain of grammatical errors, and Robert himself need a rework as well, I think I fucked him up honestly, I have already ideas on how to fix that… still I beg all the readers to please, PLEASE tell us what you guys and girls think we should change to make this story better, from small thing to big things, everything please tell us.**

 **And I even mean on ships and powers and everything, including Hector and Robert, tell us what like about them and what you dislike or hate about them... feel free to suggest things. -CrowSkull**

 **Please review and let us know what you think about the story so far! The rewrite is going to take a while, so if you made it this far, and honest review would be very helpful for us to do this.**

 **We'll see you all next time! Love you all!**


	34. A Tale of Two Heroes chapter 34

**Hello everyone! Welcome back to A Tale of Two Heroes! If you're wondering what the hell this story is, this story was previously titled Team HAMR, but after careful deliberation with my Beta and Co-writer Croskull and a friend we renamed it to A Tale of Two Heroes. Now, I know we said that we were going to rewrite this story from the beginning, and we did do that. Just only 5 chapters… at the time, I did not realize that rewriting a story would take so much damn time and work, and I saw the ocean of mistakes and errors I made while I was fixing it. I am truly sorry about that, I wasn't as good back then and I was rushing through things way too fast without any kind of plan unlike I do now. From now on, this story's quality shall be improved immensely, and some new different themes are going to be introduced.**

 **For now, there are just going to be some minor character changes, and Robert will have a different origin story instead of just popping up out of nowhere like we did it. We're going to try to tiptoe around it for now, but sometimes there will be a slip up or two.**

 **In our absence, we have noticed that this story has gotten past a 100 follows! Which is amazing, thank you all very much for the support and kind words. And the criticism from some of you were appreciated as well. Now as a little special event that will be in progress soon, there will be a short crossover story between this story and An Unlikely Hero.**

 **We'll see how that goes, we are still in the progress of making our own 12 year multi million dollar fanfiction crossover franchise… but it's a start. -CrowSkull.**

 **You know what that means, UH Hector will finally meet TH Hector. I wonder how that is going to play out?**

* * *

 **Now without further adieu, let us bring this story back from it's hiatus!**

 **Beta & Cowriter: CrowSkull**

* * *

A Tale of Two Heroes

Chapter 34- Awakening

It was dark, but not in a way one might think of the word 'dark', but in the way that he could still feel, smell, and hear. But not see. His eyes were still closed, and hopefully not forever because this was a terrifying experience for Hector Rivers. His memory was hazy, but his body clearly remembered the torment that it went through after stopping that speeding train and going past any limits he may have thought he might have had at that moment.

It stayed like that for what felt like days, and it probably has been considering the amount of times his body finally allowed his mind to fall back to sleep time and again. His hearing faded in some hours of the day and his sense of smell became acclimated to the room he was being kept in. No longer did he smell that clean scent of what he assumed to be an infirmary room, now he was simply breathing through his nose softly. More off instinct than anything else of course.

There were times where he overheard his own team coming to visit him. Michael came on his own most of the time, but when Reggie came he made sure he didn't come alone. Heh, that was just how that guy was. Ashley came once or twice on her own, apologizing or otherwise getting emotional over his body. She probably thought that this was all her fault, that him getting hurt this badly could have been prevented, and she was right and wrong. Wrong because it wasn't her fault, it may have taken him nearly getting killed more times than he could count, but he learned. Taking on Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald all at the same time probably wasn't one of his best ideas.

And right because this could have all been prevented. He didn't _have_ to go back into those tunnels, and he only did so purely out of revenge. He wasn't going to lie to himself and say or think that it was for anything else, Hell's influence may have had an impact on his final decision, but otherwise it was all him. That's not to say he wasn't still mad at her though, all the lying and deceit from before could not be forgiven so easily.

Whatever feelings he had for his dog faunus partner is sadly no longer there. That was going to take some getting used to, but get used to it he would.

Other times it was members from Team RWBY, none of them ever visiting without at least one of their other teammates. Ruby came the most of course, and that was to be expected. After managing to calm him down not only once but _twice_ while he was on the verge of attacking anything near him and in one case he was that lost, she felt that they had some kind of bond now. That was amusing to say the least, but not unappreciated.

Some more days passed, and the telltale beeping of his monitor suddenly started getting louder. Then to his great surprise and relief, he was actually able to groan and move some of his fingers, muscles and throat flaring up with pain like he just got out of the worst workout in his life after not doing anything for a few years flew throughout his body, he winced which each motion he made. But despite that he kept moving.

Soon enough, he was finally able to open his eyes. His vision was blurry, but after a few seconds of blinking it began to clear up. His hair felt longer, and that was confirmed when he reached up to feel some strands of his hair resting at the midway point on his forehead. After taking his hand away however, he saw the first change.

Hector looked at his hand with a grimace, it didn't look so good. There were still scabs all over his right hand, and where there wasn't a healing wound of some kind there was a burn scar. It wasn't so bad that it made it look like his arm was ripped off and thrown into a giant blender, but it was bad enough to make him look away and hide it underneath his light turquoise hospital sheets.

He next made to look at his left arm, which thankfully wasn't as wounded as the other. There were still scars here and there, but most of the damage was actually on the palm of his hand. It made sense considering that he favoured his right hand and used that for nearly everything, when he first jumped in front of the train he could remember the metal wrapping around that arm almost completely before he was even able to get his other hand on it. He also must have instinctively pushed harder on his right arm, because no matter how much he trained both arms, his right was always slightly stronger than the left. Just not enough to distinguish between visually.

" _ **So, you're finally awake.**_ " The demon that haunted him before suddenly spoke up. Hector reacted by turning his head in the direction of the voice, seeing a mirror image of himself except with snow white hair, skin of the same color, and eyes of a Grimm. For once, he just seemed bored with Hell's presence.

"Ah, great, you're still here." He replied as he sat up completely, and cracked his neck with a wince.

" _Ah great, you're still here_ ," another voice mocked him. "Damn right I'm still here, I should start charging you for visits after this one Mister Rivers." A nurse said as she scowled at him, he vaguely recognized her, and after jogging his memories he suddenly remembered who this woman was.

"Angel?" He called out once he recovered from his own slip up.

"And you don't even get my name right," the nurse sighed. "It's Angita, and you're in the infirmary once again Mister Rivers."

"Ah… yeah, I got that. Sorry." Hector said as he looked away from the woman's eyes, looking down into his crumbled sheets for some kind of support as he felt the guilt settle in on his shoulders. This was the woman he went to for healing every time he went a little too far in his solo training. He always tried to go past his limits of times five Kaioken every time, and every time he would hurt himself. He couldn't imagine the amount of stress he put on her after what he just pulled.

Angita kept looking at him for several more seconds, keeping her eyes locked on the side of his head before sighing and reaching toward some papers. She walked over to him and placed them on his lap, to which Hector looked at with a confused expression. It was an X-ray of his own body. His bones, and some deep information about what was wrong with them.

There was more, however. There was also an X-ray image of his heart, alongside another image of a scan of his heart he had done during one of his visits when he felt it flaring up. The difference between the two was clear, but he wasn't well versed in the art of medical science. Hector looked to his nurse for help.

With a sigh, Angita sat on the edge of his bed and took the papers from him. Sitting in such a way so that he could look over her shoulder and get a full look of the contents of the paper.

"Let's start with your bones, do you want the good news or the bad news?" Angita asked, her voice much softer and warmer than before. Hector could already tell that the bad news wasn't just bad, it was worse.

"Bad news first." He hesitantly replied with a subtle nod.

Angita sighed again, but did just that. "Your bones here are in really bad shape. Your aura did the best it could to heal the damage, as well as the part of your semblance that heals you. But that is all manageable after a few more weeks of recovering and physical therapy."

Hector nodded in understanding. He wasn't completely sure that this healing of his was really part of his semblance, but he figured it would be better just to accept it as it is if it kept him alive after so long. It was on his side for now. The news of the condition of his bones was chilling, but after sitting up and feeling the pain throughout his entire upper body and whenever he moved his legs, he knew that it was something he would eventually recover from.

"What about my heart?" He asked next, flicking his chin to the image of his heart from two different points in his life.

Angita remained solemnly silent for a few seconds, before sighing when Hector repeated his question. "That's where things are going to get hard for you to hear i'm afraid."

Hector gulped nervously, but made no move to stop her from continuing.

"What was your previous limit for how many times you could multiply your speed and strength?" She suddenly asked.

"I…" Hector thought to himself. He knew the answer already, he had the answer it his head for months prior ever since he found out what he limit was in the first place. "Times five." He finally said, sighing to himself.

"Five." Angita repeated, making Hector wince. "From witnesses on that train, you went times _twenty_ , and times ten and above multiple times before. Your limit was five, is probably even less than that now. That's _four times_ more than what you _knew_ what your body could take healthily. You should have been killed instantly. Why did you do something so stupid?!"

"I-I…" Hector had no real good answer besides that he had too, but he knew that would not satisfy the nurse.

"Exactly, you don't have a good reason besides you want to be a hero and save the day by jumping in front of a train. Yes, it worked out, but you could have easily been killed if your friends didn't jump in to help you."

Memories flashed through his mind, not his memories, Hell's. But in a sense they were also his memories. Yang and Reggie jumped down to help him didn't they?

"Yang and Reggie, are they okay!?"

"They're fine, they were actually released earlier last week."

"L-last week?" Hector repeated, dark brown eyes widening as he thought about how long he has been bedridden for exactly. He thought it was a few days initially, maybe even a week. "How long have I been-"

"Two weeks, five days and fourteen hours." Angita answered him before he could even finish the question. "I know because I had to check in with you to make sure you weren't going to have a heart attack every one of those days."

And now he was back on track. From one thing to another he couldn't process anything fast enough before another bombshell dropped on him. He looked to his nurse with a concerned look in his eyes as his breathing became more ragged and fast paced. She just continued to look back at him, her light green eyes filled with an apologetic emotion even as she continued.

"Your heart now is in bad shape," She went on. "Many of the valves within your heart such as the Mitral and Pulmonary weren't working properly. The intake of blood is going in and out of your heart at the same time, and at times that it does work properly it sucks out too much blood. They were going under a lapse every hour or two, if you were awake after what happened you most likely would have been under immense chest pains that probably would have made it even worse. To simplify it in the best way I can describe it to you, if you use your semblance again. Even if at a low level of power, you may undergo a cardiac arrest and die. Not to mention the extensive damage to rest of your body after doing what you did."

Hector placed both hands on his face and leaned into them, the news couldn't get any worse, and as Angita went on and on about the damage to his body ever since the incident with the train. He paled more and more, and as the stress began to settle in the more she revealed something new to him, he began to feel the pain in his chest that she referred to. It was completely unlike the pains he felt before, this was much different. Much sharper and precise, it was like he could _feel_ the valves of his heart not working properly. When she finally stopped speaking, Hector stared blankly down at his chest, looking straight at the area over his heart. He rubbed his hand over it as if to apologize to his own body for hurting it so, and it responded by making the pain slightly worse. A quick glance to Hell told him that he was just as worried as he was, but most likely not in the same way. He was most likely just concerned over his own continued existence in the case that Hector bit the dust.

"And the good news…?" He asked next, hopeful and desperate for any amount of better news.

"You're healing. Slowly, but in time you will recover."

Of course that was the only good news he was going to get after all the bad he had just received. "How long will that take?"

"I don't know."

Hector laughed bitterly and wiped at his face. To his own surprise his hand came back dry. No tears fell from his eyes even though he felt that burn behind them, just another problem he might have to address.

"However, all that is just the physical damage…" Angita made to continue, but trailed off. She looked away from Hector even when he looked to her for a continuation of her own words.

"It can only get worse from here, just tell me." Hector almost begged.

"I am not qualified to diagnose anything other than physical injuries." Angita said. "However, Doctor Oobleck will be having several appointments made with you as soon as you get out of bed."

"Okay…" Hector nodded, it wasn't as bad as he thought. He has dealt with therapy once upon a time, and after taking all those lives and the whole situation with Hell, he might be in need of a mental doctor at the moment. "Is there anything else?"

"I've notified the headmaster of your awakening, so he is probably on his way as we speak." She reported. "Before you ask, your team will be notified as soon as your talk is over. We wouldn't want them all barging in right as something important was being said now would we?"

Hector chuckled, this time a little more light heartedly. "Yeah, that might be bad."

"It would be." Angita agreed with a small amused smile as she stood up from the bed, and made to exit the room only to stop after she's already opened the door. "For what it is worth, Mister Rivers. I _am_ glad that you are okay. It's not every year that I get a student who comes to me for aid at least three times a week, you really made my work cut out for me."

"Heh… sorry about that."

"I guess it's fine now…" Her stare turned into a glare in many fractions of a second. "But make me have to do that much paperwork and go through that much stress again, and I'll give you something to have a heart attack over. Understand?"

For the life of him, Hector couldn't help but be reminded of his mother when he looked back into her green eyes. With all words failing to get passed his lips, he nodded his head submissively.

Nodding triumphantly in return, Angita walked out of the hospital room, leaving him to his own thoughts as he awaited the arrival of Headmaster Ozpin and whoever he was bringing with him.

It took exactly three minutes for the door to almost slam back open via a deep black boot encased in a light shell of blue lightning. Hector nearly jumped out of his skin because of how far he was in deep thought at the moment a very loud slamming sound invaded his hearing. He looked back up with wide eyes to see a mixture of worry, relief, anger, shock, and even more anger on the face of his friend Robert Urra.

"¿¡Qué carajo estabas pensando, tu maldito pedazo de mierda!?" (What the fuck were you thinking you fucking piece of shit!?) Robert yelled at him as he stormed up to the side of his bed, more than mad he sounded disappointed, but still mad. Brown eyes meeting brown as he stared into his. "Parando un puto tren con tus propias manos, ¡Debería desollarte aqui mismo!" (Stopping a damn train with your bare hands, I should flay you right here!)

"Mister Urra, I would appreciate it if you spoke a language that I understood." Ozpin sighed as he walked into the room next.

"Please answer me!" Robert exclaimed as he shook Hector lightly, only stopping when he winced from the shock of pain he felt flow through his body.

"Lo siento…" (I'm sorry…)

"Sorry?" Robert repeated with a bitter laugh, letting go of Hector completely as he sat down on the edge of his bed. He ran a hand through his hair and over his face, laughing quietly the whole time. "Damn you, making me worry like that." He said as he looked back to him. There was something different about Robert here that Hector noticed, it was mainly because of the light scar and slight dent he had in his nose. Unable to think of anything else at the time…

"What happened to your nose?" Hector asked hesitantly.

Robert's smile faded away instantly, and he knew he made a mistake right away once his friend took a much more dangerous kind of smile. "What happened to my nose, you ask? Well, I'd think you remember breaking it yourself aweonao (Idiot)."

"I did?" Hector asked, genuinely shocked.

"Oh so we're playing this game…"

"That is quite enough Mister Urra. Mister Rivers is still injured and in recovery, we wouldn't want said recovery to take any longer than it should now do we?" Ozpin interrupted, stepping forward and placing a hand on Robert's shoulder. He seemed to calm down after that, suddenly remembering just how hurt Hector was at the time.

"No…" Robert said, calming down instantly.

"I thought so. We have gotten reports as to your medical condition, and you can imagine how worried we have become over your survivability." Ozpin said as he stood in front of Hector's bed, cane held in two hands and pointed to the floor as he leant on it. If he wanted to look imposing and authoritative, he did a good job at it.

"Isn't that supposed to be private information?" Hector asked.

"It would be, but as a student of Beacon with no known relatives, it fell on my shoulders to become responsible for you. Mister Urra also volunteered himself and he is now 'officially' a distant relative of yours." Ozpin said next, making Hector widen his eyes and look toward Robert for confirmation.

Robert smirked at him, confirming it. "How're you doing primo(cousin)?"

"Oh God… the others can never find out." Hector whined as he pressed his hands back against his face.

"Too late, they asked too many questions and I wanted to shut down that damn rumor…" Robert suddenly growled as he crossed his arms, getting as close to a pout as Hector thought he was ever going to get.

"What rumor?" Hector asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Not important, not in the slightest," he hissed. "What is important however is that you're awake now, and we need to know what happened to you." Robert said as he wiped the brooding expression off of his face and straightened himself up. Hector in response seemed to clam up, the look on his face shifted into something resembling terror as he remembered everything that happened to him.

Flashes of a silvery blade dancing through his skin, a scar in the shape of an N on his hip. The starvation, all the lives he had taken. He still remembered biting someone throat out with nothing but his teeth, and spat out what he tore from the poor persons neck. Then there was the pain… so much pain, so much trauma. Hell suddenly became all the more clearer, standing on the other side of his bed looking at Ozpin and Robert with an almost curious expression on his face. More memories flashed through his mind, tearing apart faunus White Fang members limb from limb, taking bullet after bullet and constantly healing every bit of damage his body endured. He felt every bit of pain during that time, phantom pain now, and he felt like vomiting as the burning sensation behind his eyes returned.

Robert's expression softened a bit, Hector seemed lost in thought and not in a good way, he could honestly relate to maybe something of what Hector was feeling, maybe way too much, but still he didn't know what exactly happened.

"Do you feel like giving a abridged version? Or maybe just… give you some time?" Robert asked, voice more soft and worried, his facial expression matching the tone of his voice.

"Some time to register that I'm not down there anymore would be nice." Hector jokes, shaking his head lightly as he looked back up into Ozpin's eyes. "What happened after I stopped the train? I don't remember much after jumping in front of it."

"Everyone survived, thankfully. The students that is. Miss Goodwitch ensured that they were all safe, but the White Fang was met with a more… undesirable fate." Ozpin began.

"Some are still alive… a few…" Robert murmured.

"I remember." Hector nodded his head. "I attacked them once I escaped, I managed to stay in hiding in some closet in a clothing store. There was cans of food there, and I just rested, waiting for someone to come… I guess I didn't wait long enough."

"You did not know what was coming, that help was just hours away. You are not at fault for what you did. Any good Huntsman would have done the same." Ozpin said in an effort to calm Hector down, and it worked to a minor extent. Robert remained quiet, he couldn't really say anything even if we wanted to, it wasn't the time and he would be big possible hypocrite if he said something."Back to what happened once you, Miss Xiao Long and Mister Nole stopped the train, they all waited until an associate of mine dug into the ground with a jackhammer and got them all out. After that, it was mostly just recovering from the injuries you all have taken."

" _ **Heh, he left out a small detail there.**_ " Hell said with a snicker.

"What did you do?" Hector asked the empty space next to Ozpin, eyes narrowed and teeth gritting.

"Excuse me?" Ozpin said.

"Uh…" Robert pondered.

Hector realized his mistake and tore his eyes away from the smirking Hell, shaking his head and sighing. "I didn't mean that for you-… it's really complicated." He quickly added when Ozpin and Robert looked to him with even more concern.

"I feel like you should tell him…" Robert said to Ozpin.

" _ **Oh, this is going to be good.**_ " Hell said as he floated away and faded, earning a glare from Hector before he stopped himself from responding to the demon.

"Mister Rivers… what _do_ you remember once you jumped in front of that train?" Ozpin asked, leaning forward slightly and giving him his undivided attention.

"I…" Hector wracked his mind for memories. ' _Kaioken times twenty!'_ Burning pains all over his body, his bones bending breaking and the back of his heels scraping against stone, wood, and metal. "I remember pushing back as hard as I could after going times twenty, it hurt a lot at first, and all I saw was red. Then everything went black, and I wake up here and everything still hurts." A visible shudder went up and down his body as he traced his arms and body. "What did he- I do, after that?"

Ozpin and Robert looked to each other for a moment, both catching the assumed slip up that Hector made when trying to refer to himself. But neither commented on it, not just yet they wouldn't.

"In private reports, witnesses said that you lashed out at your own allies. When Mister Urra here went over to support you, you turned around and headbutted him in the nose, breaking it and almost knocking him unconscious." With every word, Hector cringed and winced at every word that was spoke. Eyes growing wider as he glared at something in the corner of the room.

"Last part is debatable." Robert said, mostly trying to take some pressure of the situation… that and well, also because of his own pride.

"After multiple attempts to restrain you, you put up quite the resistance. Everyone was low on aura and stamina. Only miss Goodwitch had the strength needed to pin you with her semblance, in the end you were ultimately calmed down by Miss Rose. After that, you fell over, and only woke up just now." Ozpin explained.

Hector sagged his shoulders and sighed out of relief. A small smile was seen on his face as a few words were muttered silently. "Good ol' Ruby." He muttered a little louder. "Anything after that? I remember Yang and Reggie helping me, how are they?"

"Your teammate is fine, his metal body was able to withstand the force of the train, Miss Xiao Long however..." Ozpin started

"Yang is also okay," Robert quickly interjected. "She's just still wearing casts… on both her arms."

Hector sighed again out of relief, smile wider than before. He feared for Yang's life after their battle with Aaron and Neo, she was bleeding out in his arms and was dying before he did _something_ to save her. He assumes that he just gave her some of his aura somehow to save her life, but for some reason he felt like that wasn't the entire case.

"Miss Xiao Long should have died from her wounds, after the nurse here checked on her once you were all brought back to Beacon, it was said that many of her arteries were cut, and wounds deep. Imagine my surprise when she not only pulled through with such injuries, but had enough power left to help stop a speeding train with her bare hands…" Ozpin pulled up a chart from behind his back, it was a diagram of both Yang's and his bodies, however there was a red aura in the center of Hectors, and a yellow aura in the center of Yang's. "This is both of your auras in the best way we can visually represent them before the incident." He then flicked a switch on the chart, and the diagrams changed.

"This is your aura now…" Hector's red aura seemed more faded, and barely hanging in there, while Yang's was now a bright orange and seemed to be much larger than before.

"You used a forbidden aura transfer technique." Ozpin said slowly. A neutral unreadable expression on his face.

"Again you managed to do something by stumbling a bit… although this time is a bit more serious." Robert said. "This time you technically gave part of your soul away to save hers from leaving her body."

Is that why he felt so empty at the moment? Hector looked deep within himself, trying to will his aura to come forth as he had practiced so many times before. Though this time, his red aura flickered, flamed for a split second, and then bursted. Hector was already exhausted and was panting for breath, sweat building up on his brow and was already trickling down his chin.

"There was a reason such a technique was forbidden Mister Rivers." Ozpin continued, unphased by Hector's attempt to release his aura. "It doesn't matter if you did it on accident, as of now Miss Xiao Long is going to be forced to live forever being a part of you, there is a bond between you two now. A bond that cannot be broken unless she gives up part of her own soul to balance the both of you off, which I will not allow. You could have both been killed for doing that."

"What he means, is that while it's theoretically possible, there's a major risk of total death, not even clinical death, we are referring to both your souls just going away forever." Robert said.

"H-how is she?" Hector asked brokenly.

Ozpin closed his eyes and sighed, but answered the question. "She is expected to make a full recovery shortly, and might even be stronger because of the larger reserves of aura she now has."

Hector nodded his head in understanding. He wanted to say that it was a good thing, but the headmaster obviously would not share his feelings, and he doubted Robert would either. Curiously, he looked toward the spectral being visible only to him in the room, asking a silent question.

" _ **In time, we shall heal. They don't know that, however.**_ " Hell answered the thought question, to which Hector subtly nodded to in silence.

"Speaking of injuries and major causes of death, that's another thing we need to talk about. We know of Neo, and I know that with both you and Yang there she wouldn't been able to give those injuries alone… hopefully… but we know it wasn't her, since that guy also took the liberty of busting ribs on his way out." Robert explained. "We have a… a new, person in town it seems."

"Quite, did he introduce himself to you by chance?" Ozpin asked Hector next.

"Oh c'mon, Ozpin I'm pretty sure you know already-" Robert started.

"I think he said that his name was Aaron… Hayes? Yeah, Aaron Hayes." There was a sound of Robert cursing, but it mostly went ignored.

"Aaron Hayes?"

"Yeah. He made a big deal to gloat on how much stronger he was than me and Yang, right before kicking our asses all over the place before Neo teleported them out after… well… _someone_ came to our aid." Hector said carefully, not wanting to make a mistake and refer to Raven by her name on accident. A glance toward Robert showed that he was suspicious, but he looked away quickly.

"He also introduced himself to me… held Weiss hostage in front of me, we had to do a prisoner exchange." Robert said, earning Ozpin's attention. "Right before I could give Torchwick and myself over however, that _someone_ came and nearly sliced Aaron in half, maybe, basically forcing them to retreat." He made sure to make a note that he should ask Hector how the fuck he managed to convince Raven Branwen of all people to help them all, because he _knows_ that she didn't just do it out of the kindness of her heart.

"And who is this _someone_ exactly?" Ozpin asked with a raised eyebrow, Robert looked at Hector asking the silent question if it mattered if they told him, to which Hector shook his head a little _too_ violently.

"I don't know who it was, all I know is that she was a woman… I think. Right Rob?"

 _You rat bastard!_ "Yeah… It moved really fast, I couldn't really tell." Robert said the first thing that came to his mind. "That and there was a commotion in securing Roman and saving Weiss… and broken ribs… I wasn't paying attention to other things at the time."

Ozpin looked confused for a few moments, but accepted the answer for what it was. He would have to look into this mysterious savior on his own time, whoever they were, they could be a valuable ally this his cause. Robert really didn't like this situation, in his mind Ozpin could already have at the very least an idea of who they were talking about, he certainly knew now that they knew about some future events… and with more complications they were going to just talk themselves deeper into the hole one way or another. A truly fucked situation, it was time to focus on something else.

"… but back to our other person of interest." Ozpin said changing the subject. "You have both fought him, how strong and skilled do you believe he might be?"

"I fought him at over times ten Kaioken." Hector started. "Even with Yang, I wasn't able to do much to him. It got to the point where he just held me down and made me watch as he told Neo to kill Yang, thankfully that didn't happen. I assume they went to you after that?" He asked Robert.

"Appeared, decimated, humiliated… I already gave Ozpin my side but uh, well, I think we won the fight against Roman, Mercury and Emerald… and then he appeared and just, smacked us away like nothing, he hit twice into a wall, strong enough for… well like I already said, broken and bruised ribs, they are healed by the way… later… He just wanted me to go with him. And I almost did to save Weiss… he is fast, strong… really strong, and appears to have some smokey black and green mist semblance, he also just emanates… fear apparently, unnatural fear." Robert said.

"Yeah, I remember he used something like that against me. It almost made me snap." Hector added onto that.

"Hm…" Ozpin stroked his chin in deep thought. "I can't say i've ever had any reports about a man like that, thank you both for this invaluable information. I thank you. I shall make it know amongst the Huntsman of Vale to look out for anyone of the same description."

"Excuse me, but are you sure you haven't heard of anyone like him?" Robert asked, curiosity getting the better of him he's more than just a concern we… okay you know we know some things… already talked to Glynda and the other about it and…"

"I am aware that you and Mister Rivers have some foreknowledge about key future events, we went over such in the beginning. Are you telling me that you never saw a man like this from where you're from?" Ozpin asked.

"... Where we are… are you- are you suggesting that…" Robert stammered.

"You think he's from Earth too?" Hector asked for the both of them. They both looked surprised and shaken by the insinuation. There was no one on Earth that they knew of that could do anything like Aaron did, and yet they have proven to themselves that such is in fact possible.

"Fuck… oh mierda. (Oh shit)" Robert said.

"I am afraid so… tell me, do you think that Aaron Hayes sounds anything like a color? Does it make you think of a color?"

"Ozpin doesn't either, really." Hector pointed out before he could think on it.

"There are some obscure color names… maybe the surname?" Robert hoped.

"My name is a shade of green and that is not what is important here. The fact of the matter is that Aaron Hayes does not refer to any color that I know of, and he has already displayed a want to capture the two of you, who so coincidentally are from a planet called Earth. Also you both refer to him having an unnatural semblance… as far as I can tell your own semblances seem a bit out of the ordinary for the standard, even with any drawbacks they may have… such as Mister Urra's migraines and your heart problems that you get."

"But Aaron didn't seem to have-" Hector cut himself off, remembering a familiar scene.

Aaron forced him down to his knees using his semblance, and when he looked up to meet his eyes they were a dark black and green color with no miagra of white anywhere within them.

 _Could he be like you?_ Hector asked himself as he looked toward Hell, still standing idly next to his bed.

"When he used his semblance against us, did you see his eyes?" Hector pointed to his own for emphasis. "They were like a Grimm's, except green instead of red."

"I focused more on the dark evil looking black and green smoke that came out of him… his skin looked pale though, and when he was using his semblance you could see his veins… they looked black, or a dark violet." Robert said.

 _Just like you, Hell._ Hector thought as he looked to his demon, smirking at him now that he has put the pieces together. He didn't want to reveal his own demon just yet however, maybe soon, but not now.

"Sound familiar Mister Rivers?" Ozpin asked him.

"W-what?" Hector asked, horrified with the possibility that Ozpin already knew about Hell.

"When you stopped the train and fought your allies, you also had paler skin. As well as paler hair. Your aura was black and your eyes a bright red. Much different to how you look normally." Ozpin pointed out

"Yeah…"

"He said he would prefer to talk about that later." Robert said. "I think it's better we do talk about that _later._ "

"I understand, and will not push any further." Ozpin said, giving up easily. _Too_ easily. "I was simply pointing out some similarities is all."

"Okay, we get it. Aaron is from Earth too." Hector snapped, anger showing in the form of a very dark red tint in his eyes before shifting back to brown almost instantly. "Is there anything else you want? Or can I see my team now?"

Ozpin stood up a little straighter, and noted Hector's defensive tendency. He was going to keep an eye on that for now. "There is one more thing." He said.

"What is it?"

"You will be attending mandatory therapy sessions with Doctor Oobleck for the rest of this semester. Before you ask or protest, these are completely necessary for any student that is forced to take a life, or many. Failure to attend these meetings will not bring forth a good result." Ozpin explained.

"Okay… I think Angita implied something like that before." Hector said as he leaned his head on one of his hands, propping himself up on his elbow. "I'll go to them, no problem."

Ozpin smiled at his compliance. "Good. I wish you luck in your recovery Mister Rivers." He said as he walked over to the door, stopping and turning around to look at him right before he left. "Do make sure you recover fully before doing anything else." He left with those parting words, the subtle warning in between the line did not go unnoticed.

" _ **I really don't like that one.**_ " Hell said after a few moments of silence. " _ **Too smart, he knows too much**_."

"Don't worry, Oobleck guarantees to keep most things confidential between him and whoever is visiting him, and he sounds sincere." Robert said. "He is good at listening too… when he doesn't go in a tandem."

"I certainly hope so." Hector said as he laid back down on his bed, holding one of his arms as he did so.

"If you need to, you can also talk to me if you prefer… because I well, I can relate to having to take actions I prefer I… didn't." Robert said.

" _ **... I don't like this one either, don't say anything**_."

"Will you shut up!?" Hector exclaimed, then slapped a hand on his mouth and looked back to Roberts bewildered expression. "I-I mean uh… I'll keep that in mind, sorry about that. How are my Dragon Fist's?" He asked.

" _ **Good one, he's not suspicious at all now**_."

"A bit melted I think, you'll have to ask Ruby about them, she has taken them under, and I quote, 'The parental custody' until you recover." Robert said.

"Parental custody? I hope that doesn't mean I am the father, does it?" Hector asked, happy for the fact that he wasn't called out on his outburst.

"I don't know… _apparently_ Raios is the technical father, but Ruby keeps talking about ideas of giving Crescent Rose a boyfriend so I don't know exactly how the family tree works here… I think she might be some sort of grandmother… Point is, she has them." Robert said.

"Alright… well I have a feeling she is going to come running with them once she and everyone finds out that I woke up. If she could carry them anyway." Hector yawned tiredly as soon as he finished. "I would ask where my scroll is, but I'm pretty sure it was destroyed."

"I believe so… sorry, but hey, I think your team has a new one for you." Robert said, he wasn't exactly looking at Hector, he was more looking at the floor.

Hector chuckled softly, the dark spots under his eyes became a little more obvious. How he could still be tired after sleeping for over two and a half weeks was beyond Robert's comprehension, but at least he knew now that he would wake up on his own come morning, or night. Time on Remnant was still fucky to understand.

"That sounds like them, send them all a message for me will you?"

"Hmm? Me?" Robert asked.

"I thought Reggie snuck his number into your scroll that one time?" Hector asked, perplexed.

Robert was less amused with the thought.

"He _what_?"

"Eh… long story short, I distracted you and he pickpocketed your scroll then put it back in before you noticed." Hector said with a nervous chuckle.

"Of course." Robert said with a sigh, looking through his scroll until he found the name 'Metal Man', with another put upon sigh, he got the screen ready to type on. "Okay sure, what's the message?"

Hector didn't respond at first, which scared him for a few seconds until he looked over and saw that he was actually just sleeping. Had he really fallen asleep that quickly? It made sense when he thought about it he supposed, Hector has woken up for the first time in almost three weeks and had all sorts of news told to him. Bad and good. It must have been emotionally and mentally taxing… problem was things were not looking like they'll calm down… Combined with the over hour long talk with himself and Ozpin, he probably was exhausted once again.

"I'll send that message tomorrow…" Robert said quietly as he helped bring the blanket up so that it covered Hector's body up to his chest. Robert then sighed and brought a hand through his eyes, everything was getting difficult to understand and he honestly didn't know what to do, he was worried, and also wondered if he should be even trying to talk to Hector, it could be his episodes… but he didn't seem fond of him.

"Just… keep to training, you'll figure something out." Robert said to himself as he quietly exited the room and went to find Glynda, and ask for more training. He felt he needed it after the fiasco with Aaron.

Hell watched him leave, still invisible to everyone besides Hector. Once the door was shut behind him, he looked back down at himself, or rather at the person he was sharing a body with. They were technically the same person, and they would merge in time.

" _ **Rest well, brother**_." Hell said as he sat down on edge of the bed, content with waiting the entire night with no way of falling asleep himself. " _ **We have much to do come morning, I'll be waiting… until then, rest. I wouldn't want to cease existing because of your stupidity**_."

That night however, Hell was not able to influence Hector's dreams like he was able to before. He has been revealed, and Hector's weakness was also his own. He couldn't take control now, since his aura was back up, even as weak as it was it needs to be completely down for him to be able to do anything to take control like he did before.

He would bide his time for now, he got his fill of bloodshed and murder… Now it was just a matter of patience.

* * *

 **And there is the chapter. A lot of set up, a lot of talking, but after such an action filled arc I figured that this could be allowed. This story isn't** _ **just**_ **about cool fight scenes after all. Aaron is officially official as coming from Earth, and Hell is going to be sane… for now.**

 **I thought about making this chapter another extra long one, but then I thought that it might take away from some of the points that were laid out here. This was purely just talking and trying to understand what's going on in this version of Remnant. Next one is more of a recovery one, or at least I hope it is.**

 **Please review and let us know what you think of the story, if you would like to keep up with me on the progress of every chapter of every story that I write, you can follow me on T witter to keep up.**

 **T witter . com (slash) genatools**

 **And thank you to my very first patron of course!**

 **JamesFames**

 **P atreon . com (slash) Genatools**


	35. A Tale of Two Heroes chapter 35

**Welcome back everyone to another chapter of this returning story. This one is probably going to be another talking one, or one with a lot of reflecting and stuff like that. Since after the Breach arc people kinda nearly died, Hell did some shit, and we got introduced to a brand new villain. My second ever OC villain out of all of my stories now that I think about it.**

 **So yeah, let's get right back into it I suppose. I am glad some of you came back to continue this story with us, because truly this story had has a lot of ups and downs. But hopefully we can rezurrect it with our awesome button pressing skills.**

 **P.S. For those of you who are not completely caught up, this story has underwent a title change and a partial rewrite. The rewrite will resume soon, but bear with us for now. Same thing I said last chapter still goes.**

* * *

 **Beta & Co-Writer: CrowSkull**

 **Now let's get right back into it!**

* * *

A Tale of Two Heroes

Chapter 35- It's Boring in Here

When he woke up again, it was to a blinding white light that nearly blinded him. Hector groaned and smacked the hospital lamp out of his face and muttered something about getting revenge on Angita for putting it there in the first place. The next thing he did was check what time it was, seeing that it was about four in the morning. He only remembered dozing off during his talk with Robert earlier, and the next thing he knew he fell asleep into a dreamless rest. It was odd, in a way. Odd because he was sure he was going to have nightmares after what he was forced to do and for what he did willingly. But he was surprised to see that mentally, at least to himself, he was at least close to being healthy.

" _ **Finally awake I see.**_ " And just like that, any thought of him being mentally healthy was thrown out the metaphorical window.

"Still stalking me, I see." He countered as he rubbed the back of his forearm across his face and leaned back down into his bed. "You here to stay or something?"

" _ **I believe this has already been established**_."

"Yeah, I know. I just don't know what you expect me to think every time I look at you." Hector said as he looked into his eyes. "Are you me, am I you, are we one, or am I just insane?"

" _ **Yes**_."

"Tch, asshole." Hector said with a reluctant amused smirk on his face. "Whatever, I am going to go back to sleep, I'm still tired. You do whatever you do while I'm unconscious." He closed his eyes and he already started feeling like a weight on his shoulders was suddenly lifted off. Like he was now allowed to close his eyes and not have to worry about anything. Going to sleep without the constant fear of a Grimm bashing down the door to his safe room was a very welcome feeling.

The only thing that still bothered him were the pains he felt in his chest and pretty much all over his body. They hurt, the ones that were given to him while he was chained to a chair hurt even more. Not because of the physical pain, but because of the emotional pain that came along with it. Every time he ran a hand over his own body he would feel a few of his scars. Some light, others bandaged and still healing, and some thick and deep. The N on his hip proved to be a constant reminder of who he was apparently owned by. Damn Neo… if she thought she'd broken him, she was going to be quite surprised the next time their paths crossed.

" _ **Unfortunately, I am forced to stay and watch until you awake.**_ " Hector would have loved nothing but to fall asleep once again, but knowing that someone- or his evil demon companion who happens to be a part of him was going to be watching him the whole time made him uncomfortable enough to not be able to fall asleep.

Hours passed, the sun began to rise, and he simply sat there leaned back in his hospital bed. His body felt heavy, and he needed to use the bathroom which also added to his problem of not being able to fall asleep. Reluctantly, he threw the covers off of his legs and peered them over the edge. When he sat up he winced at the pains he felt in his muscles. Not necessarily actual pain, but the unbelievable amount of soreness he felt in pretty much every muscle in his body. His calves burned as he put the tiniest amount of weight on his feet, and that burning sensation traveled all the way up to his lower back as he put his full weight on his two legs. Grimacing and wincing the whole time, he took a tentative step forward. Thankful that he was able to keep his balance as his body rocked from side to side. A quick check toward the clock told him that it was seven o'clock in the morning now, so he'd spent the last three hours laying in bed with Hell staring at him. For some reason, he didn't put it passed his other self for being so petty. If there was ever a passive aggressive way to show someone just how satisfied you were with having to be forced to share your body with someone else, Hell had it down great.

" _ **Having trouble?**_ " The bastard asked him, an amused smirk spread across his face as he watched Hector stumble and catch himself on a nearby wall.

"Yup, laugh it up. We share the same body dipshit." Hector replied as he forced himself to stand a little straighter. The bathroom for his room was just another big step away, and while he already felt like he just ran a mile in twenty seconds, the relieving sensation he would feel once he relieved himself of the feeling he had in his bladder was more than motivating.

" _ **Hmph, you're lucky our improved healing factor saved us from becoming crippled. There would be no saving the world if that happened.**_ " Hell remarked, sitting against the wall right beside the bathroom door.

"Don't sound too upset about it, you'll make me tear up." Hector replied sarcastically as he finally made it to the bathroom with one last long step. The rest of the process was assisted by the provided handlebars within the bathroom lining the walls, and just as he expected and was pining after. That sensation he felt when he was able to relieve himself was well worth that torturing walk.

He flushed the toilet and already felt better. He didn't even need to zip up his pants since he was still technically naked under the light blue hospital gown he had draped around his body. He made to leave the bathroom but stopped as he passed the mirror. Hector looked at himself, and leaned in more to get a better look as if he was searching for something. He looked himself in the eyes, and smiled when he saw that they were still a dark chocolate brown color. So dark that it nearly looked black, and the whites of his eyes were very much still white, if a little rimmed with red because of how much sleep his body very much desired.

The entire process of getting there and back to his bed took about ten minutes, while it would have taken about one or so if he was completely healthy. When he got back to his bed he didn't so much as lie in it as he did fall into it. The mattress was incredible soft and the pillow even softer. With a soft satisfied sigh he felt himself drifting off to sleep, and even managed to stay asleep for a few minutes before someone knocked on his door.

"Wakey wakey hands off snakey." The familiar voice of his apparent cousin said as he knocked on the door about three times.

Hector was confused by the words for a moment before chuckling as he remembered saying the same thing to him one time. He didn't have the energy to say he was awake however, being seventy five percent asleep did that to a person. When it was clear he wasn't going to get a verbal response, Robert walked in anyway.

He stopped, widened his eyes and looked to anything other than what was on full display. "You might want to… uh… fix yourself." Robert said as he turned his body around to save himself from getting any more mooned.

"Hm?" Hector hummed as he rose his head from out of his pillow. He looked over his shoulder to acknowledge him, and then realized why he felt colder air up against his backside. With a scrambled movement, he turned himself around and put his body under the covers again. "That never happened." He said without even sounding like what just accidentally happened just happened.

"Didn't see anything," Robert promised as he turned back around, more relieved than he originally was before for the fact that he wasn't being mooned anymore. "You're finally awake then, did you enjoy your nap?"

Hector's yawn was half of his response. "Like a baby, how long did I sleep?"

"Oh, only about fourteen hours or so." Robert said with a shrug of his shoulders. Hector returned it with an expression on his face that said `what can you do?` "Feeling better than yesterday?"

"Much better, I was even able to use the bathroom today." Hector said with a chuckle as he leaned back in his bed again. He still felt tired, but not tired enough that he was going to pass out like he did before. "I'm guessing you didn't end up messaging my team about my awakening."

"Well, you did sorta pass out asleep. I didn't think it would have been a good idea to suddenly get eleven people storming in asking if you were okay." Robert said with a half-apologetic look on his face.

Hector nodded his head in understanding, it wasn't like he could be mad at the guy for looking out for him. He didn't even realize he was that tired until he woke up earlier today at four in the morning, and as he thought about it having his team, team RWBY, and JNPR, and putting extra emphasis on the N of JNPR and the R of HAMR, and about half of RWBY. He could understand even more why Robert didn't go through with the message to his team, because of he did. Three times the amount of people he was expecting would have came running.

"Yeah, good call on that one." Hector said with a small grin.

A few minutes past with Robert sitting beside his bed, a silence built up between the two. Awkward silence. Neither really knew what to say to the other. What happened at Mountain Glenn, Cinder's ambush at the dance, and now this Aaron guy who is also apparently from Earth as well hunting them. There was so much to talk about really, but none of it was broached into as Robert looked to the ground and thought about what to say as Hector twiddled with his thumbs in deep thought.

"Hector… where are we right now?" Robert asked, breaking the silence as brown eyes met brown once again. Hector widened his slightly as he saw the almost hurt look on his face.

"What do you mean?"

Robert looked away momentarily, but looked back after taking a deep breath. "When I first found you… after seeing what you did to those White Fang members… when I found you standing there covered in blood and looking like a corpse… I was never so relieved, scared, happy, and angry at the same time before. But when you noticed me… all I saw was anger, maybe even a decent amount of hatred." He continued. "I tried to give you the support I thought I could give you, but when I hugged you, you just smiled and said that it was `Oh Rob, ever the optimist eh?`" Robert snickered bitterly, remembering the same scene he saw at both in his battle against the Seer, and the illusion Emerald gave unto him. "I thought right there that I might have been too late, and it scared me. Luckily Ruby caught up and managed to calm you down. But even after that you just seemed so… You said a lot of things, I just want to know where we stand right now."

Hector looked down this his scarred hands as he racked his mind for memories. It was fragmented, and almost tormenting to go through it. But he managed to remember that scene, he _was_ angry at the time, and he _was_ full of hatred as well. But that wasn't all him, he wanted to say that it wasn't all him but how could he explain it? He couldn't exactly talk about Hell without sounding crazy, and the bastard knew that he couldn't. He didn't hate Robert nor did he blame him for what happened. His anger clouded his judgement as he walked in to what he _knew_ was going to be some kind of trap. He could have rallied up his friends and team to go in there, and they might have stood more of a chance and perhaps even won. But his anger clouded his judgement and landed him in hell itself.

"I mean I know I'm not exactly the best at explaining what I mean, that I can be… uh mean sometimes, and that when things go south I tend to get no filter moments and-" Robert continued

"I don't hate you." Hector said cutting him of, and was relieved to see how Roberts shoulders relaxed into a more comfortable position. "I never did, at the time I was not in my right mind. You know… what happened to me, I was tortured and was going through quite a lot of stress. If you're worried that I hate you or something, than don't worry about it."

Robert sighed softly, and a small smile curved up from his lips as the relief fully settled in. "Okay… okay, that's goo- I mean technically no, it's not good, but… okay, I wouldn't want to have to explain why my _cousin_ is avoiding me or something."

"Please tell me our friends don't actually believe that after what we told them… I may have trouble remembering, but I _know_ we told them about Earth and all that good stuff about ourselves."

Robert chuckled. "Oh, _they_ know the truth and were already sworn into secrecy by Glynda. Everyone else however? Trust me, I am just as enthusiastic about it as you are."

Hector sighed. Imagining it. "I can imagine. I guess I can deal with it for now, we might as well be family considering we're some of the only ones from Earth here." The mood darkened as they both thought about Aaron at the same time. They haven't given it much thought ever since the revelation yesterday, but now it hit them. Aaron Hayes was from Earth, which meant that they weren't the only ones pulled from Earth to Remnant. It was difficult to process, especially since Aaron was apparently working with Cinder, and by extension, probably Salem as well. Why? They had no idea. The only thing they really knew about Aaron was that he wanted them, and that he was incredibly powerful with another incredibly powerful semblance that put theirs to shame. The only one that was able to put of him the back foot and force a retreat was a maiden.

"Whoever that guy was…" Hector cut through the silence with a determined voice. "He wasn't there in the show, there wasn't any mention of him… You think?"

"That things have changed because of us?" Robert asked for him, to which Hector nodded to. "Then yes, I think it has. In fact I think they have changed way _too_ much… more than you might think. Whatever his reasoning, he has chosen his side, and we've chosen ours. He needs to be stopped."

"Agreed… but I have a feeling that right now, even if I was at full strength, we wouldn't stand a chance against the guy." Hector pointed out. He was frustrated with that undeniable fact, and by the look on Roberts face he was just as annoyed by it. They even both had a feeling that Aaron was _still_ not going all out against either of them, and both suffered against him while he was holding back, toying with them. Aaron looked to be older than them as well, much older. Like he was in his forties or around that age. That meant that he must have had plenty of time to train and get used to the laws of Remnant, aura, and his semblance. He was leagues beyond them. "Which means we're going to have to train extra hard to catch up to him." He said next, finishing off his train of thought as he looked back to Robert. Who looked conflicted with how he was going to respond to that.

"I agree, but you're still hurt. Once you recover than I'd be happy too, but with the festival around the corner?" Robert swallowed nervously, and refused to delve into that topic. "Not to mention that — and no offense intended — but your fighting style before revolved more around brute strength and semblance abuse to overwhelm your opponents than any actual skill. Now that you can't even use your semblance without possibly killing yourself? You're going to have to learn, and fast."

Hector humphed but did not argue. He was right of course, and as much as he didn't like to admit it that was how he was able to keep up with everyone before. He was just so strong and fast that it didn't matter if his opponent was more skilled than he. If they couldn't react fast enough to his attacks or strong enough to block them they would be brought down. His match against Pyrrha before was an example of that, she was far more skilled than him by far, but because of his exceeding speed and strength was able to keep up with her and drawed in battle against the spartan, even if it did end up with him flat on his back and feeling like he was breathing through a straw. But now he didn't have that, he couldn't use Kaioken and could barely bring forth his aura as it was. He _might_ be able to use a very low power of his semblance, or use it in very short bursts, but it couldn't be relied on anymore. Stopping the train may have saved lives, but it costed him his greatest weapon. Even if Hell said that he would heal enough in time to use it again, he wouldn't put his life on the words of a demon.

"Let's not think about that right now," Robert cut in as he noticed Hector thinking to himself again, and stressing himself more than what he thought appropriate. "Instead, you should think about the friends you are about to see in…" He made a show of looking at his nonexistent watch, even pretending to rub the lens as if it was cloudy and he couldn't properly read the time. "A short amount of time."

"How short are we talking about here?" Hector felt the need to ask.

"Considering I sent a message around right now-" Robert said as he tapped the send message on his scroll. "I say we have like another thirty seconds soonest, three minutes tops. Even faster when you consider Ruby."

A small fond smile grew on Hector's face as he sighed and sat up in a comfortable way to best prepare for what was probably about to be a few tackles leading into a hug. Robert, out of respect and admittedly a little out of not wanting to be tossed out of the way, chose the seat that was by his window. The one that was nearest to the darker corner of the room.

About a minute went by, and Angita checked in to warn them about the upcoming sudden influx of visitors. Which was little more than a polite gesture as the first blur of a fifteen year old mass decided to attach herself in the weirdest hug posture Hector was ever going to remember.

"Hey!" Ruby cheered as she tightened her grip around his neck. Hector groaned and hugged her back the best he could with his face currently buried in what he assumed to be her hair or side of her face. It took a few more groans for Ruby to realize that they were groans of pain, and apologized as she pulled back, keeping her eyes locked onto his as she sat on the edge of his bed.

"Good to see you too." Hector managed to get out as he rubbed the spot on his shoulder where he took the full impact of her hug tackle.

Ruby's smile was nothing short of adorable, but as another few seconds past, the door to his room wasn't even shut all the way as it was _smashed_ off of its hinges by a set of metal shoulders. Reggie came storming in, and the first thing Hector noticed was that the bleached part of his hair was now dyed with orange the same shade of his eyes. The amount of relief that was on his teary eyed face as he smiled at his leader was nothing if it was not heartwarming. Hector was just as relieved to see that his friend and teammate was not nearly as injured as he was.

"B-Boss!" Reggie cried out as he bolted to his side and wrapped his arm in a much more gentle way around his neck. Ironically, even though part of his body was still metal and he was much stronger physically than Ruby was, his hug was still much more gentle and soft. Hector leaned into his touch as a choked sigh escaped from his lips. "You're okay… You're really okay, you are okay right?"

"'Course I am," Hector replied as Reggie pulled away. "Not even a train can stop this guy, I feel like I broke more than a few records with that one." His quip had the desired effect of making Ruby and Reggie both giggle, even Robert sitting by the window couldn't help but snicker, not that it stopped him from pointing out the dangers of jumping in front of a speeding train with nothing but your bare hands to stop it.

"Come on, let me get like, _a day_ without someone pointing that out to me." Hector whined.

"Nope." Ruby, Reggie, and Robert, also known as the `Three R's`, all said at the same time. Earning and amused snort out of him.

Exactly one more minute passed by and as Angita and Robert warned, the other members of Teams RWBY, JNPR, and HAMR all made their way to his bedroom. While that sentence might have raised a few eyebrows if it was said in public and without context, the thought of that was only able to amuse him as he looked over the faces of his friends. Weiss and Blake had a few bandages, but were perfectly okay compared to him. Michael was a little pale, but that must have been because of his aura and semblance exertion, it was funny to look at him because of the way his usually well brushed and tied up man-bun was now let down and stuck out every which way, and he forgot to bring his glasses so he was constantly squinting to be able to see anything that was going on, which was something he was most definitely going to be teased about later on in their lives. Ashley… even after everything, Hector _was_ happy to see his faunus partner. Her ashen hair was let down for what he thought might be the first time he has seen it, and despite everything she had a warm smile on her face. Without a doubt the two of them were probably in need of quite the talk. Then lastly but most certainly not least, the only other person that was there besides Miss Goodwitch was Yang.

As he was told the day before, both of her arms were in slings. She was a bit bruised up, but not as much as he was, and it did absolutely nothing for her to be nothing short of _ecstatic_ upon seeing him. They seemed to think about the same thing at the same time upon seeing each other, which was the moment Hector used a forbidden aura technique that costed him in order to save her life. That thought must have been running through her mind as she sat on his bed and just _fell_ into him, leaning into him more when he wrapped his arms around her to hug her. Her thick blonde hair tickled his nose and threatened to make him sneeze, but he stomped down that urge in favour of not getting headbutted in the face for getting whatever that would come out of his nose in her hair.

"Man, talk about a _train wreck_ , eh?"

Oh, and of course she had to make that pun while wearing the most shit eating of grins on her face. Right as she leaned out of his grip enough to look him in the eyes too. If that line didn't make him laugh, he might have noticed earlier that her usually lighter shade of purple eyes was now a little darker with a tint of red to them. He didn't comment on it, much too happy at the moment to think about the consequences of what he did in order to save her life. The thought of the deal he made with her mother came to mind, but if she didn't bring it up, he wasn't about to open that can of worms.

He thought it was over there, and he was very wrong when Nora practically dove onto his stomach. After Ren and Jaune were finished pulling her off while giving their own well wishes, Pyrrha gave him a happy hello with a wave of her hand. Which seemed a bit off at first, but it probably was to be expected considering the amount of people that were currently sitting on the edge of his bed. It was a wonder that his bed didn't collapse yet because of all the bodyweight pressed on it, and he was relieved when Reggie stood up and he rose a few inches higher off the ground.

As he was swarmed with questions a second later, he looked to Robert and silently begged him to help by staring into his eyes. To which the other Earthling promptly rose his hands in surrender and shook his head, practically telling him 'Don't look at me'. He looked defeated on the matter and refused to help, not like he could have really have done much.

"How are you feeling?" He caught the one question asked to him by the closest person to his personal space, which was the blonde brawler herself.

"Like I just got through the worst workout on my life and woke up from a sleep I never thought I would wake up from." Hector said with a sigh.

"If stopping a train as a workout for you, then I want to give it a shot!" Nora shouted her feelings on the matter.

"Please no, not again." Robert said.

"No Nora, bad." Ren said as he placed a hand on her shoulder as a way to calm her. The ginger haired girl huffed and didn't say anything more about it. Even though it was clear she wanted to rebel further.

"I wouldn't recommend it either," Yang continued, grinning. "Hex here couldn't do it on his own, and needed two beautiful spotters to help him get through a single rep."

"Ooo, I like the way you said that." Reggie said as he offered Yang a fist bump, realized his mistake when she snickered at him, and then bumped it against her knee instead.

"I don't think that can ever be considered an efficient workout if it nearly kills you after a single set." Michael said with a shake of his head, though the amused smirk did not go unnoticed by anyone.

"Hey well you know what, no one asked you." Reggie said with a wink, making Michael roll his eyes in response.

"Let us get back into seriousness here," Weiss said, being the only voice of reason. "Hector, Yang, and Reggie were all injured pushing back against a train filled with bombs."

"I defused those by the way." Ruby pointed out with a confident smile.

Weiss rolled her eyes at her childishness, but let her have her moment anyway. She _kinda_ deserved it after managing to defuse close to three dozen bombs that were set on the train cars while being shot at and with a time limit of just a few minutes. "I wouldn't say we _al_ l came out unscathed,"

"Yeah, preaching to the choir there." Michael said, referring to the largest bubble he has ever made while on a moving train with a shaky stance. All he got was a quick thank you, and he was given some aura boosters to help him regenerate his reserves. _People these days…_

"Yeah, well, at least you're able to use your arms." Yang said as she lifted hers up along with their cast's. "You know how hard it is to trust _other_ people to brush your hair?"

"Oh please, you had your younger sister to help you with it."

"Weiss, there's a reason why Ruby has short hair." Yang said with a shudder. "She tried longer hair once… and only once."

"There's a story behind that, and I want to hear it." Hector said, his interest piqued even as Ruby paled considerably and waved her hands no so quickly that they were only seen as blurs.

"Going back on topic, we all got our butt handed to us… even if we saved the day at the end." Robert pointing out, trying to bring back some of the seriousness.

"With all due respect, Mister Urra," To mostly everyone's surprise, it was Yang that spoke up. "We know that, we're just enjoying the moment for what it is without remembering that I nearly died, a few times in fact."

"I was nearly kidnapped so I understand thank you very much, but still, there still some issues that happened because of all this bull…" Robert said, not wanting to go too much into detail, everyone seemed to caught on as he signaled to both Yang and Hector. "I think you two have some things to talk about…"

Hector perked up, and remembered what Ozpin said the day before. The forbidden technique he used on Yang. He met her eyes and again, it seemed like they thought the same thing. Whatever protests that might have been expressed, or even thought for that matter were snuffed out. They were all filled in about what happened with Yang and Hector on that train thanks to Yang's side of the story when she woke up. Slowly, members of every team started to funnel out of the room. Ruby hugged Hector and Yang one more time before leaving, and the other members of Team HAMR each came up to say their good nights since they most likely were not going to be allowed to visit again that day.

Robert was the last person to go out of the room, before closing the door he looked at Yang. "You said you wanted to talk to him, this is the best I can do Yang, don't waste this." Robert said before closing the door. And then came back. "Since you have the casts I better leave this open. Feel better." He said right as he left the room, leaving those words hanging in the air as Hector slowly turned to look at Yang.

She looked back at him, sighing as she looked around the room. He didn't notice it until now, but he felt like he could sense what she was feeling, which was awkwardness, which was a given considering what their new friendship was probably going to consist of, and it was mixed with a wide variety of other emotions as well. The same must have worked vice versa with Yang, because when she turned back to face him and look him in the eyes, her smile was a little more forced than before.

"You're not okay… I know you aren't." She said as she scooted up closer to him to make herself more comfortable.

Hector took in a deep breath, because he _was_ hurting more than a little than what he was letting the others see, and if it wasn't that what ticked her off, the fact that Hell, his demon part was _still_ standing there leaning against the wall just _staring_ at him, his mental state was also something that was up to be questioned.

"Yeah… I just didn't want to worry the others." He said, telling the truth. There was no use trying to tell little white lies, since she would probably tell what was the truth or not coming from him now. "What about you?"

Yang answered him by slowly and methodically sliding one of her arms out of her sling. Her arm was very bruised up, and there were clear signs of fractures and whatever other damage he was too medically illiterate to describe properly. But what surprised him was when her now orange aura flared up for a moment and flowed around that arm. His eyes grew wide at the display as the bruises faded away just a shade lighter than before. She slid that arm back into her sling and sighed as it was put back in place in a much more comfortable position.

"They said that if it weren't for my newfound reserves of aura, I might have lost use in both my arms." Yang said as she smiled at him again. "Imagine my surprise when Ozpin and Uncle Qrow explained to me _why_ exactly I was expected to make full recovery in another week or so. How did you do it?"

Hector looked away, he remembered what he had to do. His aura flared purple at the time he did it, he knew that. But as for _how_ he did it? He honestly had no idea.

"I just kinda did it." He said honestly, and when it was clear that wasn't going to be enough to satisfy her, he continued. "I know that I didn't want to lose you… I was emotional, and with you dying in my arms I just focused as hard as I could and I guess I just gave you some of my aura." He explained as he looked to her and shrugged his shoulders. "That's the best answer I can give you. I'm sorry."

Yang's breath caught in her throat, she didn't stop smiling however, so Hector didn't get worried over anything. If anything, she seemed to scoot closer to him just a little more.

"Don't be. I think that's a great answer actually." Yang said as she rubbed her eye into one of her shoulders. Did she tear up? Hector couldn't tell since the whites of her eyes were still as white as the hospital walls. "Though, I got to ask. Are you an alien or something?"

Hector flinched out of surprise for the bluntness of the question. "Uh… no, as far as I know, I am definitely human."

"Heh. I guess you are if you have aura and a semblance." Yang said, nodding her head. "I'm surprised I took it as well as I did, it was hard to believe at first. But hey, when there's fifteen year old girls that can go up to Mach speeds like Ruby, dimensional time travel doesn't seem all that unbelievable." Mach speed was a little _much_ , even for Ruby, but her analogy wasn't that bad.

"Yeah… Robert said that you wanted to talk to me, right? What about?" Hector gestured to his battered and healing body. "I'm not exactly in a position to run away from anything you want to talk about."

"Do… did they tell you what that technique you used apparently did?" Yang asked straight away. Hector frowned, but nodded his head. Already knowing what's coming.

"I would give you back the part of your soul that you gave up for me, but I don't know how. But that isn't what was bothering me." Yang sighed, and looked Hector in the eyes. "How are you… still going? Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that you're okay, more than happy in fact. But with the way they worded it, it sounded like you were going to die…" When he didn't reply right away, she went on. "Did you know that apparently _every_ other case of someone using that forbidden technique to save another's life, the user died?"

That got his attention. His breath caught and his heart began to ache again because of the stress. Ozpin didn't tell him that… Robert didn't either, but he passed off the latter out of the suspicion that Ozpin probably just didn't tell him the full truth. That sounded like something he would do.

He gave her the best answer he could, which was that he most likely just not the same kind of human she was. They were both human, but they were also from completely different planets or dimensions. He was an Earthling, not someone born and raised on Remnant. He even told her about Aaron, how he there was a huge possibility that he was from Earth as well. In the end, all he could do was shrug his shoulders and blame it on whatever that was inside him that saved him from such a fate. Yang believed every bit of it, and not for a lack of trying to see if it was the truth or not. She just _knew_ it was the truth.

"That's… wow." Yang was at a lost for words.

"Crazy, I know. I wish I knew more about it, but the last thing I remember before suddenly being _pulled_ into the Emerald Forest was me being in class, and I think Rob was in a subway at the time of him being yanked here too."

"What happened to everything being normal?" Yang groaned, she would have held her head with both hands if they weren't currently still healing. "Now I got people from different dimensions and shit, why can't things go back to being simple?"

"You're telling me that?" Hector chuckled. "I thought this was all a show before I _literally_ was pulled into a different dimension, I think our definitions of `normal` are a bit different."

Yang snickered at that. "Yeah, I guess they are."

She leaned on him again suddenly, Hector didn't know what to do for a few moments, but eventually wrapped an arm around her shoulders and rested his shin on the top of her head. They stayed like that for about ten minutes until she was the one to break the silence.

"Thank you," She said, her voice barely above that of a whisper and full of emotion. "If it weren't for you… I wouldn't be alive right now. I get to see my sister again because of you…" She leaned back, and looked up at him, eyes glassy. His heart skipped a beat as he looked back into them, and this time not in a painful way.

"Y-You would have done the same for me." Hector replied, cursing himself for looking away.

"Probably," He could feel the girl shrug her shoulders. "But it didn't end up that way." She leaned into him again, letting out a deep exhale as she relaxed in his hold. "Whether you like it or not, we're connected now, and you're not getting away from me anytime soon now."

Hector laughed, his embarrassment going away in a flash. "I don't think I would rather have it any other way."

"So you're telling me you're glad that I got hurt so you can do that to me?" Yang asked, a sudden venom in her voice that made him rear back in fear.

"I-I didn't mean-" He was cut off by her giggling, and he rolled his eyes as she leaned off of him and stood up.

"I was screwing with you," She said between laughter. "I'm on a time limit, doctor's orders. But if you ever want me around, Reggie snuck your new scroll under your butt."

To her amusement, he actually went to go check. Only for him to flinch as a scroll was tossed into his lap. She was having way too much fun with this.

"Feel better, 'kay?" She said as she walked backward toward the door, twirling once so she stood in the doorway with her foot ready to kick it closed. She looked back at him, a grin never leaving her face. "Maybe when we're both better, we can get to that training session we promised each other."

She winked after that, shutting the door and he could practically hear the girl _skipping_ away with her victory hot on her heels. Hector sighed and ran a hand down his face, then laughed. That girl, she was really something sometimes. Though now he figured that he could expect seeing her a lot more now after what happened.

He looked out of his window, the sunlight felt good on his face. But the bird shaped figure blocked out some of the light. He had to squint his eyes in order to see what exactly was in his way. When his eyes adjusted, he saw that it was a black bird with strange eyes.

When he blinked at it, it blinked back and cawed at him.

"What the…?" He blinked his eyes and squinted harder. _Wait a second… Oh gosh_. His eyes widened as he realized just as he figured out _who_ that dusty old bird was.

And that dusty old bird narrowed it's red eyes at him, and brought up one of it's feet to give him a `I'm watching you` gesture. It was at that moment Hector thought that he has now seen everything.

Going to sleep was hard that night, and for once, it wasn't because of Hell.

* * *

Cinder Fall _flinched_ as her mentor slammed his fist into the desk. His eyes a dark black and green as a dark misty green mist surrounded his body. He was clearly not in a good mood, and has not been ever since the failure of what couldn't even be _considered_ a breach. The train hadn't even exploded, and all of the White Fang that were on that train still alive were captured.

"Those two…" He said with a growl. "I had them right there, so close!" Emerald and Mercury looked absolutely terrified just being near the man. His semblance was clearly working very well against them. It even worked against herself to a certain degree, she felt a fear she thought she stomped out long ago well up inside her. She shook lightly, but that was all she would allow herself to feel. "Not to mention your absolute _failure_ in detaining the one you captured. Why of all places did you decide to keep him in Mountain Glenn!?"

Cinder winced with every thunderous word, but she held on strong. "It was the most secure place to keep him at the time, Aaron."

"He should have been brought to _me!_ " The table he had his hands on shattered underneath his strength, making Emerald and Mercury whimper and Cinder flinch. But she held on strong.

"I did not know you were coming at the time, Aaron. If I knew, I would have held him in one of my most secure safe houses until you arrived." If Cinder was good at anything, it was being logical, and if there was one thing Aaron Hayes respected was some good logical and rational thinking.

With a deep breath, the black veins receded from his face and when he blinked his eyes they turned back into their normal color. The aura he gave off was suppressed, and her underlings were finally able to start recovering. Cinder sat up straighter and smiled to herself for her minor victory.

"Yes, you're right. I apologize for my outburst." Aaron said as he rubbed his temples with his hands. "Besides, there were clearly some cards hidden from us, such as _both_ of them being prophets, they probably knew of Mountain Glenn and other locations. Hmm… The one who started to unlock his true powers also managed to convince Raven Branwen of all people to assist them, we must remember to keep tabs on her from now on. She has made a mistake saving them all, she has revealed herself to be the Spring Maiden."

Cinder's smile flashed to cruel levels as she imagined taking that power for herself. With her and Aaron together, not even maidens could hope to stand against them. "Of course, while we must take the loss for now, we still have the same amount of cards to play with as they do."

"Correct. What of Roman and that little girl?"

"Roman was arrested, as we expected him to be. But the virus was planted in the CCT and it was not yet removed. I plan to have Neo break him out the day we attack, and once they do what is needed of them, they will have lost their usefulness." Cinder pointed out.

"Good. Very good. Then the plan will go as planned… if only a little adjusted."

Cinder's smile fell a tiny amount. "However do you mean?"

"That would depend on what we can find about our two person's of interest first, how much they know and what they have planned, always adapt Cinder. I believe I've taught you that."

Cinder bowed her head respectfully. "Of course… You taught me most if not all of what I know. Though, I must ask, why the sudden interest in these two prophets? What do you hope to accomplish in their capture?"

Aaron looked to Cinder with a huff, towering over her as he stuck his hands in the pockets of his trench coat. "That is more of a _personal_ goal of mine Cinder, I will tell you of it when it becomes necessary. For now however, we need to pull all the assets we can, we've lost Mountain Glenn, and we also lost Cassius, Roman was arrested, the Dawn disbanded, and the Monarch dead. With that in mind, I've taken the liberty of requesting for a bit of support from our _other_ allies."

Cinder was offended by the insinuation that she couldn't be trusted to do things herself, but she hid it well. With a deep breath, she nodded her head in understanding. "Is this your order?"

Aaron smirked. "Not mine, in fact." He chuckled when Cinder snapped her neck up to look at him. "Who do you think sent me here in the first place?" He asked rhetorically, Cinder already knew the answer. "I care about you Cinder, and I even defended you in your stead. But not even I can question the Queen more than once." He was her student once, but despite how most of the student-master relationships went, theirs was a little more one side in the terms of respect and trust.

"She was particularly angry the death of the Monarch, there aren't many of them, it was a massive waste in her eyes. So she's determined to make sure it isn't in vain. Sadly without the Monarch in Vale the Grimm aren't as coordinated… but that's fixable. All will come in due time. For now, we shall bide our time and ensure that we continue to have the services of the White Fang, since this is an important matter, I believe it would be wise to also give you some of my contacts Cinder." Aaron said as he held out an expecting hand.

"You… have contacts?" Cinder asked as she handed him her personal scroll.

"Of course. As you were here in Vale I kept tabs on you while I was working on a little project of mine. I came into contact with a few people of… interesting quality, people who we can work with on a matter such as the one we find ourselves in."

"You kept tabs on me?" Cinder asked gently, though she was irritated underneath her shell.

"Why wouldn't I?" Aaron asked. "I invested quite a lot of time in you, I wouldn't want to find out that all of the effort I put into you was only to be wasted." He said as he typed in a few numbers to her scroll, and simply labeled them with numbers starting from zero going all the way up to seven. "I put their specialities in their details, do make sure you make good use of their resources." He glanced to Emerald and Mercury, who both looked away and down to the ground. "I am afraid that the one you have now are… insufficient for what we are up against."

"I understand." Cinder said as she took her scroll back, committing to memory that she had to go through it later.

"Good as we bide our time, we still have to take care of our problems, the two of them, Hector Rivers, and Robert Urra, we know a lot about Rivers, you did good job with him, but what about Urra? He was the one that killed the Monarch, even if that was Cassius's responsibility, we still need to know more about him. My job for you at this moment is to focus on our enemies, but remember, those two are _mine_ to… speak to. Do make sure that you do not kill them when the time comes."

Cinder bowed her head. "Yes, sir."

"Good, get to it then." Aaron's eyes grew dark again, and his mist flowed around his body again as he stepped away from her. "This is only the beginning Cinder, our story is just getting started. Do make sure that failure becomes a thing of the past."

He disappeared after that, leaving her with those parting words. When she knew that he was gone, she growled to herself and crossed her arms. She had all of this under control, she had a plan! Now Aaron was just going to walk in and take the reins, just like that? She wished she could do something about it, but she was wrong to blame him for what happened, if she disappointed Salem… enough so that she sent him with the authority to run whatever plans she had, then clearly she needed to do better.

"Emerald, Mercury." She snapped, the two underlings rose at attention. "You two go find Adam, and make sure he is still compliant, remind him what the consequences of refusing are."

"Yes mam." The two of them said at the same time, and went off to go find him right away.

When they left, she found herself alone. She went over to her only window and looked up toward Beacon. To where they must be keeping the half-dead Fall Maiden she had defeated. All of this just for her power… all these complications just to keep being a full maiden from her grasp, she will prove she had earned it, she'll show everyone that she was ready, it was so close...

With a deep breath, she reminded herself of what she should be doing, and went to go check out these _contacts_ Aaron had set up for her.

Failure _would_ become a thing of the past… a distant memory.

At _any_ cost.

* * *

 **And there we go with another chapter. This one again had a lot of talking, but also a lot of planning, foreshadowing, some sweet moments, and some more planning but this time on the bad guys side. If you guys are curious as to how Aaron looks, I drew him and posted the picture on my twitter, CrowSkull is also going to be drawing him, and he's doing it digitally, so when he is done with that he is going to look a little different, and probably better. So you all have that to look forward to (T witter . com (slash) genatools) -Genatools**

 **Do leave your reviews, your notes and also tell us what you think. -CrowSkull**

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 **Also, thank you to my first Pat ron. JamesFames**


	36. A Tale of Two Heroes chapter 36

**Alrighty boys and girls, we're back at it. This is going to be the last chapter for a few weeks until I (Genatools) finish one of my other stories. I just figured that I should probably tell you guys that. Once that is over and done with, and after a good break from writing, I'll come back to this story and continue it, maybe even make that short crossover story.**

* * *

 **Tigervolano5000: Your review is so long that if I responded to every sentence of it we'll be here all day, so instead I shall respond to** _ **some**_ **of it. First of all, thank you for reading this whole story man, the beginning of it was a little rough, and half of it was a little less rough, but things got better as I got better at writing, as well as my co writer and beta. So you can expect writing as good if not** _ **better**_ **than my other stories, that I can assure you. Team HAMR was an idea I could never drop ever since I thought of it, just like Aaron, and everything else me and CrowSkull planned out. You'll see. Ashley and Hector did have some pretty good chemistry before, but right now, things are a little rough for that relationship. Things are changing, and this version of Hector is different now. Even more different than the UH Hector. VERY different from the Uh Hector, keep that in mind as you read the rest of this story. Hell is also different, I can't even count that many differences from this story and that story. As for Mike and Reggie, their relationship doesn't determine who they are as people, you would be correct. I don't often write about what they do, but it shouldn't be a main focus. They're gay and together, and that's that. Penny is adorable and shall always be, so that's also a thing. Agh, This is already too many words, I'll respond to the rest of it mentally Lol. But now you gotta read Blind Huntsman next, or Detective Grimm if you want some laughs.**

 **Oblivious IJ: Poor Hector, he has no idea what he has gotten himself into. Or maybe he does and it's just too late to do anything about it. Oh well.**

* * *

 **Beta & Cowriter: CrowSkull**

 **Now let us push forth!**

* * *

A Tale of Two Heroes

Chapter 36- Step by Step

Robert was feeling… something. It was nauseous, the smell, everything, and everything felt slow, like if it was under water. He looked around and realized he was underwater, it looked and felt like shallow water. He started to swim upwards in the heavy brownish water until something tugged at his leg, it was a strong pull. Robert looked back and a shadow was trying to drag him back into the water, he kicked it away and tried to go back to the surface, but then another shadow appeared and grabbed his arm and dragged him down. Robert made a move to activate one of his blades to cut the shadow away, but he couldn't, he realized that he didn't even have his gauntlets.

More shadows appeared and tried to drag him down, screaming at him, holding him in place, he elbowed and kneed and kicked away at the shadows trying to get free, he managed and tried to go for the surface, but the shadows just kept appearing,they started to try and grab his face, he looked away. He could feel his lungs starting to empty, he felt the air running out, saw the bubbles of air spilling out of his nose and mouth, and felt the urge to take in a nice deep breath. If he didn't do something he was going to die. He readied himself sent out a lightning blast, that would free him and help him reach the surface, he looked back ready to unleash it… and behind the shadows he saw Seth, also struggling with more shadows.

Miara was also there, Mackie, Verdant… they were all close trying to get free of this shadow humanoids, Robert struggled harder, he tried to get free and managed to free one arm and make aggressive punches and elbows at the shadows, as he struggled he saw more people, there was Hector… Michael, Ruby, Yang, Weiss… Blake, Ashley, everyone… he had to do something he had to, he had to use… he couldn't, he realized.

If he used his lightning, he would live, but they would die, and if not the shadows would just drag them down… he felt his mouth straining, bubbles came out, time was short, he wailed his legs to try and get free but one shadow always was able to grab him from somewhere and drag him back down, he looked at the others, also struggling.

' _Please do something, please just break free.'_ He thought, his breath was coming short, he felt the hurting on his chest, he felt the dirty water break into his mouth, he looked up and he saw a Deathstalker, it was moving it's stinger towards the water… the poison. Robert looked to all sides and everyone was being dragged lower and lower, he saw bubble come out of the mouths of some people, no one was able to do anything, he could… but he couldn't… the stinger inched closer and closer as the shadows dragged them all down, if he use lightning they'll die. He couldn't do it he just had to…

It only got worse from there, some of his comrades started to get corrupted, taken away, or something weird will happen to Hector like he saw a flash of before back on the train from Emerald's illusion. He was overwhelmed by darkness, and when it faded away, his hair was white, his skin was pale, his veins were pulsing with purple and his eyes were redder than ever, with black overtaking the white. He looked over to his own teammates, and to Robert's shock and horror he watched as he pulled Ashley down with him, both of them disappearing into the darkness.

All the while, the Deathstalker got closer and closer to the water. He saw the stinger just inches above the water over him, he saw people near just… fall unconscious with wide eyes, he couldn't, he couldn't... they…

The stinger moved closer, more shadows appeared. If he didn't do it they'll die! He charged himself, he let out and shockwave around him and spread his hands to shoot out lightning at the shadows… and as he did so, the shadows dissipated… and turned into the policemen and women he had killed in the sewers.

* * *

Robert jolted up from his bed with a sharp breath intake from his nose, he looked around and breathed, he wasn't underwater. He was at Beacon, he looked around him keeping his breathing to his nose, he looked around the room with wide eyes, eventually his breathing came back to normal. He felt his hammering heart slow down back to normal, he started to feel the cold sweat around him, and eventually all he could hear was silence of the night.

Just another nightmare, it was… surprising for him, mostly because he didn't dream a lot, lucky once a month he would get a dream, recently he had another nightmare, he also had heard the screams of help from the people that died at the sewers, but that had been short, voices and echoes… this was more livid, felt more real, he looked outside the window and he looked that it was still dark, the moon shining as the only light source through the curtains, he looked for his scroll, he checked the clock and it was 5am.

He let out sigh as he sat there on his bed, he held his face for a bit and just sat there thinking, the loud hammering was gone, but he could still feel his heart beating faster than normal, of all the dreams and nightmares this one was sticking with him. Well for now… so far nothing had beaten the talking duck murder into massive disco ball meteor…

And yet that one hadn't affected him as much as this, he didn't feel like it was just a nightmare, he didn't feel like it was just that… he felt the cold sweat around him and wiped his forehead, in his hand he could feel a good portion of sweat in his hand, Robert used his semblance, creating sparks on his hand, and then the sweat was gone with small wisp of smoke… he really didn't feel like he could sleep anymore.

For the rest half an hour he sat on his couch while still in his pajamas, he decided to drink a glass of water and eat some snack he had around to pass the time, but for the most part he drank water then gather some on his palm and just… wait. He was waiting to see if there was a moment his semblance would react without his control and just vaporize the water, but it didn't happen. He waited and waited, he evaporated the water on command and then repeat the process again, waiting for something to happen, but nothing out of his control happened, no random spark, no sudden jolt… nothing.

It made him get over the dream a bit, but it also unsettled him, he wondered really if he was in control of his semblance. He had long figured out that his emotional state and his adrenaline and excitement fueled his semblance, like a battery that charges itself while having to do something, but what if someday he couldn't control it. What if he went on another mission and has to go through a lake, a river or swamp and there are more people… what if something attacks and he just reacts, what if him getting scared just sets a chain reaction, what if if he gets excited and just… starts using lightning to chase something across the water… would he hurt the ones next to him? Kill them, even?

What if he's just having a good time at the beach or the local swimming pool or a hot spring? Would something happen? He had all these questions on his head while holding water in his hand… and yet nothing happened.

Robert had a hard time getting over a lot of things, mainly his mistakes his family was one of them… and even though he had accepted that there were chances he'll never see them again, he still missed them, wished he could have done many things better. He felt the same with what happened at the sewers, if he had been better… maybe he couldn't have been useless in the water, maybe he could have done more than put people out of their misery… if he was better maybe he could also have fought better against Aaron, maybe he could lasted longer… maybe he could have helped at the train… so many things he could have done better, and yet he didn't feel like was doing much better now. His training with Glynda had become more serious, and even though he was putting far more of a fight… he didn't know if that was enough, would it be enough to face Aaron or Cinder? Would he be able to do something? To help in anyway? Or would he just get over his head and do something stupid trying to help? Or maybe would he be stuck thinking to much and end up doing nothing as the people close to him fought and died.

He didn't feel ready, he also didn't feel he was doing enough to change that, the only thing that was worth mentioning was his training, and the scans that Ironwood and Ozpin were doing. After the train incident both of them had become interested on how he had resisted the Monarch, he told them everything, and after that they started doing regular scans of his brain to see if something was different about him being an alien and such.

But that was it, just training, waiting and fear… Robert really didn't feel he was doing enough, he felt that he was supposed to be doing something, a mission, anything… and at the same time, he was afraid to go in one and of something similar to happening again. To have to see allies die, to have to put them out of their misery… of him fucking up in some way. He did his best to push the thoughts out his head however, with the help of cereal bars and yogurt. He just had to keep going, he'll figure something out, everything has way of showing a way, there were always opportunities, he just needed to find one. For his sake, for Hector's… everyone's, because if they did nothing… then he will be living his nightmare, to die unable to do anything.

* * *

With a long exasperated yawn, Hector finished putting on the rest of his clothes. He was given leave from the infirmary today, and somehow even with all the sleep he has gotten throughout the time he has spent there he still felt like sleeping for another few weeks or so. Maybe he'd wake up back on earth if he was lucky, it was worth a shot. Maybe this was all a dream and this was all some prank on him.

Sadly, that wasn't the case. This world was still very much real in his eyes, and his clothes certainly felt real. A new shirt made of heat resistant material Ruby totally did _not_ steal for him, and the same thing happened with his pants. It just so happens that it was also made out of the same stuff. Wearing his green padded pants with his black Team HAMR shirt felt eliviating. Like he was almost fully recovered. Even though he would never truly be completely recovered after what happened, his bones still being likely to break under any kind of force from a Kaioken activation.

Finally, he rolled his shoulders and stretched his still sore body upwards. He was able to walk on his own again, it took a few days, but the muscles in his legs recovered enough so that he didn't need a cane or crutches to help him walk. He did get something new along with his clothes however, a welcome change. His shirt now had elbow guards attached to it. It was a little awkward trying to fit his arms through, but once he settled into it they hardly felt like they were there at all. Combined with his weapons, they might just be connected to each other or leave very little space between his forearm and elbow. Considering how he relies on close quarters combat to deal his damage, that was another welcome change to help him better defend himself with his arms.

His team wasn't allowed to come pick him up themselves, and they were mad at that at first, but eventually they were convinced that being checked on every few minutes would only stress Hector out, and stress was not something that he needed. But the secret underlying reason for it was because of the not so hidden animosity he had for Ashley. He hid it the best he could for everyone's sake, but there was only so much he could force himself to do before the subtle signs and verbal quips began to get examined. However, Michael and the rest of his teammates were going to welcome him back gladly once he returned to the dorm room, that much was for certain. Even if he wasn't planning anything, Reggie could be trusted to surprise him with something.

But if he thought that he was going to travel alone, he was sorely mistaken.

The moment he opened his door, a familiar color of ginger hair was all he could see for a few moments before he made his eyes roll down to look at the ever so happy to be there android looking up at him.

"I haven't seen you in a while." Hector said with lit up eyes as he recognized Penny immediately.

"Best friend Hector!" Penny exclaimed, squeezing him in a hug so tight he could feel his bruised ribs clench around his bruised lungs. Only after coughing a dozen times in as many seconds divided by twelve did she think to let him go. "I was worried about you! Ever since I heard about you stopping a train with your bare hands I did the calculations in my brain mathematical correction parameter subroutine, I estimated a shocking zero percent chance of survival!"

"Well…" He had no idea what she just said, but he heard that last part pretty well. "It looks like I've beaten the odds my favorite little android."

"I have also missed your compliments!" Penny said with a wider smile which grew to ear to ear proportions when he chuckled and patted her head. He didn't recall complimenting her _that_ much, but her presence was more than welcome at the moment.

"I've missed you too Penny." Hector replied as he stepped past her, and didn't even flinch when the android followed right along beside him, practically touching shoulders with him. "Is the general okay with you coming to see me by yourself?"

"More than okay, in fact." Penny said with pride. "Friend Urra specifically ordered me to personally make sure that you are never alone, so in times like this when you are alone, I will be standing by!"

"Uh… does that mean you're going to follow me?" Hector asked, worried for his privacy.

"If the situation calls for it, yes." Penny nodded, her smile never leaving her face.

"What about Rob? Aren't you and him supposed to be partnered up or something like that?"

"Friend Urra is currently attending a meeting in relation to a personal health matter. So in the meanwhile, he does not require my presence. In fact he told I should meet you and make sure you are functioning as best as possible." And the order she received means that he was her top priority, she didn't say. Whatever, he could live with it. Penny was a funny girl and a good friend. If she wanted to hang around him to make herself a little more comfortable then that was perfectly okay with him.

With an accepting sigh, Hector spread out his arms and stretched again as raw sunlight beamed down on his face. After being inside for so long, the feeling of the sun felt better than he ever thought it could possibly feel, and he relished in it. After about a minute, he dropped his arms and continued walking. There were plenty of eyes on him the moment he stepped out, but they were not for the wrong reasons, and Hector could easily figure out why his fellow students were looking at him like that. He got kidnapped a month ago, spent weeks getting tortured and living in the wasteland that was the city of Mountain Glenn, and killed an uncountable amount of White Fang members. Then after all of that, while already exhausted, he stopped a train with his bare hands. He had help, but the fact that he was able to slow it down in the first place must have been quite the rumour to spread.

Though while some of the looks were of relief, more were of shock and of a little fear as well. He's killed people, a lot of people. That in itself was a turn off for most people around him. Not to mention the scars clearly visible on his arms. He understood why he was getting looks like that too, it wasn't hard to figure out, most fully trained Huntsman wouldn't have been able to survive what he survived. But then again, most Huntsman didn't have a mirror demon image of themselves who was stronger, faster and sometimes smarter in every category than they were to help them out in dire situations, and boy did Hell help out more than a few tons when it came to stopping that train.

"Do not worry best friend Hector," Penny said, bringing his attention back to her. "The shock is raw now, but in a few days, or maybe a week or two, the looks you receive will decrease by eight times."

Hector snickered at a thought. "Is that another thing you calculated?" He asked.

"Yes." Penny answered, and looked damn proud for it.

Hector sighed again, but kept a smile on his face as he bumped his elbow against Penny's gently. To show a sign of thanks. He didn't know if Penny could understand his body language, and that was evident by how she laced her arm through his when it stayed there a little too long. But that was probably the best acknowledgement he was going to get from the android, even if some people are going to get the wrong idea and think they were dating because of the intimate gesture. Someone was going to have to give Penny _the talk_ one day, and he damn well knew that he was going to make Rob do it if it came down to it.

Many minutes of walking arm in arm together later, Hector made it to his dorm building. He looked up at the structure with a studying gaze, he felt like he hasn't been there in such a long time, and to some extent he really wasn't. He let Penny pull him along, she knew where his room was after all. Two flights of stairs climbed later, and they were on his floor.

The door to his room was still brand new, because it has been replaced yet again. Yet instead of Reggie carving the team name into the wooden door again this one was metal, and had a plaque on it which displayed the name; Team HAMR on the front of the door. Reggie must have been ecstatic about that when he saw it, he just had to be. It wouldn't make sense for him not to be pumped full of adrenaline at the mere sight of that plaque.

"I am glad that you are okay Best friend Hector." Penny said as she let go of his arm, and bowed her head toward him. "You have great friends as well, things will get better."

Hector looked at her with soft eyes, did she mean to say it like that? If so, whatever happened to her while he was gone she certainly found a way to words. Because as a matter of fact he _was_ worried about reconnecting with his friends. Obviously, he knew that they were going to welcome him back with open arms, and not even hold anything he did against him like some people might have. That was just how they were, Ruby, Yang, Jaune, Blake, Pyrrha, none of them would hold it against him. He was just worried that they expected him to act the same way he usually did before. Because he wasn't.

Still though, he nodded to Penny and hugged her back before she went off again. Leaving him alone in front of his dorm room where his teammates were most certainly waiting for him. He stood in front of the door nervously, cracking his knuckles and procrastinating on even touching the door knob for a few minutes. Thinking about what he was going to say, and what they expected from him. Eventually, he swallowed his irrational fear down, and opened the door quickly. Taking in the sight of Reggie arm wrestling with Nora in the middle of the room with Michael and Ren betting money on who was going to win behind each of their partners.

It took about two seconds for them to notice that he was there, and another one for Nora to beat Reggie in his moment of distraction while Michael cursed at his loss and Ashley sat up on her bed at the sight of him.

"I was gone for just a few weeks, and this is what I come home too." Hector said with the best straight face he could barely hold on his face.

"Well you seem to be a bad luck charm then," Michael said as he forked over money to Ren, and stepped up to his leader. "'Cause now I'm down a hundred Lien." He showed that he meant nothing by it by smiling at him, and when Hector snickered the two of them embraced each other. They held each other and Hector patted him on the back a few times before letting him go. When they were done Hector shared a nod with Ren, and then high fived Nora for her victory against the metal man. How she was stronger than a guy who could transform his body into solid metal was beyond him, but he was smarter than to question it.

"Welcome back Boss!" Reggie said after he rolled his wrist a few times to rid it of the soreness he felt. The next second that passed, and Reggie was embracing his leader. "Ahhh, make me do something like that again and I'll throw you in front of another train and you can stop it by yourself." He said as he pulled away and patted Hector on the shoulder.

"I don't plan on doing anything rash for a long while, trust me." Hector laughed. "The next time you _might_ want to keep an eye on me for though would be the Vytal Festival tournament."

"Which we're _totally_ going to win, right?"

"Hah! More like _we're_ going to win, right Renny?" Nora asked the pink eyed boy.

"I would rather not be roped into this competition." Ren said as he exited the room, bringing Nora with him. "I shall leave you all to reunite together properly, I am sorry I let Nora convince me to make bets on her."

Despite Nora's exclamation that she just won him some money which went completely ignored. Hector said that it was okay and that they would see each other tomorrow for class. Thankfully this was a sunday, so there was no more for him to attend for the rest of the day, which was quickly becoming night time by the looks of the outdoors.

"We're totally going to win it." Hector said once he knew that they were gone, he wasn't about to risk Nora overhearing his last words and break down their brand new door to demand that he take it back.

"That's what I like to hear!" Reggie exclaimed as he rolled his shoulder with a grimace. "Damn, guess I'm not fully recovered after all. Usually I can beat her in an arm wrestle."

"Well…" Hector hesitated on his next words, flashes of memories of that day coming back to him as he thought about the train. "At least we all came out okay in the end."

"Not all of us..." He heard Ashley mutter from her bed. When he glanced over to her, he noticed that his couch that he sleeps on was all cleaned up and prepared for him to sleep in. Another glance to Michael told him that it should be obvious who did it for him.

The room quickly became quite as Ashley sensed him looking at her and locked eyes with him. Hers was sad, and she was clutching a book shut in her hands as she looked at him, and his must have been hard, because she looked away after a few moments, surrendering to him the victory. Something she would have never done in any other situation.

"You know, you two are going to have to make up some day." Reggie didn't bother to keep his voice silent. "You don't have to get all kissy kissy with each other again, but you two are partners, and I'd rather not have this night be ruined because of a grudge — he rightfully has against you — that could end up tearing the whole team apart."

"Agreed." Michel said, ever the one with few words to share on anything.

With a soft sigh, Hector looked away from his partner. She was still here, and she just gave up everything she had in the White Fang to come help save him. So it wasn't like he could hold it against her. But he couldn't help but still _despise_ her for everything that happened before. All the lying, the tiptoeing around, how long was she at it? Were her feelings for him real? Did he fall for someone who was faking their personality? He didn't know, and honestly he didn't feel like broaching the topic at the moment.

"You're right, but not today." Hector said as he walked over to his couch, and fell into it. He already took a shower before returning here, so he could fall asleep now and not regret it in the coming hours. "Give me time, and I'll come around." He said as he draped his forearm over his eyes.

"Well…" Reggie hesitated to say anything during the moments of awkward silence that followed his final words. "Did you hear that Michael challenged Urra to a fight in class tomorrow?"

Hector nearly fell off his cough in his impending shock.

"Yeah, everyone's excited for it. After Mike fought Pyrrha during one of our classes and managed to draw with her, there's been bets going on throughout the whole school." Reggie laughed.

Michael sighed. "That wasn't _supposed_ to become common knowledge, but whatever."

"I'm gone for a _few weeks_." Hector repeated himself in the midst of his laughter. "And you suddenly become an extrovert. I must be a shitty leader."

"You are, but you are _our_ leader." Michael agreed. "At least you try."

"You know what? I'll get in on that bet." Hector smiled when all three of his teammates leaned in to hear him. "You win, and I'll dye a part of my hair red. If Rob wins, I'll dye a part of my hair blue. I was thinking about dyeing it anyway."

Michael shuddered at the mere thought of that. His leader walking around with a streak of blue hair… _Ugh_ , the clash of colors would be too intense for his eyes to handle. "Better be prepared to buy that red dye then, cause your alien friend is about to lose his dignity."

Even if it started off a little awkward, Hector was happy to be back with his team again. No matter what, they always found a way to make him smile.

* * *

"So, who is this 'Merlot' guy, again?" Robert asked. He was called into a meeting soon after classes ended that day. The only details that he was allowed over the call being that there has been something strange going on with the Grimm in a part of the Emerald Forest, and that those Grimm were filmed rummaging around the security network control centers that they don't usually even touch normally. Apparently, the person responsible behind this commodity was an exiled Atlesian scientist who came over from his home kingdom to assist in the construction of the city of Mountain Glenn before it's fall and with his designs and inventions. Which explains why General Ironwood and the specialist Winter Schnee was there as well. The call was sudden and unexpected, but the headmaster was the one to call him himself, so he could tell right away that it was urgent.

"He used to be one of my top scientists many years ago." Ironwood quickly explained. "After he was found out to be conducting illegal experiments with the Grimm and humans alike, he was excommunicated. This just so happened to be just before the fall of Mountain Glenn."

"And now we fear that he did not fall when the city fell like we hoped." Ozpin added. "As I told you over the scroll, some of our security nodes meant to keep an eye on the Grimm in the Emerald Forest have been going dark. We've sent a scout to check the machinery to see what was the problem with them, and had troubling news to process."

"Firstly, the guy didn't even come back." Qrow interjected, sitting with his legs up on one of the vacant chairs to his side. "He just forwarded to us what he saw, and then he went dark. Can't imagine what happened to him." He drawled, he sounded sarcastic. But it was obvious he was angry about it.

"Quite, and he was a trusted ally of ours. Trained to fight and slay Grimm, and we yet fear that he was killed in action." Ozpin hung his head slightly, and shook it. "May his soul rest."

Robert sighed and looked out the window to his side, nothing was ever easy. "And just when got your message I thought it was just going to be another brain scan, okay… so what's the plan, and why was I called exactly? I'm actually curious as to why you let me in on all this information as well." He really didn't know when Ozpin made him part of his circle of allies.

Ozpin met his eyes, and somehow Robert already knew the words that were going to come out of his mouth before it even began to be spoken. "We have hopes that your… _foreknowledge_ could be of some use to us in this situation. Everyone in this room knows about your and Mister Rivers origins, so there is no need to keep anything to yourself."

Robert scratched his chin in thought on how to say the following. He didn't know much about Merlot, just the basics and what happened in Grimm Eclipse, and yet it wasn't his best knowledge.

"Regarding Merlot, I know of him." He admitted. "Not much, I didn't know he was one Ironwood's scientists at one point, but I do know what he's… trying. He has become obsessed with finding the true nature of the Grimm, he wants to find a purpose for them. A way to control them, to make them his and make 'peace'." Robert said.

"I see…" Ozpin nodded his head as he thought. "Even if you believe that wasn't a lot to share, that has helped us with this endeavor immensely. Have you any thoughts about what your _cousin_ may know?" His smug smirk told him that he damn well knew that it wasn't true, but his joke still managed to get a snicker out of Qrow."

"First, Hector and I don't have the same kind of knowledge and we both remember certain details differently, so I don't know. And secondly, it wasn't everything… because Merlot, well he at least succeeds on mutating the Grimm."

Ozpin frowned at the news, but nodded his head nonetheless. He wasn't expecting any good news to come out of this. "I thank you. Now, with the Vytal festival in less than a month away, this is a matter I fear will become much more of a problem if he has plans for anything that could involve unleashing such Grimm into the city. The monarch that you slayed was underneath our very grounds, grounds who knows how many years old, the cult navigated like nothing, who knows what else could be hiding in those sewers?" Robert didn't want to think about that, not after the nightmare he just had and certainly not with the memories he still had about that hellish mission that caused the deaths of many good men and women. "Which is why there is going to be another mission to be handed out, a mission that you will be a part of, along with a team of students to go with you."

"... Even though I would like the chance to do something, why me?"

"Trust me kid, I'd like to go instead. But the White Fang have been acting up again, so I am going to have to make sure that they don't do anything silly." Qrow started to explain. "Ice Queen here is from Atlas, and can't meddle with any Valean matters without permission from the council, and believe me, their decision would be made by the next Vytal Festival, same thing with Jimmy." Winter and Ironwood glared at him, but both nodded their heads in confirmation.

"Glynda is also going to be unavailable because of the festival, as will I and many of the other of the professors of this school. As of right now, you are the only one sitting at this table who _can_ go on this mission. If we found out what was happening before the missions, or even during. We would have handled this ourselves. But alas, not all bad things happen at the best of times."

"..." Robert didn't know what to say, so he said the first thing that came to mind. "Merlot's operation is taken by a group of students, a group can do it alone, I would like to go but… I'm still interested in finding more about Hayes."

"A single group is able to just destroy the whole operation? Merlot included?" Ozpin asked, and Robert clenched his teeth, he dug his own grave there.

"They… ugh, they destroy his base, but Merlot's fate is… unknown." Robert said.

" I see, that means then that if we want to be certain, it would be wise for you to also go." Ozpin said, completely ignoring his yearning to learn more about the man from the train.

Robert remained quiet for a few seconds, staring at Ozpin, and then he spoke. "So… I'm being sent, as an assassin basically."

"If you wish to see it that way, so it shall be. But you are not the only one going on this mission." When Robert looked at him, demanding answers with his glare. Ozpin was quick to explain. "Team HAMR will be accompanying you on this mission."

"Ozpin." Was all Robert could say, maintaining his glare. "Why, why them? They… forgive me, but that doesn't seem like such a smart idea."

"Why, Mister Rivers has been making a remarkably fast recovery. Even if he is restricted to not use his powerful semblance, his teammates are skilled, and they all have a vast experience fighting against Grimm and human opponents. Much more than even some of the fourth year students of this term. I considered sending Team RWBY, or even JNPR, but they simply don't have as much experience… and I fear that if it came down to it, they would not be able to take a life if it was needed."

"Taking a life isn't supposed to be their job yet. If necessary, I can take that role and make that call, but there are options, we both know that, and yes Hector made a quick recovery, but we still have to know if he can use his Semblance without it killing him. And his team… they have an issue to work trough."

"We know, which is why we have given them a weeks notice. They have already been told of this mission, and although reluctantly, the leader accepted to take it." Robert wanted to curse at him for that, but bit his tongue to keep himself quiet, it was too late. "During this week, they are going to be prepared for it. I myself will see to Mister Rivers training myself a day of this week whenever I have the time. To see if I can help with his semblance issue. Today is Monday, when it is Monday again, you will all depart to the Emerald Forest to begin your investigating." He went on, ignoring the obvious dismay that was within his facial expression. They were going to begin in the Emerald Forest, find out what happened to the security nodes and try to see if they can find the scout that went missing, and then go _back_ to Mountain Glenn to search an abandoned research facility. The going back to Mountain Glenn part of this mission was what worried him most. Hector still hasn't told _anyone_ specifically what happened to him there, and it was evident that he had some PTSD because of it. He didn't know what could go wrong, and it scared him more than he cared to admit.

"I will send a copy of this briefing to every one of you." Ozpin finished as he slid over a folder full of papers his way. "And this should go without saying, but do please keep this to yourselves if you can. I wouldn't want this to become public knowledge lest our enemies find out that we are onto them and act accordingly."

"Hmm, if we spread the word a bit maybe we could get other volunteers as well." Robert suggested, very openly, still he took the briefings.

"No, as you said. This operation was taken down by a group of four girls. Huntresses in training. I am sure an experienced team with an experienced fighter can handle this." Ozpin said all this with a knowing smirk on his face. "But, in the case of an emergency, there will be an emergency flare on your holding just in case the worst occurs

"... I never said four girls."

"You didn't need to." Ozpin said, his smirk never leaving his face. Right… this was the same man who originally sent Team RWBY there in the first place.

"Well... if you are going to insist I hope you can possibly pay for injuries, trauma and maybe some meds because I told you before, what we and Hector know has changed, things changed, and things can go differently… I hope you mattered that into the equation." Robert said.

"That happens to be exactly what I am counting on, Mister Urra." Ozpin said as he slowly made to stand up, the rest of the others standing up with him. "In three days, I'll call you all here to speak of possible plans and strategies to use. Use this time wisely, train them, interact with them. You are not the only one who is more than a little curious as to what has changed within Mister Rivers."

"Does time and place mean anything to you? Also, haven't you realized that I'm not the best at socializing, the best friendly moments I have since I came here was eating cockroaches in a sewer with people that knew that there was a high chance they were going to die… it took that much gore and stupidity for me to make friends past the point of acquaintances." Robert said, this time more energetically and overall anxious.

"Friendships that can last a lifetime can be made at the strangest of times." Ozpin said in a sullen voice as he eyed Qrow, who shrugged at him in response. "And I believe you shall find it easier that you think, Mister Rivers and you already seem to be somewhat close at the very least. And you seem to have grown a bit of a rivalry with a certain Kusarigama wielding teammate of his." He said with an amused smirk. "Believe me when I say this, Robert," It was one of the first times he has ever called him by his first name, and that caught his attention. "I know friendships can be hard to attain, and even more difficult to maintain. But nothing will be possible if you don't at least try. Why, Qrow here was even worse than you back when he was my student."

"Y'know, I may be old, but I'll still kick your ass." The drunken Huntsman replied as he gave him the middle finger.

"Give it time," Ozpin said lastly as he collected his things, and made to leave. "You'd be surprised by what can be possible with just a little effort put into it."

"Yeah, effort and overall ridiculous situations at this point." Robert muttered to himself as the rest of the adults made their leave. All except one person.

Qrow stood there drinking from his flask, and when he was finished he beat on his chest lightly and burped wildly. Robert looked up at him, and didn't know what to say. He was never alone with the man before.

"Yeah, you got that look on ya." Qrow said as he cracked his neck.

"What kind of look?"

"The look that says you need a drink."

"It's only going to get crazier right?" Robert asked.

"If I know Oz, then you're probably going to have to get one of these things." Qrow said as he waved his flask in front of his face before sticking it back in his shirt pocket. "Especially if you're going to be working with us long term. C'mon, I'll even let you pay for the first round."

"... Let's say, do you mind if invite another set of people that might also need a drink? At the very least then we could have a good night. I can still pay." Robert said, this time with a smirk.

"Heh, sure. More the merrier." Qrow said as he kicked the door open, not even acknowledging the splintered wood that flew all over the place. "Sick of drinking on my own…" He grumbled as he walked out, that was his cue to follow the older man, because he had a feeling that he wasn't going to wait up for him.

* * *

 **Whelp, that was that. Some plans for the future of this story, some literally written out for you guys to see. Some foreshadowing, and the reveal of what the next arc is going to be before the Vytal Festival. Yes, Grimm Eclipse is going to be a thing for this story I had to watch a whole walkthrough of it to understand the plot and everything, and then it took a while to plan the damn thing out. Oh well. - Genatools**

 **Yeh, it just happened so… eh well, content right? -CrowSkull**

 **We got this! Also, as a reminder to you guys, after this chapter is posted, which it is now, I am going to be focusing on finishing Unlikely Hero, which is close to completion. So expect that there isn't going to be an update for this story for a few weeks. Maybe two, I don't know. However long it takes for me to finish that story, come off of my break, and then start writing again.**

 **Please review and let us know what you think of the story.**

 **If you want to keep up with the progress of this story and every chapter that I write, you can follow me on my twitter!**

 **T wi tter . com (slash) genatools**

 **P a treon . com (slash) Genatools**


	37. A Tale of Two Heroes chapter 37

**And now this story has returned. Hah, man, it has been a while I apologize for that. Taking care of the rest of Unlikely Hero and taking that break really pushed back the progress of this story. But hey, now that Unlikely Hero is over, planning for this story can go a lot more smoothly. Just like all of my other ones. Thank you all for your support, and welcome all who have transferred over from An Unlikely Hero over to this story. Now all we gotta do is write a crossover and everyone will be happy.**

 **Also, thank you all who reviewed and I did not mention yet. I am sorry I did not respond in this chapter, but next time I will, I promise. The only excuse I have right now is that I am tired.**

* * *

 **Beta & Cowriter: CrowSkull**

 **Now let's get this story back on the roll!**

* * *

A Tale of Two Heroes

Chapter 37- Memories

Darkness.

That was all that Hector saw. He was left standing in a void of black, and it felt cold. There weren't many things he was afraid of, but pure darkness where one couldn't see what could be around them was a certain fear of his that he has had since childhood, and has stuck with him begrudgingly his whole life. At first he was scared, despite knowing that this was just some kind of bad dream. But he didn't know just how bad it could and would get.

Blinking his eyes, he suddenly found his arms and legs were bound to an uncomfortable metal chair. Bound by chains, the panic began to settle in the instant he remembered that horrific scenario he found himself in just a few weeks earlier. He pulled and grunted, whined and cried as he tried to free himself from his bindings all to no avail. Then, the door keeping him locked in there opened slowly, the heavy metal grinding against the floor of the inside of the train car as it was pulled open. He saw the sparks stop flying and a figure standing in the doorway, a head of pink and brown with eyes to match the color smirking at him maniacally as she skipped her way toward him. A thin almost surgical looking blade in her hand in which she was not even attempting to hide from view.

Neo, he recognized her immediately. How could he not? He used to find her adorable once, but that adorableness was but a shield for someone like her. A shield to ward off suspicion for those who might think of her as a potential threat, and rightfully so. He was foolish enough to fall for it. Neo wasn't the adorable young woman he thought she was, she was a sadistic killing machine who enjoyed causing pain to other people at Roman Torchwick beck and call. She was also the source of nearly all of his nightmares. The one who caused him so much pain and suffering, more than he had ever felt before in his life.

He tried to scream out, but no sound was able to escape from his mouth, he was gagged this time around. Somehow, that made this whole nightmare worse. Neo danced up to him and lightly traced her blade along his skin as she skipped a circle around him, giggling silently all the while. Mental torture more than anything, and even though Roman told Neo specifically not to torture him physically, she went and did it in the dead of night anyway. Purely for her own enjoyment.

The pain he felt when Neo pushed down on the thin surgical like blade was the same as he felt back when he was actually on that train, and he felt it too. He couldn't understand any of this, why was he being tortured like this? Why, why, why, that question was screamed and thought so many times he couldn't even count them all even if he spent an entire day counting. Being cut, watching as the more shallow wounds healed themselves up while the deeper ones festered and bled. Neo was ever careful in making sure that she didn't cut too deep in some places. But she knew the anatomy of the human body well enough to know where she could have her fun and not have Roman yelling at her for going against his orders and killing him by accident. Which also just made everything worse.

He felt the tears fall down his face as she carved the letter 'N' into his hip, he could never forget that pain, and he was reliving it now. She made sure to do it slowly, and cut wide and deep as to really make the scar show, just like the many others that he had on his body. The implication was clear, he was to be her toy to play with whenever she wanted. Once he thought she had some strange attraction to him, and he was loathe to find out that he was right. She did have a strange attraction to him, but not for the reasons that he originally thought. Neo noticed his healing when they first fought, something he hadn't even noticed at the time. And now that healing was what was keeping him alive here, only to suffer.

He felt anger, hatred, murderous intent. A dark power flowing through his veins. His muscles bulging and growing to uncomfortable sizes, his mind tear itself apart as a dark voice in his head continued to whisper "Kill them all, escape." Over and over again. In the darkness when he opened his eyes, he could see how the red light glowing from them bounced off of the metal walls in the train car. Neo took on an expression of shock, and broke away into glass as he suddenly gained enough strength to rip off the chains that was binding him to that damned chair. He saw the door before him sliding to a close slowly, a White Fang member barely older than he was scrambling to close it with all his might, but just as he did before he charged forward and crushed the young man against the wall between the door, and felt his blood splatter over the right side of his body.

It played out all the same from there, all he wanted to do was kill, kill, kill. Tear apart the people that tortured him so, make those that made him suffer, suffer even more in turn. He fought with tooth and nail, literally at times. He would bite the necks of those who were foolish enough to think they could stop him, and ripped their jugular open. Spurting blood everywhere.

Then, there was nothing. He stood in the void again, but this time he was able to see. It was a strange greyish color, with all sorts of mirrors facing toward him. He could see the monster he's become. Silver-grey hair, with the skin tone to match it. Red evil looking eyes, and where the whites of his eyes should be was a dark grey on the border of becoming black. Through the splattered blood all over his body, he could see some violet fluid running through them, all the way to his shoulders, and inching its way to his face.

He could see the resemblance he had to Hell, the one he proclaimed a demon living within his body. Or perhaps he was just insane enough to mistake him for himself?

He hyperventilated, his head felt light, and his heart hurt as it beat within his chest. He wanted to pass out, but couldn't. He was already asleep. All he could do was stand in that void for what felt like hours, being cursed to live with his thoughts and painful memories. This place was familiar to him, it was where he went sometimes when he dreamed. All the time in nightmares.

There was just nothing here, not another living soul. He was completely alone.

Except for one other, at least.

" _ **How does it feel?**_ " The deep voice asked him.

Hector didn't respond, he didn't want to and he didn't know if he really could without breaking down again. All he could do was fall down to his knees and hold his head with his hands, he felt like he was about to explode.

" _ **All the dark power flowing through you, it's intoxicating, isn't it? Addicting even."**_

Forcing himself to look up at the being keeping him here, he saw the mirror image of himself, but something was strange about this one. He looked a few years older than him, despite being the same person as he. It was definitely a near identical image, but with white skin, hair of the same color, and red and black eyes. He had a black jacket on, and his lower half was so dark he couldn't even make it out.

" _ **I would know, I fell victim to its influence as well."**_ The figure revealed to him.

A flash of memories that weren't his rushed through his mind. Flashes of fighting, killing, death, a snowy grave, something being stolen from him. Powerlessness. Hector screamed and kept on screaming as he felt the pain that came along with it.

"AAAAAAAHHHH!" Hector screamed, thrashing about in his couch as pairs of hands struggled to hold him down.

"Hector? It's us man, you hear me?!" Reggie asked him, holding his shoulders in place while Michael took hold of his legs, throwing his entire body on top of them to keep him still.

"I… I… what?" He groggily replied. Looking down, he could see his hands being held by Ashley, she looked tired and red eyed, apparently from tears. She was tired as well, her chest rising and lowering as beads of sweat ran trickled down her face. Looking around frantically, he could see that his part of the room was absolutely trashed. His sleeping couch was torn up, Ashley's bed was flipped, papers, bags, and books were scattered about the immediate area like a localized hurricane flowed through their room while they were sleeping.

It was his team, he quickly realized. Reggie was holding his shoulders, and he felt him relax once he opened his eyes, and shut them immediately when he saw the red light reflecting off of his friends eyes. Michael was holding his legs, which must have taken much of his strength since he looked tired and spent as well. His blonde hair was let down for the first time he's ever seen, and his glasses were somewhere lost in the room. Ashley was holding his hands, and only now did he realize he was squeezing them so tightly, when he let her go her hands were left bruised and swollen slightly. They were all in their night clothing, and taking a second look around he noticed that it was still dark out. It must still be early in the morning.

"Are you okay?" Ashley asked him, ignoring the pain she felt in her nearly fractured hand.

"I…" Hector opened his eyes, and closed them again when he saw the red glow from his nose again. He kept them closed and sobbed as he leaned back into the cushion, Reggie let go of his shoulders, and waved to his other two teammates for them to let him go as well.

"Were you having a nightmare?" Michael asked through his deep breaths. He didn't sound annoyed, but sympathetic. A far cry from how he behaved when they first met.

Whining, Hector nodded once.

He felt something touch his hand, cracking his eye open he saw as his partner slowly and apprehensively slid her hand into his. He let it happen, he didn't squeeze her hand back when she squeezed his to show her support, but he allowed her to show her support.

"Hector… open your eyes." Reggie said softly, Michael and Ashley looked to him with disdain, and when Hector tensed him he quickly added, "It's not anything we didn't already see. You can trust us, we're all a team, a family." He soothed.

Relenting, Hector allowed his eyes to open again, and refrained from shutting them again once he saw the reflection of red light off of his friends orange eyes. He looked away from him and to Michael, who barely showed any reaction upon seeing their red glow, and then momentarily down to Ashley, who was still crying silently. He looked away when she brokenly slipped out a sob, and then back to Reggie.

"We're here for you… you don't have to talk about it, but we're here." Reggie told him. Surprisingly, he was being very gentle and soothing, despite his large size and strong arms. Hector relaxed into the cushion and felt like his body weighed a thousand pounds. He really did love his team, if it weren't for them he would have gone crazy already.

"Stay with me… please." He quietly begged them. His voice sounded so tired and sad that none of them even thought to refuse him. Reggie lifted his head and sat down, letting him rest his head on his lap which was surprisingly comfortable. Michael moved so that he was sitting up as well, Hector's legs draped over his own lap, and with no more room Ashley simply rested her face on his chest, listening to his heart beat while holding his hand.

When he fell back to sleep, he was happy to see that there was no more nightmares to haunt him for the rest of that night.

* * *

Mistakes had been made, Robert realized, several in fact, mistake number one was in fact inviting Venom Fang (now renamed Cobra Squad due to the death of it's previous leader), it made for fun times which meant more drinks. But ultimately lead to mistake number two: Cherry Vale Vodka, it was sweet, a delicacy liquor in Remnant apparently. Unlike from what he remembered about drinking alcoholic drinks, this Cherry Vodka didn't really have that alcohol burn or taste. It tasted quite sweet in fact, which lead to more than one shot… Probably more than he should have. But he couldn't help it, Qrow and all of his other pals were there.

It hadn't been even ten at night and most people were already tipsy, then what happened? Rounds for each of the fallen. Mistake number three and it had definitely been more than one round, this time with cocktails. From then on mistake number four appeared to have been a discussion… nothing major but it had been important in a way, together with Qrow, Miara and Seth they discussed how fair or offensive was to call a faunus you hate a filthy animal, not all faunus, but one in specific… why was it important? Well, that's because faunus tend to call each other names when they hate each other, and they didn't hold back, the amount of times they insulted themselves with their specific animal traits was astounding and at a surprising amount of variety… it was the dreaded 'N word' back on Earth all over again.

Verdant and Mackie joined halfway through and together everyone compared notes, since they were Cobra Squad they jokingly started calling each other snake names and insults… apparently there were really a lot of implications for calling someone a danger noodle or a nope rope. After that Robert really didn't remember mistakes number five through twenty seven, he just remembered that they crashed the party at three in the morning somewhere that _wasn't_ where they started. He was only thankful no one was driving. Then Seth went with Miara, Verdant and Mackie went in different directions while stumbling and Qrow… he didn't even know where Qrow went, he didn't come back with him, he came back alone. How he managed to reach the airship all on his own he didn't know, how there were airships available he didn't know either. He didn't even know how he got to his room and when or how he went to sleep… apparently shirtless and bootless, because changing to pajamas was too much of a bother apparently. And now… well now there were headaches, lots of headaches.

"Uuuugh..." Robert groaned into his pillow as he tried to muster out the strength to get up. It was early in the morning but he already should have been half dressed or have had breakfast. Of course he didn't really want to do anything, his eyes felt groggy and the headaches got worse each time time he moved his head… he needed to find the special cold substance sink, some water, an aspirin and some blue aura keg energy drink quickly. And so he got up, ignored the pain and got to the sink. After a submerged head, an aspirin, a quick shower and a quick energy drink he felt… half-way okay, at least he felt more presentable. He was (Thankfully) half dressed when he heard a loud bang on the door.

"Hey, don't knock so hard, it's painful…" He grumbled as loudly as he could, it came out mostly as slurs, but it was comprehensible. "Either way you can come in." Robert said rubbing his temples, he still didn't feel quite right. The door opened and in came his current mentor.

"So… I see that you are having troubles." Glynda Goodwitch said, stating the obvious as she eyed his sick form up and down. "The students will certainly talk."

"Is it that obvious? Do I look that bad?" Robert asked.

"Yes. You look slightly sickly, you haven't eaten anything and you are still not in combat gear, even though you are supposed to have a fight scheduled today." Glynda answered honestly and bluntly, just as she is known for.

"Hey look… I am, at least dressed and showered." He complained.

"You actually took a shower without issues?" She asked, still bluntly but there was a degree of worry there.

"Yeah… why wouldn't I?"

"Because someone in particular has been acting differently around water for the last few weeks. Especially dirty water." Glynda said, crossing her arms, Robert stared at her a bit more wide eyed.

"It's uh… that noticeable?" Robert asked.

"I am a professor in a school full of hormonal and super-powered teenagers. I have had practice with seeing these kinds of ticks. Your reactions to certain things have been enough of a clue, but mainly how your times to shower have slightly changed." Glynda pointed out.

"That doesn't-"

"And also the way you stare at any glass of water you are drinking, or anything with water. You have the face of someone expecting something to go wrong, but more importantly you have the exact same face I've seen on many Huntsman and professionals that suffered losses, and it only appears when water is present, forgive me but I sense a pattern."

"Ugh…" Robert sat back on his couch still holding his energy drink, yes he had an issue, he knew, but at the same time what was he supposed to do? Is not like he fully understood the problem either, he would feel a paranoia near water, and yet he just needed to remind himself that it was okay, that no one was in the water with him and he would forget about it… more or less, other than that, he didn't feel like he could rest, with everything going on, Hector not in the best of states, Aaron out there, and the Vytal festival getting near he couldn't afford to be having issues. There was too much work for that.

"It's not like I've developed a phobia, I don't know what to say really… it is just a… a…" Robert couldn't quite find the words.

"A constant worry?" Glynda helpfully provided.

"Pretty much, still doesn't change the fact that I can get past it after a few seconds."

"You can, but it's not overcoming it… you are just forgetting it and putting it aside for later." Glynda corrected.

"I uh…"

"You are just disregarding it, disregarding your own mental health… you are not letting things go." Glynda stated

"Huh… you figured me out eh?" Robert said.

"Again, I am a professor at Beacon. It doesn't help that you aren't talking much about it, but after our many discussions, our fights and how you've handled you missions, reports and assignments… I was able to put some of the pieces together. I'll be the first to say, you have changed, you are far more talkative now, and you also have been interacting with more people… even if it is just the teachers and Ironwood and Specialist Schnee. But you still have problems, problems you are not willing to talk about." Glynda said.

"How do I talk about my fear of hurting other people, when really all I need to do is focus and keep in mind that taking a shower is something I'm doing alone, how do I talk about an issue that I which I already know the answer for… I already know the answers I just need to keep testing and getting better, better at controlling my semblance and…" Robert started babbling

"Robert, I've read the report, and we both know why you did what you did, and we both know you were in control… you don't have a lack of control, in fact what your control has improved exponentially ever since your mission on the sewers… what you have is different, you are afraid of failure."

"..." Robert had no words to reply with.

"And even though you realize this, even though you can overcome part of it… you are still letting it influence you… but most of all, you are not forgiving yourself, you are not letting yourself go for your actions, actions that barely anyone your age should be dealing with. Even if you are old enough to be a fourth year student."

"... And yet here we are. With still more problems on the horizon, and I saw how… Unprepared I was for this, how real the threat is, the real one." Robert said with a sigh.

"I know." Glynda said with a sigh of her own. "And yet I'm also worrying far more about how are you coping."

"... For what it is worth, thanks." Robert said.

"You are welcome," Glynda nodded back. "But, I still would prefer if we could discuss this more often. You are resilient, you proved that much, and you certainly have made decisions that no many other students can make, faced worse than most… you have a defense mechanism that's keeping you afloat don't you?" Glynda asked, Robert thought for a second.

"I… I guess I do, I just… hate the alternative far more."

"The alternative?"

"You said that I was afraid to fail, of making big mistakes, the kind that involves my life and the ones of others… and that's true, but for me… there's also a bigger failure out there, and that would be to just give up, to drop dead. To just drop to cry and not being able to get up again. Suicide, giving up, to just stop trying to live… that would be the ultimate failure, and I don't dare to sink that low. At the very least, I must push forward into the future with some dignity. And face it." He explained

"I see… it explains a couple things." Glynda said. "Still I hope you can speak more about this, none of us is gonna survive alone, and it would be better for you if you weren't ruled by fear… I would rather see more of the other Robert."

"The other Robert?" He asked, raising an eyebrow in his confusion.

"The one I see that trains and discovers he can do something new, the one that reaches a new limit, the one I see that gets excited with fights, the one that can laugh…" Glynda said.

"... Don't tell me I look even gloomier than before."

"Not particularly," Gllynda smirked out of amusement. "I'm just saying there's a special side to you which seems to appear when you are having fun, and I know it's important for your semblance… I wasted a big part of my life hardening myself, in your case… I would prefer you didn't make my mistakes and that you grew remembering the good things of the world."

"... Who are you, and what have you done with Glynda?" Robert asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Heh, well… she had an apprentice... Now you better eat something and get in gear, you have to fight in a couple hours." Glynda said as she exited the room, closing the door behind her. Robert sat there perplexed for a bit… had he been acting like that? Well it was him, of course he did. Not the first time someone told him that he should laugh a bit more either… well she was right, he did have a fight soon… he still felt odd about the fight, but hey, first time he would fight anyone besides Glynda in recent days. This could be interesting.

"Well… roger that mam, I'll be there soon." Robert said as he got up from the couch… and felt pain in his head again. "Ughh… why did you say yes to the drinks?" Robert asked himself, hoping his hangover would be gone by the time of the fight.

* * *

"Why did I challenge him?" Michael whined tiredly as he pressed his head against the locker, squeezing his eyes tightly shut as he lethargically wrapped the chains around his arms. It was one of the first times the leader of his team has seen him without the jacket on.

"I was wondering where you kept all those chains…" Hector muttered absentmindedly. Michaels fight with Robert was to be today, and even though they had fewer classes that day, there were more people in the combat class arena than he has ever seen before. Wanting to support their teammate, Hector and Reggie went into the boys locker room meant for the students with him. "Also, why _did_ you even challenge him in the first place? He's pretty strong, and has a lot of training under his belt."

"Because I felt like it." Michael hissed defensively as the chains jingled around his body. "If someone didn't wake up in the middle of the night I might feel more comfortable about this."

Hector winced.

Michael instantly realized his mistake. "I didn't mean that." He sighed. "Sorry, I'm just in a pissy ."

"It's fine." Hector said easily. "But seriously, how do you manage walk around with those things wrapped around your body like that all the time? And _not_ make any sound?"

"Practice." Michael simply answered.

"He puts it up his-" A hand slapped against Reggie's mouth before he could finish that sentence. Michael looked at him with a fierce look of complete unamused hatred that the taller boy couldn't help but obey his silent demand of silence.

"No." Michael said, then turned back to his leader. "Also, to answer your question from before more properly, I mostly wanted to test myself against him. Among other reasons such as my distastement of him."

"And why is that?" Hector asked, curious. "I don't think you and Rob _ever_ really talked before… what happened."

"We didn't." Michael confirmed. "But that doesn't mean that I didn't notice the way he acts and behaves. I am surprised you haven't complained about it yet."

Hector shrugged. "Mostly because it didn't bother me, however he acts, he's still a friend of mine."

"Also from a different planet apparently." Michael pointed out. "That explains some things. Still haven't come to terms about that yet…"

Hector shrugged again. "Yeah, that pretty much makes us brothers at this point. Since we're the only ones from-" He cut himself off, remembering an earlier conversation with Ozpin. "Earth… I think."

Even Reggie was able to notice that, but neither of them sought to call their leader out on that. Hector promised to tell them everything he is able to find out and keep them in the loop, and they trusted in him enough to rely on that promise for him to open up. The most he has told him so far is that this 'Aaron' character also has a history with this Earth, as in relation to them, they do not know as of yet. It couldn't have been easy to find out, however, for either Hector or Robert.

"Well… have you got that dye yet?" Reggie asked suddenly, changing the subject.

Hector looked to him gratefully. "Nope, I don't want to spend any money until I know what I am getting myself into. I talked to Ruby about it, and she is all for team red, so you already got a fan Mike, in case you win, she is more than willing to help me out." He purposely let out the part where he wasn't completely sure that Ruby's hair color was naturally black, and that she has just taken to dyeing it at a young age. The shock that came along with that revelation was enough to confuse him to no end. Thankfully, he was able to recover in time before the young girl was able to notice.

"And if it happens to be blue that wins?" Michael asked, an amused smirk on his face. "I bet Ashley would be happy about that."

Unlike how he might have blushed and stammered and denied before, Hector simply shut his eyes and sighed. His relationship with Ashley was still rocky, and he didn't talk to her much unless he needed to, even after last night. He doesn't know what to make of his feelings, or her own for that matter. She obviously still held some affection for him, and to a certain degree he reciprocated, but a very small one. It wasn't the same, the string of events that happened was all started by Ashley revealing her betrayal to him. That fact was what kept him willing to keep her on the team for right now.

"Perhaps," He said in a sigh. "I'm sure Ruby would still help either way, but either way I am sure I am going to be made to buy clothes of either color for both possibilities."

"What if its a draw?" Reggie asked.

Question marks filled Hectors mind at that possibility, if it were a draw, no one wins but also no one loses. So if that was to be the case… "Purple?" He asked with a shrug.

"I'll just make an effort to not make it that color." Michael said, shuddering.

"He hates the color purple." Reggie whispered to Hector.

"Oh… why?" Hector couldn't help but ask.

"Beats me, but-"

"Okay, I think that's enough support from you two for now." Michael said as he swung a hand behind himself. "You can go now, or people are going to start spreading rumours about you being gay again."

Hector widened his eyes. "Again? What do you mean again!?"

"I'll explain that to you later, Boss." Reggie said in a snicker.

When the two of them left, Michael sighed and wrapped the rest of the chains around his arms. Then using his semblance, he created a small invisible barrier around them so it would pinch his skin, or jingle loudly when he moved. It was a little secret trick of his that amused him to keep, especially since not even Reggie knows of it, and now Hector was going to be wracking his mind thinking about it. The chains were heavy, but he has grown used to them over the years.

He received a flash of memories as he thought of his previous training. Back when his father was his main teacher, and his mother was still alive. They used to train with each other every day, and it was back when father didn't make his distastefulness for his… preference of men.

* * *

 _Years ago..._

* * *

Michael Cedric was fourteen again suddenly, training with both of his chained Kusarigama. His father used a similar weapon, but with axes on the end of the chains instead of curved blades, and his were shorter as well. He had less reach, but a whole lot more power behind his strikes. As they trained, the most important woman in both of their lives watched them with a fond smile on her face, a sickly dark haired woman with light brown eyes. Michael's mother, and his father's wife. Myst Cedric.

"You're doing great Mikey!" His mother called out to him, leaning bodily on the railing. She had an attendant watching her every move just in case she fell. The Cedric family on his father's side wasn't totally rich like the Schnees, but their name was well known for their combat prowess and abilities. However, they are best known as the rival family to the Nikos family for the past few generations. "You can do it."

Michael smiled and whipped his chains in such a way that it caught around his fathers axe. Tiberius narrowed his eyes as he tried to pull back that arm, only for it to be locked in place. Pulling hard, Michael threw his free arm and unleashed his second blade, but his father simply twisted his body out of the way and yanked _hard_ down on his sons chain.

"Woah!" Michael yelped as he was suddenly flung off his feet, but used his semblance to shield the front half of his body so he wouldn't end up smashing his face into the ground.

"You need to get stronger if you want to pull a trick like that against me." His father berated him as he pulled again on his own chain, pulling and dragging his son along the ground.

"Agh!" Michael cried out as he lost control of his shield, his face grinding on the hard unforgiving floor for several feet. His inexperienced mind couldn't direct his aura fast enough to his face, and some of the upper layers of his skin were cut by the abrasion of skin against pavement.

Noticing his sons wound, Tiberius sighed and let go of his chain. It wasn't his intention to pull _that_ hard. He looked down at his wounded son, and then walked toward his restrained weapon and untangled it from his sons chains, throwing the rest of them back at him.

Michael just managed to push himself back up to his hands and knees, and winced as he felt a stinging from the left half of his face. But before he could say anything a bundle of his own chains were thrown into his lap. "Tie them back around your arms, and we'll go again." His father demanded him.

"W-what?" The young boy asked, wondering if his father couldn't see the scratches and the blood leaking out of his face.

"I said I was going to make you a man," Tiberius snapped, speaking louder than before. "And I intend to follow up on that promise since your mother is too busy protecting you from what needs to be done."

"I-I…" Michael widened his eyes, he couldn't believe what his own father had just said to him, even though it was just said to him right at that moment.

"Tiberius!" Myst shouted as she staggered her way toward her son, panting heavily when she dropped to her knees beside him. "How could you say such a thing to your own son? And he's hurt!"

"...Tch." Tiberius crossed his arms after holstering his weapons, his purple half cape flapped along with his body as he turned to the side, staring daggers at the attendant who was still trying to catch up with the sickly woman. "Pain like that should be meaningless to him, it's nothing compared to some of the things I've seen."

"That doesn't matter," Myst snapped back as she took a small first aid kit out of her dress and took a gauze pad out of it, pouring drops of alcohol onto it. "He is your son, he is _our_ son. However he chooses to spend his life shouldn't matter-"

She was cut off as a barrage of coughing followed, she keeled over halfway and nearly fell face first into the ground. Michael, being right next to her sprung into action and caught her, she rested her head on her son's shoulder as she coughed more and more. It took Tiberius a few seconds to return from his shock, and rush to his wife's side, barking an order to an attendant to go grab her medications.

"I-I'm fine." Myst Cedric said with a blood smile, then wiped it all away with the back of her sleeve. "It's just the illness acting up again, as long as I take the medication, I'll be fine."

"Mom, it's been happening more recently." Michel pointed out, teary eyed himself. "You aren't getting better…"

"I'm taking you to the hospital." Tiberius said as he started to lift her. "I should have done this a long time ago."

"No!" Myst exclaimed, slapping his shoulder and pushing the larger man back with more strength than her frame illused to. "No, I won't be taken away from my son, I need to be here… Besides, the doctors said it themselves, both of you were there." She took Michael's hand, and then Tiberius', and forced them both to hold each others hand's. Once they were, she placed both of hers on top each of theirs, smiling sadly the whole time.

"Promise me you two, promise me that if the worst does happen, you will be alive to live together, love each other, to continue to be a family."

"Myst-"

"No!" Myst cut Tiberius off, coughing again as a result. "N-no, I want you to promise me that… Mikey," Michael allowed his mother to grab his chin, and point it up so that he was looking into her eyes. There were tears in them, just like his. "Whatever happens, please live your life to its fullest. I know you like fighting, but that's not all life is. Get a girlfriend, or a boyfriend, it doesn't matter to me. As long as you're happy." She smiled beautifully at him. "I love you son.

"I… Love you too." Michael sobbed, and leaned his face into her shoulder.

"And you too, Tiberius. Don't ever forget that." Myst said, pulling her husband into the same hug. "Promise me." She whispered into both of their ears as they hugged each other, as a family.

"We promise." Both Michael and Tiberius said at the same time.

* * *

 _We promise…_

Michael brushed a tear out of his eye at the memory, his mother died two weeks later after that day. He would never forget that day, nor the promise he and his father both made to her. Despite the hatred he has for his father, the promise he made to his mother was what was keeping him constantly staying in contact with Tiberius Cedric, his father. And his father did the same for him from time to time. They were stretching Myst's words as far as they could be stretched however. The two of them could barely consider the other family after everything that had transpired after her death.

However, that didn't deny the fact that they _were_ related by blood, and they had an obvious history with each other. A history to settle.

The promise they made to Myst Cedric may have been broken before, but it may yet still have a chance to grow into something more filling of the passing words she left them both to live with the rest of their lives.

 _Someday…_ Michael thought. _Someday…_ He wasn't able to continue that train of thought.

Instead, he finished getting the rest of his gear ready, and left the locker room with a determined look on his face.

* * *

"How are you feeling?" Glynda asked.

Robert himself just finished getting himself into his combat gear, he had his outfit, his gauntlets and now he was just passing time, he was also drinking lots of water to combat the hangover. "I'm doing better." He answered as he took another sip of water. "Just hoping and trying to not make an ass of myself."

"You are expecting something like that to happen?" Glynda asked.

"There's always a chance." Robert said, shrugging.

"Hm, and what about the fight? How do you feel?"

"Odd, first of all is weird to fight someone just because they don't like you… I don't know why that feels weirder than someone trying to kill you, but then again is promising when someone just hates you for how you are, makes you wonder." Robert explained as well as he could.

"Are you sure Mister Cedric _hates_ you?" Glynda asked, this time with a raised eyebrow. "I have had my fair share of students with certain opinions about my teaching strategies, and I can say with honesty that they never truly despise me as they so claim.

"Good points, but I still don't know. He dislikes me in some way, he said as such to straight to my face. I still don't know what I did besides appear cocky and well… maybe my joy in being the unrelenting nutcracker?" Robert said with a laugh.

Glynda sighed. "Have you considered changing that part of your career?" She asked.

"There is no such thing as "to stop being the nutcracker" sorry, but it brings me joy, I don't know why, but it does." Robert said, a bit more serious than he probably should. It was a guy thing, in the sense that sometimes some guys really deserved a good ol' nut cracking.

"Very well…" Glynda sighed. Not understanding. "Regardless of motives and goals, Mister Cedric is an avid fighter, do you think you can defeat him?" Glynda asked.

"I think I can," Robert answered honestly. He wasn't so arrogant as might have been before. "However I've seen that he's better than he lets on, and his semblance according to you is…"

"Annoying to fight against, that is if you let him summon his shields." Glynda said.

"Energy based semblance, good versatility, ranged weapons, definitely a good grappler, annoying to fight in the defense, particularly skilled in offense… sounds like the kind of opponent I I need to fight more often… and he's also someone ideal to try on the new tricks I have in mind." Robert said, finishing his quick analysis.

"Hmm… it would be interesting to see how you use those against a different opponent, and it would be good to see Mister Cedric doing more than his bare minimum." Glynda said.

"You are telling me to make him sweat, and to also make it look good."

"Just to do your best, make sure he's also doing his best, and to not make "stupid mistakes" as you would put it, you been battling me the last few weeks, and each time you have been getting my aura lower, don't disappoint me now, otherwise I'll make sure to whip you harder into condition." Glynda said.

"Duly noted." Robert said. Suppressing a shiver.

"And also do make it look good, maybe then the crowd that gathered will leave a bit satisfied."

"I still feel uncomfortable with how many people are watching… why?" Robert asked.

"Besides bets, I don't know, I may have seen these events before, but I'm a teacher, not a fortune teller." Glynda said.

"Well, either way it's still more reason to not make an ass of myself." Robert said adjusting his gauntlets again.

Glynda hummed as she made her way to leave, she stopped before exit however "Do relax, this match is not the end of the world. Think it more of chance to test yourself, and regardless of the outcome, whatever Mister Cedric thinks of you is his business, and keep in mind it most likely won't change even if you defeat him." She said.

"I know." Robert answered.

"Do experiment however, it's not everyday one gets the chance to fight someone like him." Glynda said as she left. Robert created sparks on his fingertips and then drank more water to settle his head. He still felt weird about this fight, he pondered whether Michael was right about him being a cocky arrogant asshole or not, he also wondered whether winning will either prove that point, or whether losing would prove he was an asshole that needed to be taken off a pedestal… so far he thought he only tried to be himself… was he annoying? Probably… did he deserve a punch or two? Definitely, but he likes to believe he got enough of those already. Well, like Glynda said, he could hardly try and change whatever people thought of him, he couldn't make everyone happy. It was simply impossible. It would be better to just try and do his best, and continue his experimenting.

"Oh… I do plan that, heh, he'll never see this coming." Robert said to himself.

* * *

Michael and Robert made their way down to the arena stage, getting cheers from many different people. Both receiving mostly mixed cheers. Michael was never a popular one, and while his surname was known by some for the implications that were made. The former was the same for Robert, he was never the most popular among the students of Beacon, for whatever reason it may be. There were too many to count and already more than one was more than he cared to list, even mentally.

However, both of them have been getting a surge in popularity recently. Michael for his actions in leading Team Hammer as the stand-in leader while Hector was missing, and for his sparring session against Pyrrha which ended in a draw, even while Pyrrha used her semblance on his chains. The match lasted so long and their auras were at the same level for most of the match, eventually Glynda just ended the match early because they were running out of time in the class itself. It was whispered that if Pyrrha didn't use her semblance, Michael might have beaten her. Robert because of his own actions in his mission, his previous mission in going to the sewers was left unknown to the general public, but his most recent mission gained him at least the respect of nearly all of the students. Going out into the Grimm infested city of Mountain Glenn to save a student — Or as the rumour implied, his _bae_ — earned him the more positive side of nearly everyone who didn't already give it already. There were still a few bad apples here and there, but nothing that he couldn't shrug off and forget about.

Robert did feel a tad bit nervous however, he has mostly recovered from his hangover already, and that wasn't the issue. The issue was that for the first time, he had people _cheering_ for him. Approximately half of Team RWBY were cheering for him, specifically Blake and Weiss, who waved blue flags for his support. While Ruby and Yang waved red flags of their own. Yang seemed to have recovered enough to use her arms, although she still had a cast on her left, her right seemed to be healthy and fully recovered finally. He didn't know why they had red flags since to him it seemed like Michaels preferred color would be green given his clothing and aura shade. Red seemed more like Hectors thing, but perhaps that was the point. The leader of Team HAMR didn't exactly hide the fact that he liked red.

Speaking of whom, when he looked back to face his opponent he followed his eyes to see Team HAMR all sitting in the stands as well. It brought relief to him to see Hector sitting with his team, and next to Ashley like he always did before. He didn't know what was going on with them at the moment, but personally he was still on team 'Red Ash'. A bland ship name probably, but it was the one they had. Hector seemed to have noticed him staring at him, and nodded back to him. Adding a smile to go along with it. He would support both of them in silence or with his voice, Reggie would obviously root for Michael, and he didn't know what Ashley thought of this, she was probably the same as Hector for this one.

Then, he felt eyes staring back at him. The same light brown eyes he stared into back in Mountain Glenn when he challenged him to a duel. It was a pretty ballsy claim for him to state in front of him that he thought he could take him, and he respected that to a front, he was like that was well when he was still in training. Although he had a bit of a different way of training being native to a world without aura or Grimm. While Michael mostly trained to battle both humans and Grimm, he trained purely against humans for most of his life. That would most likely give him the advantage in this bout.

Robert raised an eyebrow when not one, but two curved blades slipped out of his opponents sleeves, they dropped and hung in the air halfway to the ground. His Kusarigama if he remembered correctly.

"Using both against me?" Robert asked.

"Why should I hold back against someone like you?" Michael fired back. There were murmurs in the crowd as a result of him inadvertently revealing that he has been holding back the whole time in their combat class. In fact, this might have been the first time seeing him bring out both of his weapons for some.

"Just making sure." Robert noted out loud, today it was the first time he actually used Raios on a public spar at Beacon, most of the time he used other weapons as to keep his initial status of "guy of many weapons", besides teams RWBY and HAMR not many knew what his weapons and semblance actually were, today was special though, he activated both of his lightning blades and heard as there were a couple of gasps and some murmurs from the crowd, some of the students were surprised to see his particular choice of weapons. Noticing all of this, a small smile drew upon his face, he did plan to give a decent show after all.

A shimmer of green aura flowed over Michael's, his brown eyes were narrowed, and he slowly slid his feet into position for a stance befitting of his fighting style. Robert responded in kind, and also appreciated the lack of meaningless banter. Michael was similar to him in a way, neither of them enjoyed pre or during trash talk for a sparring match, and they were probably similar in other ways as well in terms of personality. It made him wonder how the two of them couldn't get along, despite his attempts of doing so.

"This special bout will have no time restrictions." Glynda announced, both Robert and Michael nearly started their fight right as she began to speak. Almost taking it as their cue to. "There are only two ways for this _sparring_ match to end," She made sure to put emphasis on the word 'sparring', and looked to Michael with a warning gaze which he of course ignored. Robert wondered why. "Is for one of their auras to go below the orange, since Mister Cedric is facing against a skilled opponent nearly a fully qualified Huntsman himself, I will call the match the moment eithers aura gets below or at twenty percent. Understood?"

"Yes." Robert said, never looking away from Michaels eyes.

"Mhm." Michael hummed back, doing the same.

"Good, the other way for this match to end is to force your opponent out of bounds, as I am sure most of you already know. Semblances are allowed, _explosives_ are not. I will not be made to fix this arena more time or help me God-" Glynda took a deep breath, and Hector and Yang made sure to hide themselves underneath their desks until she started speaking again. "Are both opponents ready?" She asked instead, and not a minute too soon.

"Yes." Both combatants answered at once, mentally entering battle mode.

As the countdown began, Robert took a deep breath and focused solely on his opponent. He hasn't seen Michael fight too many times, only once or twice and only had second-hand stories to go off of when he got back from his missions, and even then he knew better than most that when Michael Cedric wanted to get serious, he got serious. The White Fang members that he put down completely non-lethally for the most part spoke bounds of his skill. His semblance however, was something he believed he had a good grasp on. Shields. He would need to watch out for those, he remembered that he was able to walk straight through them like he did on the train, but he wouldn't doubt that he could make them completely solid as well. Despite its defensive nature, they could also be used for offensive purposes, like walling him off from a certain area or pushing him away from him. On the other hand, his own semblance could easily be mistaken as pure lightning powers, but he had several abilities to go along with it that might catch him off guard. However, he wouldn't let that get to his head. Michael saw what he could do on the train, and likely knows most of what he should look out for.

When he exhaled, the fight has already begun. Faster than he originally thought. He only had enough time to fully open his eyes when two chains were already flying toward him, blades at the end of them.

* * *

 **Annnnd that is that. I am sorry this wasn't finished earlier, I had some american stuff to do, Fourth of July and all that. But at least Crow and I managed to get this written and finished together, and at my signature cliffhanger maneuver as well. Hah… gotta love those. -Genatools**

 **Hope you guys don't mind too much, but hey, it won't take us months to update next time. -CrowSkull**

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	38. A Tale of Two Heroes chapter 38

**Welcome back everyone! Another chapter of this story is among us. Let us not waste any time and get right to it.**

* * *

 **Oblivious IJ: Perhaps, perhaps not. Still a topic of conversation for Crow and I.**

 **Zeldawolffang: And I missed writing it!**

* * *

 **Beta & Cowriter: CrowSkull**

 **Now let's get right back into the show!**

* * *

A Tale of Two Heroes

Chapter 38- Binding Lightning

Two lines of chains were flying towards Robert, blades at the end of them. He reacted quickly and jumped between the two with a flip as they converged on his position, it was a quick start and it wasn't slowing down a bit. Michael whipped the chains back towards himself trying to catch Robert in the way back, however Robert caught on to the movement of the chains and rolled out of the way and started running, and as he ran, sparks of lightning could be seen coming out him, and getting bigger slowly and getting more erratic with each step..

Robert started running towards his opponent, Michael used his chains in impressive and unique ways to keep Robert at bay, cutting him off his path with wide and quick chain whips and wrapping the chains around his arms to make quick turns and switch the direction of the attack. Robert ducked under and flipped over the chains as they came for him, as one of the chains came for him from above he slipped under it with momentum, however he was met with the other chain coming from below, he concentrated and while dodging he let the second chain fly by his head, very close to it, and immediately grabbed the chain and sent a shock through it.

Michael felt lightning surge through his arm and through the rest of his body, but before it could reach down to his feet and into the ground in a quick movement and with impressive strength he yanked the chain from Robert's grasp. The shock didn't do much in the way of damage, but it gave Robert some breathing room, enough to start using more of his semblance with more confidence, as Michael whipped back his chains Robert ran towards firing bolt of lightning and a big missile of lightning. His opponent went on the defensive and used his own semblance, his shields, with them he completely negated the bolts and the explosion created by the lightning missile, to his surprise. Through the surprise, Robert took the chance to dash in and get an up close and personal, he brandished his lightning blades and with a lightning dash he was right in front of Michael, he however create another massive shield around close to his body, and then expanded it suddenly to push Robert back. He skid on his feet backward and they were once more at middle distance, just as he knew Michael wanted.

Robert hummed at the exchange, those shields were indeed annoying, but that was part of the fun isn't it? Maybe his idea of fun was in fact warped, but hey, it could be worse. Without any restraint Michael struck back with an overhead whip with both chains, Robert dashed away and saw as the chains impacted and shattered the tiled ground, he could already hear Glynda groaning about it later. Quickly, they moved back to Robert's position, he ducked and vaulted over the chains again, and when they came back around for the second time, he deflected them with his lightning blades. Striking back with enough force to send them out of their flying path and getting rid of their momentum, Michael groaned as Robert took the chance to dash back in, but this time he stopped half way and jumped in the air, and fired more bolts and grenades of lightning.

Michael made a shield in the shape of a bubble to protect himself, however the grenades created a bit of a cloud of smoke as they impacted the shield. It didn't matter, if Robert kept going for him this way, he'll just push him back again, as the smoke cleared Michael got ready to do exactly that. He dashed in and Michael expanded the created a shield from himself again… however this time Robert dashed back in a lightning flash the moment that he saw Michael do so. Instantly, Michael's eyes went wide as he realized what he had done right after it happened, Robert had baited him and spaced him, the moment the energy for the outward shield dissipated, Robert dashed in again, faster this time, too fast for Micheal to create another shield, and Robert was right on top of him with his baldes at the ready.

Now they were in melee, and Robert hacked and slashed in quick slices and trusts, throwing in the occasional punch or kick. The younger student defended himself well, using the blades and chains of his Kusarigama to deflect the blades, but the older young man was faster, and he could feel Robert's lightning crackling around him and occasionally sending shocks through his chains to shock him with every exchange that they shared. It got to the point where Michael knew that if this kept up, he was going to lose. In terms of close quarters combat, he figured he wasn't _too_ far behind from Robert, but with the use of his opponents semblance and his time intervals in between his shield creations being too much, he needed to get away from him somehow. Michael took a step back to avoid a slash from Robert, and from there he started to use much shorter range version of their earlier mid range game, he moved his chains aggressively in tight circles and side whips, catching him at times. Robert evaded a couple strikes and then got hit on the arm , then he summoned his own lightning shields to push the chains out of the way, however with the shorter range of this fight, Michael had to spend little to no time on getting his chains back on the right direction, Robert decided that he would need to be faster.

Robert started dashing towards Michael left, his right and back again, while Michael continued his short whips and quick strikes with his chains, it was a spectacle, Robert was dashing like blur in all directions trying to prod and forcing Micheal to move in different directions, from their seats all that the people spectating saw was a whirlwind of metal chains being assaulted by a blur of lightning, there were many clashes, and it seemed like neither of them could touch the other for quite some time. But soon enough Robert was able to make some headway, and forced the fight to closer range again, he dashed after deflecting the chains one more time and stretched his palm out to shoot a thunderbolt, he forced Michael to dodge and closes the gap. They exchanged a few attacks until Robert very quickly countered an attack from Michael and quickly does an elbow to his ribs, then Robert quickly does a low standing spinning heel kick that hits Micheal across the face. Michael instinctively made a smaller shield to push Robert back which worked as intended, but not without a cost. Michael saw as his chains go with him, Michael realized Robert used the kick to wrap his chains around his leg, Micheal made a move to just knock Robert onto his back, but he heard something… it was crackling noise under him, he looked down and saw one of Robert's lightning grenades.

The grenade exploded and blasted Michael into the air, while in the air Michael saw Robert stretching his hand out, he couldn't allow him to continue, he focused and used his semblance to make a bubble shield appear at Robert's foot, it was a burst so sudden that it knocked Robert on his back and freed the chains from his leg, while still on the air Michael made giant wide swing with his chains while descending, he hit Robert once while he was still on his back, but Robert reacted quickly and got up and avoided and ducked the other attacks. Michael got closer to Robert with a downwards cross chain that again shattered he tile floor, they shortly engaged in melee again, both slashing at each other, Robert made low pinning kick and unbalanced Michael, followed by a stream of lightning that made Michael back away, however through the pressure Michael made a shield right at Roberts back, making him bounce on his direction, once close Michael got some solid slices of his own, three quick slices, he made move for fourth but Robert bent backwards and made slice to Michaels leg while he backflipped away.

Just then Michael wrapped a chain around Robert's gauntlet, this was his chance to get him away from him, Michael got close and made to go for another slash, Robert blocked with his other blade and started sending lightning through the chains, Michael powered through though and flipped Robert over him with his signature disarming move. Throwing him away from his weapon.

"AHH! He did the thing!" Hector shouted from the stands. Now standing nearly over the railing and pointing a finger toward his teammate. "He taught me that!"

"Snrk." Michel couldn't help but snicker, he knew that was going to get a reaction out of his leader, and he was just waiting for an opportunity like this to come by. Robert was still flying through the air due to the massive throw that Michael just made, Michael himself created a shield in front of Robert to blast him away even further, he did so and Robert was blasted to the ground, but just in that moment Robert spun back and charged up a thunderbolt, Michael didn't quite saw it coming, and go hit square in the chest full force by the massive thunder.

Robert landed hard on his back but rolled with the fall, Michael did something similar, however he could still feel lightning coursing through him, they were both taking the chance to recover, however Robert was already while he was on a knee trying to get up. They were back at long range, but this time both more hurt.

"Say…" Ruby started as the two combatants circled around each other, taking a small break from their battle. "Michael is doing good against Mister Urra, like _really_ good." She said, thinking hard as she rested her head on both of her hands, watching the fight.

"He is," Blake agreed. "Strange, I have sparred against him before myself, but if he fought me the way he is fighting Mister Urra right now, I would have lost much more quickly."

"I don't think he was fighting against you seriously Blakey." Yang pointed out, smiling at the sight. "This fight is getting my blood pumping, I wish I had both my arms so I could go in there for a bit myself."

"Absolutely not Xiao Long!" Weiss berated her immediately. "You will not be fighting with anyone until you are cleared by our school nurse. Am I understood?"

Yang rolled her eyes and sighed. "Yes _Mom_."

"Hmph."

"But I still don't get it," Ruby went on as if neither Yang or Weiss had any of their banter. "He's fought with us before, and he's lost against Pyrrha a few times, how is he taking up with a Huntsman now?"

"Its because he is truly not holding back," Pyrrha answered her. Ruby turned around to look at the red haired girl in the eyes, a questioning look to her face. "I knew Michael when we were younger, not very well. But I would say that if it weren't for my semblance, I would not be as famous as I am today. I would not be undefeated."

"Really?" Ruby asked.

"Really." Pyrrha smiled. "He was most likely holding back to challenge himself, by restricting himself to only one weapon he has made himself more versatile, and like myself, he has fought against people with all kinds of different fighting styles. Dual swords included, even if Mister Urra has a special kind of blade."

"Wooow," Ruby cooed. "He's like, an actual ninja. Why can't you be more like him Blake?"

"Pardon?"

"Y'know, the whole ninja weapon thing, he's got the chain too, which is similar to your ribbon. But he uses it _way_ better than you do."

"Gee… thanks." Blake said, not sure on how to feel about that. Should she use her ribbon in battle more? She had a lot to think about now, including the fact that a fifteen year old girl had just called her 'too little of a ninja' practically.

"Mister Urra still seems to have the advantage, however." Weiss pointed out,

Gesturing toward the aura gauge. "He has more aura than Michael does, and while I give him credit for doing as well as he is now, I believe that experience and skill will beat over Cedric's intelligence."

"But… Michael can make voices!" Ruby complained.

Hector snickered after overhearing Team RWBY's, and JNPR's banter following that last sentence. He himself was very impressed by Michael's newly revealed skill, he knew that his teammate was a good fighter, but _this_ good? No, he would have never guessed. He supposed that Michael did fight seriously back in Mount Glenn, but he was hardly paying proper attention to him at that time. Focusing more on his battles rather than his teammates.

He's seen Robert fight however, and while the fight was close as it was now, he wouldn't be surprised if he won. It was sort of a lose-lose situation for him anyway now that he thought about it. Win, and he beats a student, who cares. But lose…? Ouch. Even if he did win, he might get a little bit of trouble for how much it took for him to put Michael down for the count. Whatever happens however, he was going to support both of them. Michael and Robert were some of his closest friends after all.

As Robert and Michael circled each other, Robert was the first to talk.

"Can I ask you something?" Robert asked Michael.

Michael raised an eyebrow, but relaxed his stance slightly and pushed his glasses further up his nose. He nodded his head to show his answer.

"Tell me, if you were always this skilled and had all these tricks up your sleeve, why wait for situations like Mountain Glenn and… well me, to use them?

Michael shrugged. "I never really had too much of a reason too. Most of the time no one is good enough to bring the serious side out of me. For what happened at the docks, under the bridge, stuff like that when I am fighting with teammates I have to use my semblance to keep them from getting themselves killed." He pointedly looked to his team over his shoulder, who all three of which looked away and started whistling. Pretending that they were totally _not_ called out just now.

"So not even initiation? I've seen the recordings. Why not use this when some people were close to dying? Not when it could have made more of a difference, not when people where at risk? We both know you are good enough to fight and protect at the same time… why don't you?"

Michael sighed. "I admit, you're right on the dot there. I wasn't as… kind and caring about other people besides Reggie back about half a year ago. I was angry at the world for some…"

' _Promise me, Mikey…'_ His mother's voice echoed within his mind.

"things that happened… I don't have any good answer other than I didn't care much for them." He flourished his weapons. "But now, I have those I want to protect, and after what happened… I learned that holding back is not going to do anyone any good, it's part of the reason I wanted to challenge myself against you... Not purely out of distaste as I may have previously stated."

"Huh…" Robert couldn't help but smile a little bit. "I thought it was more on the side that you just hated me for some reason but… well I get the idea of the challenge."

"Which is also why I don't get why you are not being faster!" Michael accused, narrowing his eyes at him.

"Hmm?!"

"I've seen you fight, I know some of the things you can do and I know you are holding back! You are faster than this, far more rapid fire, you have more tricks up your sleeve, why are you holding back?! Huh?! Think a student is not enough of a challenge?!" Michael said this with a certain hatred in his voice, but his expression spoke of another emotion. A wide smile, wider eyes, the lens of his glasses shining in the light like it would in some TV show. It was the first time Robert saw him so… _excited_ , was the word he was looking for.

"To be fair I was figuring you out, and apart from that, well I suppose you are right… it feels different I guess, to go from a fight that's life or death, to one where that's not the case… it's different, the adrenaline is different." Robert said, his steps took another pace however, his breathing too, he would admit, he wanted to go faster, to feel like he was going through a wild fight again… his semblance agreed, because he could feel that feeling… a cold rise of air from lungs to his throat, it felt fresh… he wanted to let loose, with no fear of hurting anyone or failing and getting others hurt… but he couldn't discard those thoughts, he needed to control himself, but he figured he could let loose a little, go wild… it would feel right. It was what Michael basically asked for, anyway.

Robert took a deep inhale and wielder sparks surged from the ground, it was different, and some amount of dust (the one from the ground) started to idly circle around him. Robert started to snap his fingers, it was a quieter snap than others, but Michael could see it, it was like Robert was getting in a rhythim. He looked different too, his posture, he seemed more loose, relaxed, but the lightning around him was getting wielder.

"I have no idea what he is doing," Hector said when Reggie asked him if he knew what this was. "But it looks cool, so it probably means something."

"He looks pretty relaxed," Reggie pointed out. "Doesn't his semblance put a strain on his brain though?"

Hector nodded his head. "Yup, like how mine puts a strain on my heart. Whatever he's doing, let's keep an eye on it. Take some notes."

"Why, so you can use it against him if you have a potential rematch with him?" Ashley teased.

"No," Hector answered.

" _ **Bullshit."**_ Hell said in his mind.

"No one asked you." He responded to Hell out loud.

"Eh?" Ashley made a hurt sound.

"What? Not you-" Hector shook his head. "Probably." He said honestly, answering her question.

Glynda narrowed her eyes slightly as she watched the match carefully. _You're going to use that on a student?_ She thought, trying and failing to speak to her apprentice telepathically. She helped him develop the move, and Mister Cedric was proving to be a challenge, so as long as he didn't overdo it and do damage beyond aura limitations, then she would allow it. She would have warned him herself if she could, but the rules to not interfere with a fight unless absolutely necessary applied to her just as much as it did for the students. Even if they didn't know it.

Michael took a deep breath, and let his chained blades fall to the ground with a metallic clang. This was what he wanted, Robert to go all out against him. He would have to go beyond his own limits and think and react even faster than he was before if he wanted to have a chance at coming up on top. Keeping his distance was going to be a lot tougher now, so he might as well ditch any attempt at trying to make distance, especially if it was with his semblance because of the adaptability of his opponent, already having a counter for that specific move.

As Robert gained an electric blue aura, slowly the chasking of his fingers got faster and louder, his aura growing along with it. As that was happening, Michael focused on his semblance, and projected it inward. Into his veins and the fibers of his muscles, gained a green shine to his skin and reinforcing them and giving him a small strength boost. He worked his semblance down to his very nervous system, nullifying the damage he _felt_ , but not the damage already done to him. It wouldn't completely take away any pain he may feel the more this battle goes on, but it would help him tolerate it. It wasn't much in the way of a power up, but it was an old trick of his that he hasn't used in a while.

In a moments notice, Robert stopped chasking his fingers, and made a quick move. He bowed and crossed one foot behind the other, as if it were a dance move he bowed and snapped his fingers with both his hands and forth came a wild Thunder roar, lightning flew out words from him, and soon the ground around him started shaking, soon enough lightning formed around him and pieces of stone came from the ground and started circling around him rapidly, forming a sphere of rocks and lightning around him, the appearance of it was so quick and so… dramatic in way that a couple gasps could be heard, Robert looked up from his bow towards Michael and in his face was a wide smirk.

"Wow, I am very intimidated." Michael quipped, something rare coming from someone like him.

 _That was so cool!_ Ruby gushed in her mind. Squealing like she had just entered a weapons store with everything being on sale.

"That's… new." Weiss said, mostly thinking on how had Robert managed to make his semblance to _that_. _What kind of control did he really have?_ She thought to herself. To her and other's surprise it didn't end there.

Robert came back into the fight in full force, he ignited his blades and made full swings into the air that became arc waves of lightning, and those waves went straight for the blonde. Michael widened his eyes and made his shields in a quick reaction, the fight had become something else now. The waves impacted with force against the bubble shields and showered them sparks, Robert had dashed in faster than before and was close to being in close range now. Michael swung with his chains, but the moment they hit the barrage of rocks and lightning around Robert it got deflected, the second chain came down quickly and the same happened, Michael realized how things had changed now.

He made a quick move and made a shield in front of Rober path in hopes that he would run into it, but Robert lightning dashed to the side and went around the shield. He stretched his palm out, and out of his hand came a barrage of four lightning missiles, Michael made his move to make another shield to block those missiles, and he did creating another shield at his side. However the moment they impacted Robert was already at his other side launching another lightning wave. This was bad, Robert was moving too fast, and was now really attacking from all directions, so Michael did what he hadn't done in the match yet, he dodged. Michael threw his chain to one side of the arena and stabbed his chain on the floor, he then yanked and with a leap he traveled a far distance to avoid the increasing firepower that Robert was outputting.

Robert followed him without a second thought, and with a leap and a lightning dash he was on top of Michael again. Michael spun his chains in front of him on fast continuous circles, making his to catch Robert, but his opponent went in deflecting all the spins of the chains with both his personal cyclone and with his blades. Each strike of the chains was deflected on way or the other, and now they were face to face again. Michael and Robert exchanged blows for what may have actually been the hundredth time this match. With Robert making slashes and dashing in different directions, and on Michael's side it was more difficult, he kept his chains up and continued with making a barrage of attacks and swings to keep Robert at bay, but each deflected strike was taking a toll on his arms and he could feel the lightning. What was more, if Robert got closer, he would be definitely be pelted by that cyclone he created. Michael made his move and twisted the chains around in a wide swing, Robert backwards to avoid it, it was enough for Michael to make a large shield around him again, Robert dashed back and started to launch projectiles again.

Robert moved from left to right to avoid long range swipes of the chains, all the while throwing bolts, missiles, grenades and waves of lightning towards Michael. He deflected all those projectiles with both his shields and some even with his chains, this new far range play consisted of him using one chain to deflect attacks while he used the other to attack, however he knew that so far Robert was setting the pace for the match, he needed to try something new.

Robert dashed to the right and deflected Michaels chain with his blade, he took the chance to start making a ball of lightning on his hands, while the other shot out a constant stream of lightning at Michael, Michael covered himself with his shields and blocked the stream, he also made to attack Robert again, but the cyclone protected Robert from the chains swipe well enough, he then finished making the ball of lightning, and threw it at Michael, it turned into a giant cluster of lightning bombs. Michael saw the grenades and put all his focus and making a giant shield around him, he did so and was unharmed by the attack, but the smoke screen was massive, he saw quickly Robert come from the side and spun his chains again. Robert made to quickly dash back and around to avoid the strikes and Michael felt as rocks from Robert cyclone flew towards him and pelted him, he reacted naturally and made another shield to protect himself, feeling the strain of making this many protective bubbles slowly catching up to him, and made another swing of his chains, but Robert had dashed again, this time behind him.

Robert made a wave of lightning and saw as Michael rolled out of the way of the wave, it was his chance to pressure, Robert made a quick dash in and saw as Michael defended himself briefly with his chains against cyclone, but it was too late, he was already this close, he surged forward and slashed at Michael twice and kicked him away, Michael skidded on the ground, and Robert made on to continue his assault, but what he saw next surprised him, he had moved in to strike with both blades, but they had become stuck on something, he saw and looked as his blades had been trapped in a different shield, it looked different at the very least, but they were certainly of Michael creation. With Robert trapped Michael took the chance and used one his chains to deliver a massive forward trust to Robert's head. Robert got hit and flew backwards, flipping through the air once before sliding on the ground on the ends of his feet, as soon as his feet finished skidding though he started running at Michael again. He couldn't let up this pressure.

He ran back and launched a lightning bolt, Michael instantly made his new shield again and reflected the lightning back at Robert. Michael was glad it worked… but he was less pleased when he saw that it didn't do anything to Robert. Of course shooting that much lightning maybe he should have assumed that he was resistant to it. Michael did notice that he could trap Robert's blades though, and that was good.

Robert made a missile while running back at Michael. He made a reflective shield to bounce it away right when Robert jumped in the air while he was distracted. He decided to throw almost all the rocks of his cyclone at Michael while he was in the air, he did so and Michael covered himself with his chains to block the damage and then continued to spin his chains around and aimed towards Robert. Robert deflected the strikes with his blades. All of them, and descended on down to his opponent. Michael made a shield right in front of him, and Robert stretched out his own hand. The tiny bubble shield was right between the two and as both touched it it started to glow brightly and shoot out sparks with the sheer energy of both the people affecting it, the shield exploded and both of them got slightly separated.

Michael used his chains in desperation, Robert dashed in and flipped between the chains and came at him with an illusion twist kick that got him across the head, after that they exchanged blows again. This time Robert with his blades and Michael with his Kuramisaga, not as chains, but the sickles at the end of them. Michael made multiple moves to trap Robert's blades with his own and with his reflector shields, but each time it happened Robert deactivated his blades and turned them on again. Robert was consistently pushing more towards the edge. He trapped Robert's blades again, but this time he deactivated them and dashed back, Michael made to strike him with his chain… but suddenly the last rock from Robert cyclone trapped the chain and trapped it in the air, extending it, Michael was bewildered, Robet had trapped him. Robert didn't waste time, he shot a thunderbolt at Michael, hit him on the chest and then leaped for the chain, as he did so he spun around it landed a kick towards Michael's head, he did and pushed further to the edge, but Michael was still standing.

Michael yanked on his chain, ann with Robert and his rocks holding the other end of it, he had enough resistance to propel himself towards Robert in a drop kick, Robert reacted with a kick of his own and both kick clashed in mid air… however there had been a mistake of calculus, Michael had his feet slightly apart, and as the kicks collided, Robert's kick went between his legs and straight to his crotch. The result was Michael nearly dropping to the ground and groaning, his legs fighting against instinct from squeezing together. "Fuck you…" He grumbled.

"Oops… heh heh." Robert said it once, and he would say it again, but for some reason being the nutcracker and destroying his enemies testicles was funny to him… even if by accident, because he hadn't planned this one.

They were both close to edge now though, and Robert saw his chance and while still holding on to Michael's chain. he dragged Michael to the ground and wrapped his own chain around him, Michael was fighting back, however, and even though he was half wrapped in his own chain, he was still moving.

"Do you submit?" Robert asked Michael. Michael only struggled harder, which was fine it was what he would have done, but he needed to end this… and he could, he just needed to use his lightning, he thought that as he felt sparks coming to his hands, he thought of _it_ … he would be wrapped, and the lightning will… will…

Robert widened his eyes, what was he thinking, he saw it for a second, he saw his dream again, he saw himself making sparks going through the water, this was metal… _what if it was worse?_ He thought.

Robert's gripped loosened a tiny bit, and that was all that Michael needed, he used the sickle at the end of his chain to lift Robert's foot, Robert stumbled, enough for Michael to flip him, hook his other Kusarigama on Robert's arm pit, he then pulled both his weapons and Robert spun on the air, then Michael made a shield and blasted him away with a quick and large expansion of his shield.

Robert landed on his back, and rolled with the fall, he got up again… alright, that was enough, enough daydreaming, everything was fine, back to the fight it wa-

"Mister Urra has been thrown out of grounds." He heard Glynda say, did he hear that correctly?

"Wait what, what does that-" He looked around, he had fallen of ring.

"You have been defeated." Glynda said, driving it home. When Robert turned to look at her, she seemed as shocked as she was. When he turned back to Michael, he had already untangled himself from his chains. His expression was complicated, as it had always been. Almost like it wasn't his intention to throw him as far as he did.

Robert looked back down at his feet, then back at the ring, then back at his feet at where they were and then again at the line of the ring, he looked while pointing with his finger at both his feet and the ring. He looked up, down, and back up again. Ring out, a fucking… _ring out_.

"Ah fuck! Fuck, dammit. Fuck fuck fuck…. Aaaaah, fuck." He said to himself, uncaring of who might hear him, ring out, after that far _Dammit!_ He thought to himself, he was an idiot, they had been close to the edge, why didn't he think of that, why… _You fucking idiot_ , he thought to himself as he sighed… well then, yeah… he was an idiot.

Almost taking some moments to calm himself down, he heard someone walking toward him. Looking up, of course it was Michael stepping down from the ring and closing the distance between them. His face was red from exhaustion, and his hair came undone sometime during the fight. He didn't look like he was proud of himself, but he extended a hand toward him nonetheless.

"Dude… I was bamboozled." Robert said as he stretched his own hand.

"I would have rather not ended our match like that…" Michael said, his voice betraying his exhausted flushed cheeks as they shook hands. "Rematch, someday." He practically demanded, not even putting in the effort to make it sound like a question.

"Yeah… uh, fuck…" Robert said, he looked back at the ground, making it look like he was pondering on his error, and well he was… but not the ring out itself, something else crept back up to his mind… _we could have ended it right there me… why… why did you think of making it like torture… why did you?"_ Robert knew it wasn't okay, it really wasn't, was he acting different because of his dreams? Or by how he wasn't fighthning cultists and dangerous terrorists anymore? He didn't quite know. But again… he… he lost control, if that happened again when it mattered…

"Shit…"

"Are you okay?" Michael asked, raising an eyebrow after noticing the strange expression he saw on his face.

"Uh, well yeah, just thinking…"

"Hm, it seems that people from Earth do that a lot." Michael whispered so that only them too could hear.

"Hey, I've been told I'm a special case." And it was true, for better or worse he did think too much sometimes.

"Sure," Michael snickered. "'Special.' But yes, agreed… Also, I believe we have a peanut gallery, and a rather large one at that."

Robert sighed. "Course we do…"

* * *

When Roberts feet hit the ground out of bounds, the entire classroom went silent. And for good reason. Hardly anyone with a logical way of thinking would have expected an outcome such as the one they have just seen, and Hector was among that group of people. Throughout the sparring match he helped cheer on both of his friends, Reggie was exclusively there for Michael as everyone predicted, but even he wasn't so complacent to hide his shock. This was like watching a student beat a teacher, even if Robert wasn't _officially_ made a teacher as of yet.

The betting people on the other hand, started going crazy, while Robert indeed lost by tournament rules, there had been a significant amount of aura difference between him and Michael, and people were now arguing on whether or not if this counted as a victory, all in the name of Lien of course.

Blocking all of the arguing out, Hector felt a pair of eyes staring down at his side, he didn't know what it was until he turned his head to his right and looked into the silver eyes in the row across from him and to the side. For some reason, while the rest of her team, including Team JNPR, were all talking about the fight they had just watched, and Hector would have guessed that Ruby would be right there with them talking about what they have just seen.

But then her face grew a smile wide enough to split her head in half, and she slowly raised two bottles up from underneath her desk. Hector squinted his eyes to read the labels. It was bleach in one bottle, and red dye, same tone of red as her own hair in the other.

"Oh…" Hector realized suddenly. Right, the bet he made. To be completely honest, he wasn't _that_ serious about it, but it seemed that Ruby was and had already gone and bought the things that he needed. He only wished that the bottles could have at least _looked_ a little more masculine.

" _ **That… was an unexpected outcome."**_ Hell commented, his ghost form appearing sitting on the edge of his desk facing toward the arena. " _ **However, it seems your friend isn't taking advantage of this victory to gloat. A pity."**_

"Pity-" Hector cut himself off before he could draw attention to himself. " _Why is it a pity? He's just not being an asshole."_

Hell shrugged. " _ **I would have bragged. A Huntsman in training defeating a Huntsman without the "In training"? Hah, I'd be making sure all of Remnant heard my victory."**_

Another flash of memories. A snowy battlefield, black and red blood mixed with dirt and gravel, a dark cave with a glowing tree. Hector got a headache just thinking about it. " _Well, that's why I am in control, and you're not."_ He said, shaking his head slightly to refocus on his surroundings.

"Boss!" A metal hand slapped against his shoulder, making him jump out of surprise. "Dude, like, holy shit! Did you see that!?"

"Yes, I did." Hector said, smiling. From the corner of his eye he could see Hell look at him from over his shoulder, and slowly fade away back into his self conscience.

"Rob was like lightning dashing and shit, and Michael was reflecting some of that shit — a move I haven't seen him do in a while by the way — and then he was wrapped up in his own chains an' shit,"

"A lot of shits in there." Ashley pointed out.

Reggie carried on without missing a beat. "And then it was like _whoosh_ and then the match was over!" The orange eyed boy practically screamed at the top of his lungs.

"I know Reggie. I was there." Hector snickered at his teammates antics.

"Wait, doesn't this mean that you have to dye your hair red now?" Reggie asked, remembering the talk from the other night.

Hector nodded his head and sighed, sparing a glance toward Ruby who was _still_ gawking at him with the two bottles of bleach and dye in her hands. Except this time she nodded her head, and stuck her tongue out at him. "Yes. Yes it does."

"Cool," Reggie chuckled. "Do we have to come hold you down or are you good?"

"Good enough." Hector said. "I won't cause any trouble. What are they talking about down there?" He asked, changing the topic. Michael and Robert were still talking to each other about something, and for the life of him he couldn't hear what they were saying because of everyone screaming at the top of their lungs about bets that were won and lost. Robert kept taking glances up at him, however, he was able to see that, and Michael kept nodding his head. In the next couple of seconds, they shook hands again and left into two different locker rooms. Hector tilted his head in thought as he wondered about what could have been said between the two. It probably wasn't that important, probably Michael just getting friendly with Robert for once.

"Students, do not forget that there is another class for you all to attend." Glynda announced, her voice cutting through theirs like a hot knife through butter. Attention was demanded and attention was granted when the green eyed woman stepped into the ring, repairing the damage done to it as she did so. "You are all dismissed." And just like that, her word as law.

* * *

As the fight ended, and Robert was getting out of the locker room he was met by Glynda. Who waited outside for him to return once all of the students left the classroom.

"Ah, okay, now look… there were people discussing if it was victory or not, that means I didn't make a complete fool out of myself oka-" Robert didn't get to finish.

"What happened?" Glynda asked in a commanding voice.

"I, well I slipped up and… uh."

"Why?" Glynda asked again.

"Umm…"

"We both know something particular happened, you shifted, just stood there, why?"

"Umm, a… a relapse." Robert said while scratching the back of his head.

"I feared as much, there wasn't water however." Glynda said, sighing and signaling him to explain himself.

"I felt like I was about hurt him, severely." Robert said.

"Were you?" Glynda asked, in a softer tone.

"I… I don't know I… I don't think so, but if there was a chance then-" Robert tried to explain.

"You are afraid of hurting people, people that are your comrades, your friends." Glynda finished for him.

"Yeah." Robert said with his head down. Glynda eyed him for a bit and released, a sigh after a bit.

"Would you like to discuss it?" She asked.

"It's better if we do." Robert answered.

"Then we will, but later for now you should rest." Glynda said as she made her way out of the locker room. "You did well managing your energy however, you should teach Mister Rivers how to control his own semblance the way you control yours." She said.

"His semblance uses a lot of energy, mine is different I generate energy, he has to expend a different kind of energy." Robert responded, taking the change of subject for what it was. "Besides with his current state, he would need to be extremely careful, and unless we have a way for him to store that energy better, then we he might hurt himself."

"You store your energy in your gauntlets, couldn't he do the same?" Glynda asked.

"I don't know, maybe. If so he would need something that could withstand that self destructive power, something that can take energy that shatters you own body and aura, but more importantly release it… he could learn, but again with how he is, he would need to learn way too quick and I don't want to have that risk, his gauntlets would need a way to release that… energy… precisely…" Robert said as he started to form an idea on his head.

"You figured something out?" Glynda asked.

"Shatter aura… Glynda…" Robert looked back at Glynda. "Do we still have Vaseer's Railgun?"

* * *

Hector ran a hand through his hair for what felt like the twentieth time since Ruby had her fun with it. Unlike he previously though, and feared, Ruby only took one portion of his hair, particularly the left side where he had more bangs, and bleached it. It was a tense and slow process, but with the patience of a saint, a towel, gloves, water and strong armrests. He bore through it with a smile on his face. Ruby was having fun with this, laughing with him as they spoke like she wasn't totally bleaching and dying his hair.

Since his hair was so damn black however, it took more than a few rounds of bleach to break it all down to make it a light blonde color, similar to Reggies portion of bleached hair, but somehow even lighter. Ruby also had the pleasure of finding out that his hair was _very_ thick, and was also not brushed that often. That was when things started to get less fun for Hector, and very painful when Ruby rushed into her bathroom, and took out one of Yangs hairbrushes. By the sound of the busty blonde giggling at the sight, she didn't seem to mind.

Bleaching it alone turned out to draw out much longer than any of them anticipated, and dying it was no less hard because of how thick his hair still was. They ended up using almost half the bottle on just that portion of hair on the left side of his head, but in the end it was all worth it. Hector now had red hair on one side of his head, and it looked surprisingly great. Matching his clothes and weapons and everything with the black and red color pallet he was going for.

"Agh, sucks that it looks like I'm bleeding out of my eyes." Hector said, laughing to himself. Looking in the mirror after Ruby was done with him came with both awe and terror. Since some of the dye simply ran off and out of his hair and down his face so many times it stained his skin somewhat. Giving him the illusion that he was crying tears. Yang made a lighthearted joke that she didn't know he started using Kaioken again, and for all he was worth he couldn't resist laughing along with her.

After showing his team, who all had ranging reactions of awe, shock, and terror at his face and hair, they all took it rather well. Michael did what Michael did and gave him a thumbs up, still tired after his match with Robert, Reggie complimented him and said he wasn't the only one with dyed hair anymore, and even Ashley said that he looked good. Hector thanked them all, and headed out one more time after Michael told him that Robert wanted to speak to him about something.

He found him sitting on a bench in the moonlight, by the fountain near his dorm building. Walking toward him, he raised a hand up to hide the red part of his hair with a giddy smile on his face. His hair was long and thick enough that he couldn't cover it all with just his one hand, but hopefully the darkness of the night would be able to hide the rest.

"Yo," He greeted when he got close enough to not have to yell to get Roberts attention. "Wanted to speak to me?" He asked, still covering half of his head.

"Yeah, I have an idea that..." Robert said after noticing him. And then he looked at Hector's hair. "What are you hiding?" He said, seeing a strange color that definitely was not there before.

"Nothing," Hector said with a way too suspicious smile on his face.

"Oh, really? So you want to play this game…" Robert said, leaning back on the bench. "Move your hand then."

"Nope."

"Also, why does it look like you're crying?"

"I don't know, why does it look like you lost a fight earlier?"

"..."

"Too soon?"

"For your information I lose a lot of fights, want to hear my personal score against Glynda?" Robert asked.

"I mean…" Hector's look said enough. Enough to show that he didn't really care about what the record may be.

"Eight hundred and sixty seven to zero, and if you haven't realized, I'm zero." Nothing. Robert sighed. "Move your hand man." Robert demanded with a sigh.

Hector rolled his eyes playfully. "Sure, man, you gotta loosen up more sometimes." He said as he moved his hand from the red part of his hair.

"That's it?" If Robert was surprised at all, he hid it well. "I mean I would still like to know why but… okay, it's surprising, I don't know why you are hiding it though, okay once again why?"

"You want me to answer the first, second, or third question?" Hector asked

"Yes."

"One: To try and surprise you. Two. To try and surprise you. And three: Because you lost the fight against Michael. By the way, if you won I would have had to get it dyed blue, had Neptune on speed dial for that outcome. Ruby was excited that Mike won as you could imagine."

"Huh…" Robert hummed "Thank whatever's above I lost, no offense but I already have enough blue for the both of us."

"Well first off fuck, you," Hector said jokingly as he sat down. "And second off, what's up?"

"I'll be honest, a lot of things as you can imagine, but the reason I've called you here is because… I am a genius, and I have a plan that could potentially help you control your Kaioken… or at least protect you from the damaging effects, in time for the mission _you_ accepted and the upcoming Vytal Festival where… you know." Robert said with an excited smile.

Hectors smile slowly faded away at the mention of what was going to happen during the festival, his mood seemed to take a complete one-eighty with the way his eyes darkened and his demeanor shifted as if he was getting ready to fend off an attacker. With a slight shake of his head however, he brought himself back to his senses.

"Think we should probably tell someone about the fall soon? It's only like a month away at this point. I think." Hector pointed out.

"Oh… ah, about that, would you believe me if I said I kind of already did?"

Hector's narrowed eyes demanded him to explain.

"Well not _all_ the information, but a big part of it. You see when I revealed that we knew some things of the future, I did it because I didn't want to lie anymore… and when I did Glynda demanded answers, from both of us. But after the train incident you were in a coma, and I was left alone in a room with Ozpin, Ironwood and Glynda and… I had to explain some things, for better or worse, I said the Vytal Festival was at risk, warned them a bit about the Black Queen… the virus I mean, they haven't snuffed it out by the way, and uh… other things, there were questions about Earth, and they are checking my brain from time to time… but apart from that, I haven't been specific, I merely asked more questions about Aaron, and those questions so far always get deflected."

"Hm," Hector hummed, committing all those words to memory. His eyes were red again, something that Robert took careful note of. "Alright, before the festival begins though, we should definitely have another chat with Ozpin and them. Together. But that's for another time, what's this about controlling the self-destructive energy of my semblance?"

"Look.. I know it doesn't sound good what I said but, well I guess with how things have changed, I thought maybe collaborating with more people was a good idea, I haven't mentioned things like how much we really know about Ozpin or you know… Raven, but I'll trust you on that if you trust me to… well not really trust, forgive, yeah forgive me for uh… spilling some of the beans... ." Robert finished kind of lamely. "I'm sorry I just thought that… maybe we should open up, what we already tried, hasn't really worked."

Hector tensed up at the mention of Raven, the memories of their talk repeating themselves in his mind. He shook his head again and wiped his mouth, he tasted something nasty in there for some reason. "So that's why you called me out here? Checking to see if I'm okay or something?"

"Well… yeah,but are you-"

"You want the honest answer?" Hector's voice suddenly got darker, and deeper, something that didn't sound like him at all. "Fuck no, I'm not okay," He said with a bitter chuckle. "I have voices in my head and now I can't use the thing that makes me strong because it would kill me if I do. I have Raven's words stuck in my head, and I am reminded every day that the Vytal Festival is coming, and we both know what happens then." His eyes shone, and he rubbed a hand over his heart as he felt it beat harder in pain. "All these… _memories_ … of _him_ … snow, blood, fear, something being stabbed into my chest before I descend into a void of darkness between realms of life and death. Specific? Yeah, I know, that's been eating away at me too…" Hector groaned in frustration, and shook his head violently. Robert got even more concerned when his aura spike up for a moment, only for it to painfully recede back into his body. "Ever since what happened in Mount Glenn, with Aaron, Raven, stopping that train, _Hell…_ It feels like something has awakened in me…" He looked down to his hand, which was trembling as red aura flickered on and off around his body.

"I'm tired," He said next, clenching his fist and shoving his hands into his pockets. The flickering aura turned off, and his shut his eyes so he didn't have to see the red shine coming out of them. He stood up, and took a step forward before stopping. "I'm going crazy, aren't I?" He asked, feeling something warm trail down his cheek. "All these things happening to me… it's either magic, or I'm seriously fucked up."

Robert didn't speak for a moment. He pondered, and then he looked into the distance while holding both his hands. "Tell me, what did you feel when it happened? When you killed I mean, was it this moment of going crazy, or did you feel like you were in control, what was it like?" Robert asked, his voice low and serious.

Hector's answer was short and bitter. But completely honest. "Freedom." He said quietly. With a sigh, he took another step forward, and then another.

"I felt different you know." Robert said letting the implication sink in, Hector stopped after taking his sixth step to listen to what he had to say.

"I never told you, or anyone else much about my mission on the sewers did I? Well, if you have to know, you aren't the only one here that has killed people, and I don't know if you were completely in control of what you did, but I felt I was… and I killed more people than I thought I would. Made them explode, Implode, slashed some to pieces, I've cleaved in half… and I, I was in control, and I still think of what my mother would think now, seeing little Robert have to do what she hoped he would never have to do, kill someone, and sometimes I cannot tell if it was because it was necessary, to just not hold back in the face of death, to save people… or maybe because I'm just sadistic, I wonder about all of that, but then it became more present when… something happened." Robert took a deep breath.

"You see, I cannot judge for what you did, if I did I would be a hypocrite, so I won't, but also in a way I'm glad that you only had to kill people that were trying to kill you. To use every chance you get to defend your own life is not wrong, even if it is a bit insane, I just hope… that you, or we, really never have to kill our own people, your allies or your friends… I had to…" Rober stayed quiet for a few moments. "In the sewers we were ambushed by Grimm sharks, we swam through shit to get away, part of the group made it, a vast majority didn't, then a DeathStalker came out and poisoned the water with its stinger, they were being eaten and slowly dying to poison… and our leader knew I could kill all the Grimm, if I just put my hands in the water, and channeled lightning though… she told me to do it, it would be a mercy killing. Maybe it was, but… while we were swimming, I couldn't do anything, if I did something people could die… and I ended up killing them anyway." Robert said with a sad tone. Hector still stood there, listening, Robert knew by how he slightly tilted his head toward him to offer him one of his ears.

"Hector I really hope you don't have to do something like that, I'm glad you survived and I'm also glad that even if you changed you are still you in way, and I'm not mad you had to kill people, because to be honest it was in desperation and… there are worse things you could have done… and you haven't… unlike well, yours truly." Robert said, finishing his confession.

"It won't come down to that." Hector said quietly, almost too quietly for Robert to hear. "I won't let it. I… don't want to know what that feels like. I already feel like a monster, if I had to do something like that, then…" He didn't finish his sentence. He didn't need too, the implication was there. He placed a hand on his head and sighed, watching as the glow in his eyes slowly but surely began to fade. "It's getting late, and all this emotional talk is getting to me." His eyes brown again, he turned back around to look at his friend. "You and me, we're the only ones here from Earth who counts. We're here for a reason, we have to be. So let's make sure we find that reason, together preferably."

"You know… I'm really afraid of doing something and fucking it up, it terrefies me, but there' something I'm far more afraid of… and that's what would happen if we did nothing, that's why I did what on telling the truth about… us." Robert then stood up. "And it's also why we need to fix your little issue." He said.

"Yeah… doesn't seem like I'm alone there." Hector said. "I got Oobleck as my therapist already, even if I haven't went to go see him yet. You got Double G, so you should maybe try her some more.

"I was referring to your Semblance, but you should do that too." Robert said.

"Oh, how exactly do I even attempt that? Hector asked.

"Well… you need to store energy in a different place that isn't your body, and remember I said I cleaved someone in half? Would you believe me if I told you that that person had a really advanced Railgun that could store a lot of energy? And that I now have said Railgun"

"Sure, why not?" Hector shrugged. "I'll talk to Ruby about it and see if it's possible, you should be there too. We can make a day out of it. I can already hear her excited squeal." Hector snickered.

"Excellent… we have a direction and something to do!" Robert said a bit too excitedly.

"Yeah…" Hector said, smiling along with him. "This weekend? The mission is like, next week, so I would rather have that ability sooner rather than later and see if I can test it out during the mission."

"I'll see you there friend." Robert said with a two finger wow

"Yeah," Hector saluted back. "See ya."

* * *

 **And there we go. A longer chapter than originally intended, but hey, when does any chapter I plan actually go its intended length?**

 **Partially my fault, sorry, but hey hope you people enjoyed the fight. -CrowSkull**

 **Here I am though, bitching about length after writing a 44 thousand word chapter for the finale of Unlikely Hero like three weeks ago… *Sigh* I am never going to be able to complain about length again, am I?**

 **Phrasing. -CrowSkull.**

 **Please review and let us know what you think of the chapter, if you would like to keep up with me and everything that I write, please do give me a follow on my twitter.**

 **T w itter . com (slash) genatools**

 **See you all in the next one!**


	39. A Tale of Two Heroes chapter 39

**Hello again, feel like I've been saying that a lot recently but hey, what can you do? There's not a whole lot more introductions I can think of, already writing a few hundred chapters across all of my stories. Welcome back anyway!**

* * *

 **Zeldawolffang: You'll have to keep reading and find out.**

 **Oblivious IJ: You know, I'll seriously think about that just for the memes.**

 **Thank you both for the reviews!**

* * *

 **Beta & Co-writer: CrowSkull**

 **Now we return to this story, and plot points are made and filler is spent! Let's push onward! Plus Ultra!**

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A Tale of Two Heroes

Chapter 39- Therapy and other Hobbies

Today was a much different day.

Hector hasn't went to therapy… ever. This was about to be a completely new experience for him. When he got the call from Ozpin himself to make sure he was actually going to attend his first session with Doctor Oobleck, there went any consideration for not actually going to any of this. Mostly because Hell kept complaining about it a few times every minute.

" _ **Must we really?"**_

"Yes, Hell." Hector said, pinching the bridge of his nose and sighing. For once, he was actually alone, and so he could speak to Hell without having to worry about other people thinking he was crazy. Though at this point he felt like he should be worried that he was possibly schizophrenic. Since seeing a mirror image of yourself except all Grimm like with the white hair and skin and red and black eyes walking beside you like a ghost didn't seem to be a normal occurrence for the everyday citizen of Remnant. "I've been ordered by Ozpin, Double G, Rob, my Team, Ruby's team, and even Jaune's team to Doctor Ooblecks little therapy office to talk about my feelings with. I sorta can't really say no."

" _ **Bah, you're not insane, I am very real I can assure you of that fact. I will only become an issue if we don't let loose every once in a while."**_ The white shadow of himself said to him, even adding a yawn at the end of it. Hell has been more talkative as of late, and yet there were days where he went the whole time just walking around, and thinking. Hector couldn't hear what Hell was thinking, but apparently Hell could hear him think all the time. Which made things difficult when it came to deciding what is going on with him and to try to make sense of the memories he swears are not his. He tried asking Hell once, but even he did not know what to make of those memories, despite the fact that they only started coming forth as a result of Hell's first awakening down in the subway of Mount Glenn.

"That really makes me feel better, about this, definitely." Hector said sarcastically. Then rolled his eyes right as he rounded the corner. He mentally cursed as he saw a few students walking on the other side of the hallway. _Only a few more doors down and on the right_. He thought to himself.

"Is that him?" One of the students whispered to the other, both being boys with the same black hair color.

The other one shushed him, and Hector pretended that he didn't hear them speak about him. "Sh! Yeah, that's him. Best we stay away, heard how he was stuck in Mount Glenn for a few weeks by himself, in enemy territory no less."

"Yeah, I heard about that too… A lot of dead White Fang, piss on em, I say." Hector met his eyes for a moment, and the student from Vacuo winced and looked away. "Didn't expect him to dye his hair like that either-"

"Yeah, you can stop talking about me now." Hector said with a harsh sigh. Then quickened his pace as he made his way to Doctor Ooblecks office. The students behind him made no further comment, even as he banged his fist on the professor's door harder and more times than likely necessary.

"Coming, coming!" The doctor said, Hector heard footsteps rushing about within the room getting closer and closer to the door to let him in. Then all of a sudden in a flash the door was swung open from the inside, on pure instincts alone did Hector manage to dodge the door that might have broken his nose if he was too slow to get out of the way. Not that the professor had any concern on that matter. Doctor Oobleck smiled at him and pushed up his glasses further up the bridge of his nose, a coffee stain on his dress shirt and his yellow tie tied up in a way that did not look at all comfortable. Hector wondered once more how exactly this man was a doctor with the way he seemed to tremble and shake every second. "Ah, Mister Rivers! I've been expecting you. Come in, come in, we have _much_ to discuss." The professor said, beckoning him inside as he stepped aside to give him room to walk in.

Hector swallowed nervously as he stepped through the doorway, paying no mind to the other students who were just talking about him. "I see you have dyed your hair! Red. Predictable if I do say so myself, mostly everything about you screams the color of rage!"

"Why do you say that?" Hector asked with an amused grin. He wasn't offended by basically being called as such, even if he should have been. Oobleck just had a certain aura around him that told him that he meant it not as an insult, but as a compliment. He looked around the office curiously, taking it in for what it was. Oobleck, known for being quite the messy person has papers scattered all about, books opened and closed scattering the shelves in such a way that would make a person with OCD go crazy, what looks to be a mahogany desk with a computer on top of it. Then in the middle of the office was a set of cushioned chairs and a table in between them. There was no bed around, so it was safe to assume that Doctor Oobleck did not live in his office.

"My, your aura is red, your eyes turn red from time to time, and don't even get me started on your very unusual but also unique semblance! The ability to multiply one's strength and speed at will at the cost of physical damage must be a very difficult to control ability. Tell me, how do you do it?" The doctor asked him, gesturing to a comfortable looking chair before him as he sat down on one looking much the same.

"Well… It just sorta came to me." Hector answered honestly as he sank into the chair, assuming that the therapy session has already begun. "I had small access to it when I first came here, but after training I was able to use it much more easily. I don't know how I was able to do it so fast-" Memories; Red fire, red eyes, black hair, orange eyes, electricity, blood, and finally, death. Hector physically flinched. "I-I just did it." He said, wiping the memory away from his mind."

"I see, I see, do you mind if I ask you a personal question Mister Rivers? You may refuse if you wish." Doctor Oobleck said, still smiling softly.

"I don't mind." Hector shrugged.

"Why did you flinch in the middle of your sentence?"

Hector choked on air for a moment. "Y-you caught that, huh? Guess I wasn't exactly subtle about it…"

"No," Oobleck agreed. "You were not. You see, I am a Doctor, I went to medical school at a young age studying in child, teenage, and adult psychology, it was more of an elective alongside history but my PHD has qualifications in both! Then after that I went for another few years to study the psychology of Huntsman and Huntsman in training, as well as a minor in mental disorders. Then after that, I trained and became a Huntsman myself by taking a practical test. Unlike the more common way of going to a training academy nowadays."

"You can do that?" Hector asked, raising an eyebrow.

Oobleck chuckled. "Why, of course. Anyone can become a Huntsman or Huntress at nearly any age. As long as you have the skills required for the role. But before I go off topic, the gist of what I am telling you is that I _know_ when someone is feeling something unsavory… and Mister Rivers, you have changed ever since you were kidnapped the day of the dance some time ago. It is quite apparent to even an untrained eye, and I have been paying particular attention to you per the Headmasters orders."

"Oh… goodie." Hector drawled, slumping his head onto his chest and shaking it. "So, how bad is it do you think?"

"I do not know," Oobleck chuckled. "It would be hardly professional of me to pass on a diagnosis so quickly, there is still much to discuss with you Mister Rivers. Such as the question I brought up to you earlier, when you were speaking about how you learned to control your semblance so quickly, your eyes widened and you looked to be in pain momentarily. If you are comfortable enough to tell me why, I'd like to hear your reasoning for such a reaction."

"I can try." Hector said, crossing his arms and leaning further into his chair as he forced himself to remember what he just went through. He would rather have this line of questioning instead of the other, which would be questions on what exactly happened to him in Mount Glenn when he was supposedly lost all alone in there. He didn't know if he could talk about that just yet, his friends saw him while he was fighting them alone, so they had a good guess as to what exactly happened to him. And he was thankful to them for now asking him anything about it. Oobleck, while kind and a professor at this school and someone Hector couldn't think of a reason to distrust, was still a stranger to him. It would take time before he could really open up about it. Besides, these strange lapses involving strange memories was more important to him than the past, he needed some kind of explanation for it. "Everyone once in a while… not all the time, I have these sort of… surges? I guess that is the best way I can describe it, that or lapses. Where I suddenly get a burst of memories I didn't know I had, but I don't know if they're real or not, they definitely _feel_ real, but at the same time they don't. It's…" He hesitated, trying to find the correct words.

"A conundrum?" Oobleck offered after lifting his hand from a medium sized yellow notepad. Hector didn't even realize that the green haired man was even writing things down while listening to him, but after witnessing the erratic speeds at which the man moved and thought, it wasn't entirely hard to believe that he could write and look at something else at the same time.

"Yeah," Hector nodded his head, moving on. "What do you think may have caused that?"

" _ **A silly question."**_ Hell scoffed, his ghostly form sitting on one of his arms rests. Hector resisted against his natural instincts to look at the spectre, it must have looked like a flinch to Oobleck, who suddenly stopped writing again for a moment, before going back to it for another few seconds. " _ **A question you should already know the answer of."**_ His white haired form added.

He sighed through his nose, doing his best to ignore Hell and focus on trying to read the complicated expression Oobleck had on his face as he thought and wrote on the note pad. Surprisingly he had already went through two pages and was working on the third, he stopped halfway to say something to him.

"Memories you feel are not yours? Hm, have you been having bad dreams as well? Nightmares?" Hector nodded his head. "Interesting, concerning, yet something that was expected considering what you must have went through. Mister Rivers, only if you can, name _one_ thing that happened to you while you were captured after the dance, and thereby held in Mount Glenn."

Hector flinched, and Oobleck looked sympathetic toward him. "Your eyes are red." Oobleck pointed out, and Hector looked away toward a mirror in the room, seeing that his eyes did in fact of a new tint of red to them, just as they always did when he grew distressed. "Does that always happens when you feel negative emotions?" Oobleck asked him.

"Most of the time, yes." Hector answered quietly. "It used to only happen when I use my semblance, now it happens whenever I get angry, sad, stressed, emotions like that. I used to think it was cool, but now… not so much."

" _ **Hmph, speak for yourself."**_ Hell muttered under his breath.

"Hm, well, go on if you can Mister Rivers." Oobleck said as he placed his notepad on the coffee table between them, and leaned back in his own chair. Implying that he had his full undivided attention. That both felt comforting and worrying, but more the former than the latter.

"I was chained up in a chair." Hector managed to blurt out. Looking away from Oobleck as he did so.

"Chained up? As in with metal linked chain?" Oobleck asked.

"Yes. They were afraid that I was too strong for regular restraints, so they chained me up with chains so strong they said not even a Goliath could break out of them." Hector explained.

"Interesting." Oobleck said, nodding his head. "Yet, you were still able to break out of them anyway, very interesting, and impressive. Even the strongest fully trained Huntsman would have trouble breaking out of such binds."

"Thanks." Hector said emotionlessly.

"Of course. Now, that is all the time we have for today, my does an hour fly by quickly at times." Oobleck said with a chuckle, Hector's eyes went wide, and he looked at the wall clock in the room to see that it has indeed been an hour since he entered.

"How does that happen…?" He asked no one in particular as he stood up from his seat. "When do I have to come back?"

"I will message or call you myself." Oobleck said, then ripped off a sticky note from a small pad of them. "I will hand off to you my scroll details, use it wisely. If anyone other than my patients call me there will be consequences." He said jokingly, quickly scribbling down his contact information on the small yellow sticky note before sticking it to Hector's awaiting hand. "If you need to talk at any time, know that I will be available at any time during the day, even if it is during class sessions."

"Thanks." Hector said with a warm chuckle. "I'll let you know if anything happens."

"Please do," Oobleck said, waving at him as he made his way out of the office. "Please do."

* * *

" _ **What a waste of time."**_ The white haired Hell complained as they walked down the hallway, Hector with his hands in his pockets while looking toward the floor, deeply in thought.

He didn't think it was _that_ much of a waste of time, it might have been to Hell since he was the one stuck listening to all that to none of his benefit. But there were some things that Hector did find interesting. Namely some of the past of Doctor Oobleck, such as him going to medical school, only to then train and become a Huntsman afterwards as well. What an over achiever, Oobleck really didn't know when to stop. Somewhere in there he learned history, and of course _that_ was what he taught instead of anything else he's learned throughout all the years.

Besides that, the only thing Hector got out of everything was learning that Doctor Oobleck was really good at detecting emotions, and him talking about what happened to him back in Mount Glenn to a mild degree. He supposed that most of the session was meant for introductory purposes, since it was the first one. The next one he suspected would lean more towards his personal life maybe, like what he likes to do in his spare time and stuff like that, and maybe let the conversation lead back into what happened. Little by little, until he went out and confessed to everything himself given time. Hector didn't know if he was ever going to get to that point, but had a feeling that he might as well get it out sometime before or after the mission. The only ones who have the slightest of ideas of what happened to him were the ones who saw him killing those White Fang members, quite brutally for that matter. Who were all his friends, of course, and thankfully. Oobleck would only have Miss Goodwitch's report on what happened, and little else. He would have had to be there and see his body himself, unless he saw him as he was being carried into the infirmary after stopping the train. He doubted that though, he didn't think even Ozpin would allow anyone to go see him after everything that happened, even if it were one of the members of his staff.

Sighing, Hector forced himself to stop thinking about the session, and idly walked around Beacon for several minutes. It was mostly empty now, since it was a weekend and every other student was either idling around Beacon, going out with friends, training, studying, or more training. His own team was doing the latter, on his orders for the mission they were going to go on before the Vytal Festival. He left Michael in charge temporarily until he got back with them. He also had a meeting with Ozpin later that evening as well, so it was unlikely that he was going to get the chance to meet up with them until the night. At least he'd be able to hear whatever crazy story Reggie would have made up just for his entertainment. He smiled at the mere thought of it.

He had about another two to three hours before he had to meet with Ozpin, and considered going to find his team, but decided against it. It would take a while walking all the way across Beacon, only for him to hang out for a while just so he could turn back around and have to walk across Beacon _again_ to go to Ozpin's tower. With the long elevator ride up, he didn't want to risk being late. Meetings with Ozpin were not something he'd want to miss, and if his instincts were correct, he figured he was going to have a nice meeting with the General of Atlas as well.

So after walking for a few more minutes, he made his way to the crafting and relaxation area. There was a fancy and abbreviated name for it, but he didn't care to memorize it. It was a room with a bunch of couches and tables where people could craft weapons, ammo, make repairs, etc. While listening to some relaxing music or the calming voice of Lisa Lavender on the news channel. He personally referred to it as the 'Chill Room #7'. Seventh in line of the other Chill Rooms he had rested in so far while living at Beacon. As of now, there were about twenty Chill Rooms on his list. Beacon was a very large place when you really spent a day to walk around.

Taking a seat at one of the tables on a comfy chair, he played a game on his scroll. There was a fridge somewhere in the room, but it rarely had any good drinks in there, and whatever was in there were marked by a marker or sticky note that it belonged to someone else. Unless you were an asshole, there wasn't much to actually eat or drink in any of his Chill Rooms, which was why they were not named 'Cool Rooms' for that reason.

He wouldn't be alone for long, evident with how the door swung open behind him. Hector looked over his shoulder to see who was entering the room with him, and saw only a single rose petal falling to the ground flying back and forth, knowing who it was already, he only jumped a little bit as Ruby slammed down his old weapons in front of him with a greasy yet ecstatic face.

"Hey!" Ruby greeted.

"Hel-" Hector tried.

"Finally found you!" Ruby cut him off, and started to rapidly tap something on her scroll, she was calling somebody. "Hey, I found him he is in a...ah, what was it? The Chill Room, yeah, he's there. Number 7. Uh huh… okay. Yeah I did bring them who do you think are talking too pfft… Okay see ya." Ruby then finished the call. "Okay, we found you now and Mister Urra is bringing the good stuff.!"

Hector blinked his eyes once, and then shook his head lightly to try and bring himself back to reality. Ruby just had a whole conversation on the scroll in front of him at speeds that must have reached Mach level. "What kind of good stuff?" He asked, mind going straight to the gutter and thinking something he didn't think Ruby was capable of.

"We are modifying your weapons dumby!" Ruby giggled, and wiped the sweat off her forehead with the back of her sleeve. "Annnnd we are talking about the BIG stuff Hector… he told me of a railgun." She said with a dreamy face. "A really powerful railgun he said…" She thought for a moment, looking adorable as she did so. "Oh, and also he's bringing pizza!"

His stomach grumbled at the mention of pizza. "You have that here?" He asked stupidly. Mouth already starting to salivate. "I haven't had pizza in soooo long."

"Duh, pizza is multiversal, didn't you know?" Ruby said, and then finally sat down after pushing his weapons across the table so that there was nothing blocking her face. Hector refrained from making a short person joke.

He laughed instead. "No, I guess I didn't before. Ugh, I really want some now." He said, and then blew hair out of the way of his eye. It was really getting long now, and getting in the way of his eyes from time to time.

"Like the new red do?" Ruby asked, smiling at the sight of him having a nice red streak of red hair just like she did, except she had it all around her head instead of just one tip.

"It looks cool, sometimes I forget I have it thought. Like this morning, I woke up and thought; The hell?" Ruby laughed at his joke. "But yeah, I guess I do like it. Red is my favorite color, and you know what we say…"

"Red is the best!" Ruby exclaimed, and thrust her fist forward right as Hector did the same. Their knuckles clashed in mid air, and a red shine of aura came from both of them. It was sort of their motto now, ever since they came up with it some time after that moment under the bridge when they defeated Roman.

They talked for some time as they waited for Robert to find them. None of it was even remotely close to what happened in Mount Glenn, which was something Hector was immensely grateful of. Ruby was always easy to talk to, especially now since she was obsessed with _his_ weapons and trying to find a way to add that modification to them that would let him use his semblance without inadvertently killing himself. Sometime during the conversation however, he thought about how she was able to bring him back after he lost control not once, but _twice_. He knew why immediately, it was those silver eyes of hers. She grabbed his face and made him look into them. She didn't know that it was her eyes doing the work, and perhaps she didn't need too.

Wait… what if she did?

It was something Hector called himself a fool for not thinking of before. Ruby doesn't know what the color of her eyes mean yet, and she would only unlock them at the top of the Beacons tower after… maybe that could all be prevented if she learned how to use them earlier. Maybe.

"Hey Ruby," Hector said, stopping her mid sentence as she was talking about a specific enhancement that would help him throw his fists more arrow-dynamically.

"Hm?" The silver eyed girl looked at him, tilting her head and waiting for him to speak.

"I-" His eyes widened and went red as another surge of memories went through his mind. None of them dark and painful this time however, but he felt a strange warmness in his chest as he _heard_ them. It was laughter, _Ruby's_ laughter, and a voice… was it his? He didn't know, but he was remembering something again. He brought a hand up to comfort his aching head as the memories kept coming, a red cape, silver eyes, smiles. Hand holding, even kissing here and there. Then, a simple three words.

"I love you." Hector blurted out, then slapped a hand over his mouth, blushing the same shade of red Ruby was at the time.

"E-eh?" The girl's face was even redder now.

"I-I didn't mean it like that!" Hector stammered, and almost went on to tell her about the surge of memories he was getting. But stopped himself. Like Ruby was going to believe that he just _remembered_ something and blurted that out by accident. Ruby was young, but she wasn't stupid. She wasn't going to fall for that, even if it was the truth.

"O-oh, you mean like the Best Friend kind?" Ruby asked, still red but at least a little more calm now. It made sense that she was red, he doubted that she ever had a boy say that to her before.

"Y-yeah, that." He said, rubbing the back of his head as his eyes shone red still. From the corner of his eye, he could see Hell snickering to himself. Ever amused. "Sorry for blurting it out like that, but you really are the best friend I've ever had."

"Awe, you are too, just don't let Weiss hear me say that." She whispered underneath her breath, then went more red. "Love you too." She said even quieter, bumping the tips of her fingers together awkwardly.

And Hector, for all his changes he has went through, couldn't help but feel his heart skip a beat.

" _ **Your heart did NOT just skip a beat, did it?"**_ Hell asked from the other side of the room, a hand on his chest as well.

" _Fuck. Off."_ Hector thought to him.

The next minute was spent with Ruby and Hector taking short glances at one another while humming a soft song. Neither meant the words romantically, but both were embarrassed by saying them. Even if it was meant in the friendliest way possible.

"Well-"

"You know-"

Back to silence as red eyes stared into silver.

"How is-" Hector's words was interrupted as the door opened, and on the other side was an Atlesian humanoid droid carrying… pizza. It entered and then in went a second and a third, all with pizza… and finally came in Robert having a conversation through his scroll and carrying a large specialized briefcase.

"Look, I know you are supposed to look into this later today, but this is a healthy alternative, it's a solid plan- Ozpin. No, No. Yes. Look we didn't find who made it, and the mission is over, the case is also closed. Yes it's Atlessian, yes I do have Ironwood's permission, yes also for the droids… Yeah he knows they are gonna be destroyed. No. Yes. No… Ugh look, everything will be fine, don't doubt too much, if you do your plans anyway let me do mine, they share an interest… yeah, okay thank you, yeah goodbye." Robet finally closed his scroll. "Well, how's it going? We have a lot ahead of us."

Ruby immediately became a bundle of petals and went next to Robert, particularly close to the briefcase. Her face was still a little pink, but this time out of excitement.

"Is this it!?" Ruby asked while bouncing in place.

"Yup" Robert said.

"Can I see it?!"

"Nope."

"But please?!" Ruby asked with puppy eyes.

"Nope."

"Pwezze"

"Nah."

"Pretty please you said you will let me even fire it!" Ruby said with increasing puppy eyes, it reaching dangerous levels of puppy eyes until-

"Poke." Robert said as he poked Ruby's forehead with his free hand.

"Ah! No! Stop that!" Ruby whined, and tried to bat his hand away as it came back for another shot.

"Poke!"

"Cease!"

"No… this thing is dangerous, Thy puppy eyes don't apply here young lady!" Robert said.

"B-But…" Ruby pursed her upper lip, eyes glassy with obviously forced tears.

"You'll still fire it after I do first." Robert said without missing a beat

"Yay!" Ruby cheered

"Okay, so, is there a reason for the briefcase?" Hector asked, his voice muffled as half a pizza hung out of his mouth. The Atlesian droid stood there like a statue, as the first of many boxes of pizza was opened to reveal the hot steamy cheesy goodness. There were three already missing, and Hector was going for two more with each of his hands. Thankfully the droids had brought over a dozen pizza pies.

"Because Railgun, of course." Both Robert and Ruby said in unison.

"Hm." Hector hummed, hardly paying attention as he threw another pizza in his mouth. His eyes turned brown again as he sat back down, another pizza still in his hand, but dained to focus on whatever it was Robert and Ruby came here to tell him. "So is it done?" He asked, flicking his chin toward the briefcase and his weapons.

"What you mean done? I didn't make this, this is basically unknown Atlas tech, and I mean it literally, we have no idea who made this monster, what we are gonna do is reverse engineer it to give your gauntlets something that can store the energy of your semblance without hurting you." Robert said as he set the massive briefcase on a nearby table.

"So basically what you're saying is that I can store up power in the gauntlet, and then fire off the stored energy like a railgun?" Hector asked, leaning over to get a better look.

"Maybe… our goal will be to store the energy first, as to how well...This thing is special." Robert said as he opened the briefcase, it required a password to open, he put the password in and from the briefcase he picked up the famous railgun of the occasion… it definitely look Atleasian and high tech, it was also different however, Atlas weapons were more rectangular and standard even for their high tech, this thing, it was slick and futuristic in design. Completely black with some purple highlights and the end of the barrel had rhombus shape like design, the barrel was somewhat thin… but the are were the scope was and the stock were bulkier, under the scope there was something that didn't look like any chamber for ammo, no it looked more like a power cell. The stock itself also looked sturdy and shaped in a way to effectively reduce recoil. The gun itself looked weathered and battle damaged, but it still gave away a sort of splendor, it looked that slick and just… from the future.

"Whoa…" Ruby said with bright eyes, it certainly looked different than any weapon she had ever seen.

"So, that thing is the whatchamacallit?" Hector asked, pointing at it. Robert nodded. "How strong is this going to be exactly? Hope I don't break an arm trying to use it…"

"We don't know if you are gonna use it yet… as for how powerful, I'll show." Robert said, then he looked at the Atlas droids. "Uh… you, the one to the left, I'm sorry, but I need you to stand over there." The droid did as it was told, and went next to a window and put his arms forward, blocking it's face like a professional boxer.

"Now, I want maximum defenses." Robert said to the droid, the droid promptly powered up and a soft glow spread around it.

"Did that droid just…?"

"Yeah… this are some recent prototypes of training bots, General Ironwood brought them with him, I asked if I could use them and, well he gave me the go ahead. As of now, they are capable of simulating through dust a barrier that should be strong enough to match the defensive power of a Huntsman's aura, doesn't last long and requires way too much dust. In fact the time they can do this for is quite short, in this defensive stance it should be as tanky as person with aura willingly defending themselves against an attack." Robert explained.

"That's… so awesome, if it's like a person with Aura, then it should be strong as maybe Yang, or maybe Nora or Pyrrha or uh… Reggie maybe?" Ruby said.

"Yep, tanky as they may be, maybe less maybe more, point is, it's basically someone with aura and with strong enough defenses… well this thing." Robert said tapping the Railgun. He picked it up and aimed for the droid.

"Full defenses" Robert said, the droid as it was told and was basically glowing slightly brighter now, Robert aimed his shot at the droid and…

 _FWOOM_

It had been like a ghostly howl, the Railgun powered up briefly before the shot and immediately fired a shot followed by a thick dense purple and black smoke, as for the droid, Hector and Ruby looked over to it and widened their eyes. It's arms and head had been completely been blown off, the droid crumbled to the ground and there they also saw how the shot didn't stop at the droid, it had gone past the wall behind it into the exterior.

"You're saying I can shoot that from my arms!?" Hector asked excitedly.

" _ **I must admit, I'd like to have that power as well."**_ Hell said, appearing standing next to the droid inspecting the damage. " _ **It completely overpowered the droid's defensive artificial aura, if it is truly as powerful as a Huntsman's, then this will be a very handy weapon considering the enemies we are up against."**_ He said, licking his lips as he faded away. Hectors eyes went red again for a split second, and his smile wavered slightly. Thinking about the mess the weapon would cause if it was fired at a person.

"Again, I don't know." Robert said, earning his attention once more. "This thing was designed to do this, and clearly it has massive amounts of energy, energy that does not play well with auras… sound familiar?" Robert asked.

"So familiar I can feel it already." Hector nodded his head. He was listening to Robert speak, but his eyes were elsewhere, glancing around the room as he tracked the white haired Hell walk around curiously. Even stepping next to Ruby for a moment and leaning down into her face, looking even more curious as he did so. Like he recognized her and was no longer afraid of her eyes.

"I don't know, if you are gonna be able to fire something like that, but the amount of energy this can store… and considering how it works against auras, it is my hope that maybe we can use to fit your gauntlets with some power cells that can handle the energy of your Kaioken instead of your body."

"Like your weapons?" Ruby asked, pointing at Robert's own gauntlets.

"Well… a similar concept. But on how you release the energy, that might actually be pretty tricky, and again we don't know how this thing works, it could end up with not even an eighth of its original power, or not work at all, but if it can save you, I'll risk losing this thing." Robert said tapping the Railgun

"Yeah…" Hector ran a hand over his arms, arms that were once burning with powerful aura as he stopped that train, so hot that the muscles were burning off. "Me too." The idea of losing a most of the power behind his strikes instead of being in immense pain was welcome to him. He has felt enough pain for one lifetime, he'd rather take the slightly weaker route.

"If we are gonna do that then… can I fire it now?" Ruby asked with puppy eyes.

"Yes." Robert said quickly, rolling his eyes as he did so. "Just aim for the exterior please, this thing is designed to kill."

"Hehe…" Robert felt like he should have been a bit concerned when Ruby didn't respond to him with an actual yes or no answer, but trusted the younger girl in not accidentally destroying all of Beacon and using the railgun like a responsible fifteen year old girl.

Hector traced his eyes on Ruby for the first few moments as she lifted the railgun off of the table with added effort. The weight of the weapon surprised her, but she was able to adjust to it right away. He then looked away to watch as the ghostly form of Hell followed her, and even placed himself in between her and the target. He watched as Ruby fired and it went right through his body, earning a laugh out of the white haired mirror image of himself. He wondered morbidly what would have happened if Hell was actually killed by that blast.

The sound of snapping fingers caught his attention, he looked toward Robert with a confused look on his face. "What?" He asked, slightly annoyed.

"Were you listening to me?" Robert asked him with a raised eyebrow. "Or were you looking at Ruby? Didn't know there was something going on there…"

Hector growled lightly, thankfully his tan skin tone was able to partially hide the way his cheeks heated up at the memory of what happened before Robert entered the room. "Nothing like that, I wasn't even looking at her, at least not intentionally."

Robert raised his other eyebrow. The question that was silently asked was obvious to him.

"That came out a little weird, I know." Hector said, then sighed.

"Just a little bit." Robert said, then followed his gaze. What he saw was simple, Ruby having fun with a railgun on the poor Atlesian droids that were still functioning. "What were you looking at then?"

"Uh…" Hector hesitated, and his eyes flashed red again. He wondered on how to go about this, he has never told anyone about Hell yet. Though he knew that he would have too eventually. Especially since it seemed like Hell wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, and that they were linked with each other somehow by one means or another. "Just… something that I've been seeing that is probably not real. I don't really know how to describe it yet." He said instead, then mentally slapped himself for explaining it in such a stupid way.

"Okay… but you can see it?" Robert asked.

"Yeah, he's standing right there." Hector said, flicking his chin toward Ruby and the droids.

"He, huh… okay?" Robert said, catching on quickly.

Hector scrunched his eyes shut and shook his head. Forcing himself to look away from Hell. "Yeah, he." He admitted, it would have been no use trying to lie about it. He would have probably been in some trouble if he did anyway. "Been around since Glenn… kept me company, even if he was a bit of an asshole. Crazy, crazy, I know. I suck at explaining things."

"Hmm, well… can I ask you something?" Robert asked.

Hector humphed. "Guess so." He nodded.

"How good are you with weapons in general, like making them, disassembling them, you know the engineering stuff?"

"Besides the little bit that I caught on to from Ruby. Nadda."

"Well, if that's the case… you could sit by close, and while we are working and cracking this dead machine, and also asking what you prefer for your gauntlets, you could maybe ask that "asshole" to maybe pose around so you can draw him or something?" Robert said. Hector slowly turned to him, a complicated expression on his face "I know it's not the best advice, but maybe drawing… him… can help you to explain it, and give us clueless people that don't see him a better idea as to what you're seeing. It might even clear your head a bit too, it does for some people that draw their nightmares and dreams and such…" Robert suggested, adding a shrug that told Hector 'Why not?'

Looking away for a moment, Hector reached forward and snatched a piece of paper from Roberts briefcase. It wasn't blank and looked like something that might have been important, so he flipped it over to the back to a blank side of one of the sheets, and grabbed a pencil from Roberts front pocket. Robert let it happen, curious as to where Hector was going to go with this.

"This might seem a little weird, but bare with me." Hector said out loud, and somehow Robert knew that he wasn't talking to him or Ruby. "Stand there for a bit, and look at me. Just do it, don't complain, it's not like you have anything else to do. Tch, prick." He said, having a muttered conversation as his pencil started forming foundation lines on the paper, starting with a sketched circle for the head.

"Okay, that seems to have worked… now for the next order of business, Ruby!" Robert called.

"This thing is awesome!" Ruby called back.

"I know but we have to disassemble it." Robert said.

"But… but…" Ruby stammered, and then held the railgun close to her chest.

"For Hector's sake." Robert mouthed to her, winking. Ruby nodded her head in understanding right away. "Besides maybe just maybe we might be able to assemble it again."

"Hmm, okay…" She said, surrendering the weapon.

"There is one rule that I have here however." Robert said pointing his finger upwards.

"Umm…"

"And that is that the pizzas with mushrooms are mine." Robert said with a smile.

"Oh…" Ruby said, then she just giggled.

"Come on, let's get to work." Robert said clapping his hand on her shoulder.

Hector wasn't at all an expert at drawing, and at most did it as a hobby from what he remembered. But something within Roberts words resonated within him, and so his hand and pencil moved in sync as he kept glancing to Hell, standing there with his arms crossed and an annoyed look on his face. He didn't actually expect Hell to actually listen to him, but he wasn't going to complain about it, not when he had an idea in mind thanks to Robert's assistance. Starting with the face, Hector started with the eyes, drawing realism wasn't his strongest trait, but it would have to do for now. The eyes were first, he had a relatively easy time with the first eye on the left, but the one on the right gave him more trouble. He had to erase it a couple of times to really get it right. Once he got what he thought was the best it was going to look, he went on to draw the eyebrows and irises. In all, it took about fifteen minutes to finish the eyes. Going down, he drew the nose, which didn't take that long, then the mouth, which Hell was making easy for him by keeping his lips pursed together.

It looked like him, Hector thought. _Too much_ like him. He filled in the white between the iris and the eyelids black, giving Hell the look that he really had. Grimm eyes. Or at least the closest he was going to get them with just a pencil. Next was the hair, which again looked like his. Strangely enough Hell didn't have the red dye like he did, so he left that part out as he drew the messy hairstyle that he usually walks around with, hair long enough that it gave him bangs that almost covered his eyes. White hair, so he left it white. The ear was easy, he never had much trouble with those, and then the shape of the head. Then Hell's head was done.

After that, he zoned out. The rest of the body was much easier than drawing a face, for him anyways. Along the foundation lines that he drew, he drew the clothes and shape of the body, which again was strikingly similar to his own. This Hell however had one other thing to distinguish himself from him. A jacket, and from the looks of it, it was the same jacket that Hector found in the abandoned store that he huddled up in for a few days.

It took about an hour, and thankfully not a second longer. Hector sat back as he looked down at the drawing. It wasn't _that_ good, but it made him proud nonetheless. But the meaning of it made him frown. He ended up drawing all the features he could of Hell, including the violet veins that bulged out from his face. The dark eyes, and the relatively angry look that he had. Without those features, it could be mistaken for himself. Hector sighed through his nose exasperatedly as he looked back up at Hell, who took the opportunity to disappear when he had it.

" _ **You made me stand there that long for this?"**_ He asked, seeing through his eyes. " _ **I suppose disappointment is what I should have expected."**_

Following that comment, Hector promptly signed the word 'Asshole' in the lower right corner.

"Done?" Robert asked, sitting a few feet to his side. The weapon was long since dismantled, and Ruby was gone from the room. Hector hadn't noticed it, but for the past half hour, Robert was watching him draw. "Nice." He said, looking at the drawing, and noting the Grimm features. "It's you?" He asked.

"No." Hector shook his head. "Not me."

"So… it's him? But he looks like you… only that… Grimm…" Robert finished slowly.

"Yeah, it ain't perfect, but that's the best way I can describe it. It's me, but it's also him. Hell. He calls himself." Hector explained quietly. "He's the reason I was strong enough to stop that train."

"... Tch… hmm." Robert remained silent for a bit, thinking

"Doesn't sound real, right?"

"Hector, we are interdimensional travelers, I'll accept anything as possible at this point." Robert said. "So is he like, your semblance? Because if he is part of your semblance… well, we all saw what happened to you so it would make sense that your semblance could have, more than meets the eye… I mean Ozpin said we were… unnatural." Robert finished trying to give a possible explanation.

"Yeah, I've been believing that more and more everyday." Hector said. "Hell can take control when I lose all my aura, and when he does my body gets many times stronger, and more durable. We can heal as well, so that explains how I am able to recover so fast sometimes."

"Some feral instinct tied to your semblance perhaps?" Robert suggested. He didn't know, but to give possible explanations was the best he could with something like this.

Hector shrugged. "Maybe, it's not like the fucker actually _tells_ me anything." He hissed.

" _ **I can not tell you which I do not know. I am as much in the dark as you are."**_ Hell thought to him.

"You can talk to him?" Robert asked, eyes wider than before.

"Yeah, he talks a lot sometimes, sometimes not at all." Hector said. "It's why I just say something random out of nowhere in the middle of a conversation at times."

"What does he generally talk about?" Robert asked, he looked back at the drawing. "Does he tell you stuff like 'Kill them all', 'Darkness' or something of the sort?"

Hector snickered. "He did once, when we broke out of that chair. He's been calm more or less now." He admitted. "Now he just broods and talks shit to me whenever he can."

" _ **I'd rather you not speak of me like I am a mindless animal."**_

"You kinda are."

" _ **To you, maybe."**_

"Okay… so, some sort of evil twin then? That or some parasite? Because I'll be honest I have already faced one Grimm with mental abilities and uh… I mean they could injected you with something, it could be Grimm disease… or an actual Grimm parasite… I uh… oh no." Robert started talking out loud, it worse by the second.

"I think Angita would have said something if that was the case. She took my blood, remember?"

"Mental, physical or not it still doesn't sound good… we might need a specialist, and I don't mean Atlas specialist I mean… you know what I mean." Robert said.

"Well then… maybe it's a good thing we already have a scheduled meeting with Ozpin." Hector said as he slipped out his scroll. "We gotta be there in like twenty minutes anyway, and thankfully I now have a way to explain it to him." He added as he picked up the packet of papers, and ripped off the last one. Only to fold it and stuff it in his left pocket. "What are the chances he doesn't try and 'terminate' me immediately?"

"The guy is very interested on what's happening with you, that's also why we going to that mission… but I don't know, we are talking about someone that makes weird decisions, we completely ignores all of mine and Glynda's rants about it."

Hector nodded his head. "Somehow… I understand that very deeply." He said, placing a hand on his chest and rubbing it. "Let'sLet's go then, and see what he has to say about it. I should probably get it out there anyway, I wouldn't want to accidentally break your nose again."

"Tch," Robert slapped his shoulder. "No more of that, I wasn't expecting it." He said as he stood up, and started making his way to the exit.

"Sure, I believe you." Hector said with a small smile, and followed Robert out of Chill Room #7.

* * *

Ozpin sat across from them in his chair, hands intertwined together as he looked down at the drawn picture set before him. His expression was as complicated as ever, as was Ironwoods as he hovered over his shoulder to get a good look at it himself. Hector sat across from him in the chair he always sat in when he was in his office, with Robert in the other seat beside him. Glynda was behind them, and the only other people in the room were Winter Schnee, standing steadfastly and at attention, while also sending a glare or two toward Qrow, who sat beside Ozpin with a curious look in his eye.

"So there's two o' ya now?" The drunken Huntsman asked him. "'Cept one of ya is a little more Grimmy than the other."

"Pretty much, yeah." Hector said, shrugging his shoulders and hiding his nervousness. What made everything worse was that Hell was also standing behind Ozpin, looking at the drawing presented before him. Explaining Hell this time around was much easier than before, since he had a general idea of where to start off this time. In just a few minutes, Ozpin went from smiling, to complete and worrying neutrality.

"A human and a Grimm, merged together?" Ironwood said, wondering. "Impossible in theory, but not so much in reality, evidently. Are you able to control this 'Hell' side of you?"

"Sometimes…" Hector said, shrinking. "Sometimes he's too much to control."

"You must control it." Ozpin said, speaking for the first time since Hector's explanation of Hell. "If you are meant to be our ally, that is."

"I think he would have made that apparent with the amount of time he has already had to betray us, headmaster." Robert said, immediately coming to his defense.

"Of course," Ozpin said, but did not look at him as he said it. Instead, his brown eyes stared into the red of Hector's. "Which is why I would suggest training between him and I immediately, so he can learn to control such a creature."

"Ah," Hector stuttered, his wide red eyes looking back at Ozpin with shock. "W-what do you mean?"

"Oz, come on man." Qrow said, touching Ozpin's shoulder. "Don't you think it's a little early for that?"

"Not at all." Ozpin said, sitting up suddenly. "I believe this should have been done immediately, Mister Rivers. You should have told me of this as soon as you woke up after the train incident. Something like this 'Hell' has the potential to be very dangerous, not just to yourself, but to those around you. You wouldn't want to be responsible for the deaths of innocents, do you?"

"O-of course not!" Hector exclaimed, a little too loudly. He shook lightly and he gripped the arm rests of the chair tightly, almost too tightly. "No… I get it, fine. When do you want to start?"

"Immediately." Ozpin said, standing up. "My office has enough open space, we shall do it here. Where I know we will not be watched."

"Woah, woah, woah." Robert stood up. "What about the mission briefing? Team HAMR and I go in just two days."

"Tomorrow, then." Ozpin said simply. "James, Glynda, please escort Qrow, Specialist Schnee, and Mister Urra behind my desk where they will be safely out of any potential collateral damage."

Qrow sighed, and Robert was about to protest before a pair of strong hands settled on his shoulder. It was both Ironwood and Glynda. Looking over his shoulder, he realized he would get no help from Winter or Qrow as they were already standing behind Ozpin's desk. Looking back to Hector, even he has resigned to his fate and stood up to meet Ozpin in the center of the open office. With no alternative, Robert allowed himself to be taken behind the desk, where a blue vertical shield was activated just in front of the desk where he was previously sitting.

"This is just…" Robert couldn't find the words, it honestly didn't feel right.

"Your aura needs to be down in order for the change to come through, correct?" Ozpin asked him.

"Yeah…" Hector said, nodding his head. "Does this mean you are going to hit me really hard?"

"Not quite…" Ozpin took a step toward him, and placed a hand on his head. Hector started to feel strange, and his aura flared before shining violet for a moment. He staggered back while holding his head.

"What was that?" He asked, feeling like something was forced into his brain.

"We are low on time, so I deemed it necessary to use an ability of mine that would bestow upon you the knowledge on how to take down one's own aura temporarily. It is not lethal, and it has been a long forgotten technique. Use it now, and we can get started."

It was very convoluted and confusing, but Ozpin was right. Hector did feel like he had just learned a new trick. Using it wasn't even that difficult, taking down his own aura was almost instantaneous. His red aura flickered and went out, and he fell to his knees as he immediately felt Hell start to take control.

Everyone behind the barrier watched on in shock as Hector writhed and groaned to himself, almost sounding like he was in pain. His hair grew a lighter shade of grey, and his skin went pale like cream. Even Winter looked like she was seeing a ghost as Hector's eyes went black and red, and dark purple veins bulged from his face. Then, to top it all off, writhing and groaning changed to laughing and snickering. Hector was no more, and Hell stood up with bulged muscles and a dark black aura to his body.

"Finally! It has been awhile since I was in control." He said, looking around. He met Roberts eyes for a moment, and smirked at him before looking back to the headmaster.

"Oh no, it was real… no no no no no noooo." Robert whined behind the barrier, he was honestly hoping it wasn't something like this, he would have taken a semblance by product anyday over this.

"You are Hell, I presume." Ozpin said, his bright green aura glowing as it flowed over his body. He was ready for a fight.

"I am." Hell replied, then began to circle around Ozpin.

"You can understand what I am saying?" The headmaster asked, allowing himself to be circled.

"Hm." Hell grunted his response. "Hehe… I wonder what an opponent you will make… though, there is some strange recognition I feel when I look at you…" His eyes went wide with hatred. "It makes me want **to tear you apart!"**

"Fuck…" Robert sighed, it was like this then.

Ozpin's face was straight as he sent Hell flying back into one of his bookshelves, the furniture shattered as his back slammed against it. But he stood back up and came at him again. Ozpin didn't even look like he was moving as he flipped Hell over and kicked him away at blinding speeds. "Lesson one," He said as he turned around to face Hell, his cane out and held between both hands. "Control your anger."

Hell's answer was dark, and in a scream. He came at him again.

* * *

 **Yet another cliffhanger. This one started out a little slow, but picked up towards the end. Now next chapter we get to see Hell vs Ozpin. Something that never happened in An Unlikely Hero strangely enough, hm, wonder how that's all going to turn out. - Genatools**

 **Well… it will be interesting. -CrowSkull**

 **Please review and let us know what you think of the story so far, if you would like to keep up with the progress of every story that I write you can follow me on my twitter.**

 **T witter . com (slash) genatools**

 **P a treon . com (slash) Genatools**


	40. A Tale of Two Heroes chapter 40

**And we are back. Got a few people in the reviews last chapter hoping for a return of the Red Rivers ship from An Unlikely Hero. Just gotta say it right now, no, Red Rivers will not be returning. This Hector and Ruby don't have the same chemistry or pathing that could lead to a relationship that could mean sense. I apologize for disappointing any of you if I have, but hey, look at the bright side; Just because AUH is over, does not mean that AUH Hector has had his final chapter.** _ **Wink Wink.**_

 **No that does not mean he is going to be in** _ **this**_ **story.**

* * *

 **Thank you all who reviewed, taking it slow this week, so I apologize for the lack of responses. I did read all of them however, and again, thank you all for reviewing.**

 **Beta & Co-writer: CrowSkull**

* * *

 **Now let's get right back into the show!**

* * *

A Tale of Two Heroes

Chapter 40- Hellish Lessons

Hell roared in agony and rage as the shelves of Ozpin's office once again shattered against his back. Small trickle of blood ran down the middle of the grove of his back as he pushed himself up from all fours, his skin still as pale as ever, his eyes red and his teeth bared. He has been fighting Ozpin for… Well, _trying_ to fight Ozpin for hours it felt like, not only to him but to those who were watching. But in reality, it has only been a few minutes since the first time the headmaster threw him into the wall.

His office was a mess now, Ozpin noticed. Books scattered everywhere and torn apart, papers scattered amongst them, and even the elevator doors to his office were dented inwards from when Hell tried to punch the headmaster in the face, and instead accidentally slammed his fist into the metal doors. It left a black scorch mark where it made an impact, a testament to the sheer heat that the man, or thing, was giving off.

The worst thing about this ordeal, at least to Robert. Was that _neither_ of the combatants looked like they were going to stop anytime soon. Neither were breathing heavily or with any labour. Hell was getting beat up, sure, but the wounds that his body was getting were healing just as fast as they were being made. Everytime he was knocked back, he got back up and came at him again. Every time a bone is broken or fractured, it would mend itself back together and he would _still_ go for the headmaster. Ozpin didn't feel as threatened as he felt annoyed with Hell's constant persistence.

"Durable," General Ironwood noted, watching with a curious expression on his face as he held his chin with a gloved hand. "Very durable, despite not having aura to protect his body."

"Of course he is..." Robert said to himself, even more worried than before, but more than that a bit pissed off.

"You shouldn't worry too much kid." Qrow said.

"It will be fine… not like it's much different than before eh?" Robert asked, anger getting more and more intense with every blow landed on his friends body. "Hector was barely able to control his aura before, now its not working at all. Great."

"I don't think your buddy is in control right now, kid." Qrow said, sighing.

Robert didn't answer, but he fully faced the older huntsman, challenging with just his expression.

"Look at his eyes, or even his body, and tell me that's Hector Rivers training with Ozpin." Qrow said, flicking his chin toward the battle.

Robert forced himself to look again. What he saw wasn't any better than what he saw earlier that meeting when Hector first brought his aura down thanks to Ozpin's bestowed technique. Hector's hair was still a dark cool grey color, his skin was deathly white, and his eyes were like a Grimm. Red iris' and black sclera. The purple veins in his face and what was exposed of his arms didn't make his situation look any better either. It only made Qrow's point even more clear. This wasn't Hector in control of his body right now, this was something far more malicious, and evil possibly.

Robert didn't look back to Qrow, he clenched his teeth however using Ozpin's desk to help him stay standing.

Qrow looked to him pitifully. He's seen that look plenty of times before. It was a look of anguish, and anger. From what he's learned from the kid so far, he wasn't that expressive of what he was feeling or thinking most of the time. On the outside must have been only scratching the surface of what Robert was actually feeling. Confusion, sorrow, guilt, and many others. He saw it in his partner once, a long time ago. When his sister ran away. The memory made him grimace and re-focus his attention on what could hardly be described as a battle.

" **RARGH!"** Hell roared as he moved a little faster than Ozpin expected. It meant little in the grand scheme of things, only that it forced him to block rather than flip Hell over himself once more. The sound and impact force it made when Hell's knuckles clashed against the shaft of Ozpin's cane was unexpectedly loud and powerful. Enough to actually send the headmaster skidding back on his feet a few meters, all the way until his back was almost pushed up against the shield wall that he activated behind his desk.

Everyone flinched softly as Ozpin disappeared on the spot in a mirage of green as Hell's fist went through his fading silhouette. The shield crackled and flickered as his fist bounced right off of it, and the skin of his knuckles were torn off as a result. His body couldn't even handle its own power, apparently.

Robert was speechless as those black-red eyes stared directly into his soul for a few seconds. Right before Ozpin came back and kicked the stranger before him in the stomach. When Hell tried to grab his leg, it was pulled back right before he could get a grip on it and he felt the metal part of the headmaster's cane slam into the top of his head. Hell was dazed and sprawled out across the floor, stunned momentarily.

"Are you quite done yet?" Ozpin asked, walking calmly around the pale skinned man. "As you are now you will never be able to land a meaningful blow against me, I am simply too far beyond you. Calm yourself, and perhaps I shall take a more diplomatic approach with you."

To his disappointment, Hell simply began to laugh. The pain that Hell showed before faded away instantly as he threw his head back and roared with cackles and giggles that was unbefitting of a body which looked so much like his student. Ozpin narrowed his eyes, and wondered how far he would have to go in order to put Hell down without killing him. He may be of some relation to the Grimm, but Hector Rivers was still his student, and it wasn't like he didn't already know that his powers and semblance was of dark origins. He's known since he first met Hector Rivers, the anomaly that spontaneously showed up during the initiation of that term. There's been magic in him from the very beginning. Both Light and Dark, which was why he pushed him so hard and allowed him to bring his team out into Vale to stop the White Fang on their own.

" **You act like I am incapable of adapting!"** Hell exclaimed finally, and easily pushed himself back to a standing position. The nails on the tip of his finger were more akin to claws now, and a dark black and red aura started to flare up all around his body. It was eerily similar to the shape of a certain ability that Hector was capable of. " **Besides, the more I fight you, the more I learn** _ **how**_ **to beat you!"**

"Is that so…?" Ozpin asked, preparing to get a little more serious. There was a fair chance that Hell was simply bluffing and tooting his own horn, but he wasn't going to chance it. Perhaps he was simply learning his patterns. If that was the case, he would simply have to become a little more unpredictable.

" **Yes,"** Hell stood up straight, black flames burning around him as he walked a talked just like any regular human would. " **I know you… yes… there is no denying it. Even before I ended up here."**

Ozpin raised an eyebrow. "Ended up here you say? Would you care to elaborate?"

For once, Hell's expression changed from enraged to genuine confusion, his aura simmered down for a few moments as he thought hard on how to answer. " **I-I don't know… I only remember being taken, then being put somewhere else. Everything before and after is… hazy."** He began to groan as if in pain and grabbed at his head, Ozpin was about to take a step forward to assist him out of concern but jumped back as a black flames took hold of Hell once more. " **Hah…"** Hell breathed heavily, for the first time this 'lesson' started. " **I-I don't understand… this can't be true."**

"What is wrong?" Ozpin asked.

Hell looked back at him, but his brow was scrunched and his teeth were bared once again. His eyes were full of hatred and rage, and Ozpin put himself on guard and prepared for another potential attack. " **Yes… yes I remember now… Still very convoluted and nothing really makes sense… but…"** He pointed to Ozpin. " **I do know that** _ **you**_ **are part of the reason of how I died."**

Ozpin raised both eyebrows. "Died? That is impossible, you are here right now, standing in front of me, and before today I have never met you in my life." What concerned Ozpin more was that he meant _every_ life he has lived in the thousands of years his soul has remained on Remnant being forced to reincarnate into the next host over and over again.

" **You're right…"** Hell smirked. " **Not in this life, you haven't wronged me,"**

Ozpin's eyes went wide. "Not in this life…? Interesting, Mister Rivers, very interesting. It seems that I do not know everything as I thought so."

" **Hector Rivers is not here."** Hell didn't know why, but he spat the name out like it was venom. He hated that name, and it tortured him to not know the reason for it. " **Right now, you are dealing with me… And if you thought that I was going all out before, you will be sorely mistaken very soon."** He took a position that had everyone's eyes going wide, his arms were clenched by his sides and his aura flared even higher. Black and red flames burned all around his body, and his eyes glowed along with it.

"He's not gonna… is he?" Robert couldn't finish the sentence properly.

"I think he is…" Ironwood said, shocked, but still strangely curious to see Hell's power. "I wonder what the results of-"

"Ozpin!" Robert slammed his fist against the shield, his gauntlet and aura saving him from broken knuckles. Glynda shouted his name in surprise, and Winter stepped forward, one hand on her sabre as if ready to draw it. Ironwood stopped her by placing a hand on her elbow, staring silently into Roberts back. "Stop this bullshit, he's going to kill himself!"

Ozpin considered his words, and all the words that were shouted afterward, and looked deeper into Hell's spirit. It was heavily dark, and even on the outside it showed that. His body was being damaged already as he activated the latent effects of the Kaioken. His muscles bulged and his skin tore, but he healed the damage just as fast as it was taking it, just like he was when he was fighting the headmaster without it. However, deep deep with this Hell's soul was a tiny spark of light, a light that was once much brighter, but is now barely flickering to fight back against the darkness. It was conflicted, orders against orders and confusion met with more confusion. Which was also accompanied by another, brighter soul. Which was Hector Rivers, for certain. It still was tinged with darkness, but the kind intention was still there plain as day. It was enough to help Ozpin make his final decision.

"I do not know what I've done to earn such malice," He said as he got into a fighting stance. "But know that whatever it is, I am sorry that I've hurt you so."

Hell's eyes widened slightly amidst his power up, but any surprise or joy he might have felt was drowned out my an enraged scream.

" **You do not get to apologize for something so worthy of despisement! I will make you pay Rivers!"** Hell screamed a word. " **Kaioken!"**

* * *

Ozpin leaned to his side with grace to dodge Hell's first attack. If it weren't for his already incredibly fast reaction speeds he might have been struck for the first time directly. Hell was much faster, and much stronger, as was expected of the Kaioken ability that his student is in possession of. The silly name he gave it. But besides the physical amplifications, there was nothing else that was special about it other than the intensity of the heat that radiated from his body.

Hell roared and threw another punch at him, wildly and almost without any skill put behind it other than pure power and speed. It missed just as wildly, but the shockwave it shot off shattered the other bookshelf on the other side of his office. Weaving his head to dodge his other arm, Ozpin went low and swept his leg across to knock Hell down flat on his back. His student grunted softly as some of the wind was pushed out of his lungs. But still had enough sense to cross his arms over his body to block the cane that almost pelted him in the center of his chest. The impact made even Ozpin flinch, Hells back cracked his floor and he entered into the ground a few inches. But any pain that Hell may have felt was either expertly hidden within his enraged features, or there was hardly any in the first place.

He got his answer when he brought his cane back up to slam it back down a second time, this time aiming for his head in an attempt to knock him out. Hell's _teeth_ bit down on his _metal_ cane and he held on tight. Ozpin's eyes went wide and in his shock he foolishly kept holding on to his cane with an iron grip, just as he had taught himself to do so over the years.

He felt his arm nearly get torn out of its socket as Hell turned his head violently to one side. The next thing the headmaster knew he was in the air. Not wanting to take any kind of serious damage, he let go of his cane and flipped through the air once, spinning and planting his feet against the wall once he came into contact with it, then allowed gravity to let him fall gently back down onto the floor of his office.

Hell stood back up, some teeth cracked or missing but already growing back, and his own cane in one of his hands. Ozpin was not worried however, he has never seen Mister Rivers use a weapon other than his fists, and the weapon that he _did_ use was inspired by Miss Xiao Long's, he fought primarily with his body, and little else. If anything, Hell was opening himself up to a whole new mirage of techniques that can be used to disarm and disable an armed opponent that Ozpin has spent a long time mastering.

What he didn't expect was for Hell to wield it as if he had always used a weapon like that. Even he didn't seem to notice as he changes his stance to better fit the cane weapon. When he charged at Ozpin again, this time it was with a smile on his face. The first attack was aimed for his shoulder, and with the strength that was behind it Ozpin was not keen on letting it hit. He pushed into Hell's attack and nullified his strike by pushing his shoulder into the shorter boys face. The cane cracked against the wall harmlessly, and Ozpin went to work on getting his weapon back.

When Hell felt his hand start squeezing down on his wrist and forearm, he used his overwhelming strength to his advantage. Ozpin gave up on trying to disarm him as Hell drove his own shoulder into the center of his back, and kept pushing. Ozpin was a very powerful and skilled man, but he wasn't the strongest in terms of raw muscle. Even some of his older third or fourth year students were physically stronger, it was just the vast difference in skill and experience that always kept Ozpin at the top.

There was little skill to be involved when you were just trying to push a man into the wall until he died, especially when you actually had the strength to do it. He realized the danger quickly and jumped up to place his legs on the wall, kicking off of it with the strength of his legs that gave him enough space to twist his way out of Hell's grip. When Hell tried to grab him again, he slapped his hand away and flipped backwards, landing on the other side of the room gently. The roaring footsteps of his student gave him the answer to the question of how long he could stand idle before he attacked once again.

He was about half paying attention to this battle, three-quarters at best. What Ozpin was really paying attention to throughout this lesson he was teaching him was the effects this sudden change was having on his body. Besides the obvious appearance, the Kaioken ability that would have likely either killed Hector or severely injured him before this lesson started, but now that this 'Hell' is in control, that handicap seems to have been rebuffed.

" **Pay more attention!"**

Ozpin was snapped back into reality as he felt himself move slower than usual. Hell suddenly got faster, and even stronger as he drove his own cane toward his leg. One peg, and that was all it took for Ozpin to feel the pain. Getting more serious, Ozpin jumped up and wrapped his legs around Hell's arm and neck, and threw his body about to disorient his student. He felt something grip on his leg, which just made him hold on tighter. Hell fell backwards and through the cane away, and only when using both hands he was able to pry off Ozpin's limbs from choking him out right as his vision started going black and dancing with the stars.

"How is he acquiring so much strength?" Winter asked.

"Remember, this is the same kid who stopped a train with his bare hands." Qrow pointed out.

"With help." Glynda said.

"Yeah, with help, don't remind me." He muttered something about one of his nieces being insane. "But the fact remains. If this kid was able to stop a train, what's to say he can't use that strength to get him out of holds like that?" Qrow said right as Hell threw Ozpin off of his body, coughing but a single time before jumping up to a standing position and running toward Ozpin once more, despite being disarmed already and Ozpin having his cane back.

"But he isn't using his own aura." Robert said, teeth gritted in frustration. "He can take damage, which means that he can be overwhelmed before his healing starts kicking in. What if Ozpin goes too far here and accidentally kills him?"

"He won't." Qrow said, shaking his head.

"How do you know that?"

"Because I've _seen_ Ozpin fight seriously before, and if you think _this_ is it?" Qrow laughed. "Man, you have seen nothing yet. If he wanted to, this fight would have already been over ages ago."

"Sorry, sorry Qrow if I'm concerned for the person without aura okay!?" Robert bellowed. "It's not like he's been throwing himself to danger to him without a care if he gets hurt or not ever since the start of this insane plan of Ozpin's."

"You get used to it…" Ironwood sighed.

" **Gah!"** Hell groaned as he fell to one knee after being struck _hard_ in the stomach. Ozpin pulled his cane back and slammed it back down on the floor, staring at Hell and watching for any kind of aggressive movements. He felt the vibrations in his cane when he struck him that time, and the crack of one or two of his ribs. He hated to have to cause pain to his student, but with him not backing down it was seeming more and more likely that he would have to hit him with something a little more… intense in order to really keep Hell down, and for his student Hector Rivers to return.

Hell spat dark blood to the side and wiped at his mouth. His healing was kicking in already, but that didn't mean that the damage was never there in the first place. Despite the pain, he lunged forward and threw another whizzing punch through where Ozpin was once standing. His eyes bulged out of his head a second later when he felt a kidney rupture within his body when Ozpin pegged him in the body with the end of his cane with stone shattering strength. He cried out in pain and fell down to one knee again, holding onto the nasty dark purple bruise he now had on his side due to the internal bleeding.

"Hector Rivers, this lesson is over." The headmaster said with authoritative demand. "Take control of your mind, and go back to your team."

" **Er** gh…" He groaned in response, then took in one massive breath of air. Ozpin sighed internally when the dark bruise on his side faded away quickly, and the internal damage that was caused was repaired. " **I** can't- **am only scratching the-** too strong- **very surface of my strength!"** Hell claimed as he stood back up onto his feet.

"Is he coming back somehow?" Robert asked out loud, "Hector, please tell me you are there, I heard something like you there!" He shouted.

Red eyes turned to look into brown. Ozpin tilted a head in curiosity as Hell seemed to recognize Mister Urra. The strangest thing was that Hell was both smiling at the man while also tearing up in one eye. " **Not quite."** He said, chuckling with Robert growled at him. " **It has been too long since I've been in control, I will not be giving it up so easily!"** He looked back to Ozpin, and powered up even further, the radiance he was giving off grew even more dense with heat and intensity. " **Times five!"** He shouted into the room with laughter.

There was no weakness that could be spotted there, Ozpin noticed immediately. Hector, before his capture, could only go up to a time five multiplier of strength and speed before it became too much for him to bare. But as Hell, he was able to do it without issue.

"Very well…" Ozpin extended his cane to a slightly longer length. "If I must render you unconscious to bring back my student, then so be it."

" **I'd like to see you try-"** Hell was cut off as he twisted his body to the side and grabbed at the offending cane, only for it to be pulled back right before he could grab it. The cane smashed into his face the next time it came around, and the next one was aimed low to the back of one of his knees. Before Hell could even react, the cane was at his throat already. He coughed and hacked as he felt his windpipe nearly collapse in on itself. Desperate, he made himself grow even stronger with power.

His healing accelerated, as did his speed. He was able to dodge Ozpin's next attack, and block the next. He even tried to counter once, but got punished hard for it in the form of an electric green aura encased fist cracked his jaw bone. The damage healed three times as fast as it might have been able to before, and again, Hell pushed himself even further.

 _He must be at times twenty by now…_ Ozpin thought to himself as Hell fought him at impossible speeds. He wasn't using any of his own abilities, but as this fight grew more intense and the more stamina he was draining trying to knock his student out without severely injuring him was getting taxing on his body. While Hell didn't seem like he was going to back down anytime soon at all. A bead of sweat ran down the headmasters face, and he decided to kick it up another notch.

" _Enough!"_ Ozpin's eyes shined green as a shield formed around his body to block Hell's next attack. The boy's eyes went wide with fear suddenly, but Ozpin had no time to waste.

With his cane, he jabbed it forward at blinding speeds, from Roberts perspective, it must have looked like his arm was moving in front of him in a mere blur. Hundreds of times, Ozpin jabbed his cane into his students body. His arm felt like it was about to fall off when he reared it back one final time and thrusted forward with more power than he intended to dish out. Hell flew back at worrying speeds and crashed into the wall, cracking it so much that he could feel the wind on the outside blow against his back.

Hell coughed and hacked and felt like every bullet in his body was broken, which it was. But the damage was healing quickly. He could just barely move as he was now however. Looking back up, he felt something he didn't know he was capable of feeling.

Ozpin had this strange aura around him, something weird but also something terrifyingly familiar…

A surge of memories went through his mind. An icy cave, a massive battle of epic proportions, he felt as if his right arm felt incredible lighter, and there was a massive pain in his chest. After closing his eyes, the memory became reality.

He was on his knees, forced there against his will by some magical force. Completely submissive to the blue eyed man before him, a man with the same face as he, but a completely different and more bright aura about him. His hand was stabbed into his chest.

" _For what it's worth, Hell. I am sorry it has come to this…"_

Hell screamed and held his chest in pain, and tried to become one with the wall to get away from Ozpin. Bloody tears falling from his eyes as even his aura was snuffed out. " **No! Get away from me, not again!"** He cried out, his skin getting a darker tan to it just as his hair grew more black. Soon enough, it was the veins that were the last to go, and once the blood tears gave way to clear ones, Hector fell forward onto his hands and knees, utterly exhausted.

Ozpin, recovering from his shock, lurched forward to place a supporting hand on Hector's shoulder. "Mister Rivers!? Are you okay?!"

"Y-yeah…" Hector coughed. "Couldn't have been a little more gentle with me there?" He asked as he wiped the tears that were not his from his face.

"... Can someone explain to me what happened?!" Robert asked, very loudly.

"Hell… he… remembered something." Hector said, taking in loud breaths of air as he tried to recover. Ozpin helped him up and let him use his shoulder for support. His eyes were still colored, but purple this time. "Something about Ozpin… it's all hazy now, it used to be so clear, but… it makes no sense…"

Ozpin shut down the shield using a remote that he stashed in his pocket, and all who were behind said shield came forward to offer their support to both the headmaster and the student. Hector was helped down into a seat, with Robert sat next to him and Glynda standing close at his side just in case of an emergency.

"Try your best to describe this… memory of yours." Ironwood said. "If it is too difficult or painful, stop immediately and let us know."

"First off, how are you feeling? Are you okay?" Robert asked, cutting everyone off before they could begin the next line of questioning.

"Y-yeah," Hector rubbed the base of his neck. "A little sore but… yeah, I am pretty much fine."

"Was it harder last time?" Qrow asked.

"Well, the last time he took control was when we stopped the train, and when we were trapped in Mount Glenn. I was hardly in a good enough condition for both of those times, and for both of those times we had to fight and go past our limits." Hector explained, Qrow nodded his head in understanding. Having no further questions.

"How many times has he come out?" Robert asked, looking exhausted even though he really didn't do much other than worry.

"Including this one, three times" Hector said softly. "Once when we escaped from the subway in Mount Glenn, once when we stopped the train, and the last just now."

"Okay… how did you actually get free the first time? We know the second one, and this one, but nothing about the first time… anything useful you remember from that time?" Robert asked.

"I…" Hector looked down and away. "He… I… _We_ had to get through a lot of people in order to escape…"

"That doesn't matter." Robert said immediately, he didn't want Hector to relive and explain the situation again, he didn't want to force that on him. "You don't have to… I was just hoping to find something that helped, but if you don't want to talk about it…"

"The memory," Hector said, giving his answer. "It was of an ice cave, I assume somewhere in Atlas." He looked to Ironwood for confirmation, to which the General nodded his head and gestured for Winter.

"Atlas is the only place in the world cold enough to form caverns made completely of ice. So if this memory of yours was of an ice cave, then that is where it would originate from." She explained.

Hector nodded his head understandingly. "Yeah, well, it was weird. This time it was Hell remembering it directly. That's the first time something like that happened. But like I said, it was of an icy cave, Hell was forced to submit and kneel before someone who demolished him in a fight. This is where it gets the most confusing for me." He said, taking a deep breath. "It was me."

"You?" Ozpin asked.

"Yeah. Except that he was older looking, and the power that I felt from him…" He shivered. "I would guess that in his base form he would have easily been able to beat me at my best. Even Hell at his. It was insane, I-" He cut himself off. "I am spouting nonsense, sorry."

"No need to apologize, Mister Rivers." Ozpin said, looking at him sympathetically. "This information while perplexing, will be helpful in giving us a better understanding of what exactly is happening to you."

"Thank you." Hector said, smiling softly.

"Of course. Now, for the more immediate question…"

"Guy wants to know if you're still up for taking that mission." Qrow drawled. Ozpin and Winter looked to him, unamused and with the latter looking positively murderous. "Seriously Oz, you gotta stop drawing stuff out."

"Perhaps," Ozpin sighed. "Well, Mister Rivers, as I said before, the choice is yours. Especially after what had just happened tonight, I will not force you to go on this mission if you do not want to. I can send Qrow and Glynda on it instead."

"Take the mission." Glynda begged uncharacteristically. Qrow snickered in the background and went to take a long gulp of alcohol out of his flask.

Hector looked down as he thought about it, if he didn't take this mission to go stop Merlot and whatever it is he is doing, then he'd get more time to train and recover his body. He couldn't use his semblance to its full potential as he was now, but with Robert and Ruby's help in the next couple of days before the mission he could have something that could help him withstand the self-destructive force of the Kaioken. He could train and test them out and get a feel for his newly modified gauntlets and have much more time to do so before the Vytal Festival. On the other hand, whatever it was Merlot was planning was obviously important enough to not grab only Ozpin's attention, but General Ironwoods as well. He's played the game before, so if he, Rob, and his team did go on this mission, then they could probably complete it faster than Qrow and Glynda would, not because of any skill difference, but because he would know where to go for the most part. It was a hard decision to make, but it was the decision beforehand that he didn't want to go back on. Not when his team was already preparing for the mission even as they spoke.

"I'll go." Hector said, nodding his head. "I can fight as I am right now, and I am confident that I can at least beat some Grimm on my own. And if some _friends_ of mine," He pointedly glanced toward Robert. "Finish a certain upgrade of mine quicker, than I would definitely be able to get through this mission without much issue." _Hopefully._ He didn't add.

Ozpin smiled, evidently satisfied with his answer. "Then on Friday this week, Mister Urra, yourself and your team, will depart for the Emerald Forest. Tomorrow, I expect to see you all for an official briefing, and Thursday as well to refresh your memories."

"Got it." Hector and Robert said at the same time.

"Good, you are both dismissed." Ozpin looked around to his other colleagues. "As for you all, we have some more important business to discuss."

"'Course we do…" Qrow sighed exasperatedly.

* * *

Hector yawned tiredly as he walked up the stairs of his dorm building. It was a late night today, mostly due to the surprise training session with the _headmaster of freaking Beacon_ himself. His body was sore, but compared to what he felt in Mount Glenn, it was nothing. He would be able to get over it. As he expected, no one else was awake late at night as he opened the door to the second floor. At least none that he could see. There could very well be some late night gamers, or two people meeting up at night to _relieve_ some stress, but he minded his own business even as he heard moaning behind a door he really did not want opened.

He didn't expect his team to still be awake at this time. He even told them not to wait up for him if this meeting of his turned out to be as long as it did. Which was why when he slid his scroll across the handle of the door with the words 'Team HAMR' on it and saw that his team was still very much awake, and playing _Uno_ of all games, he was positively surprised.

"What the… fffu-"

"Eh? Oh shoot Boss is back!" Reggie exclaimed. The dark spots under his eyes were only just really settling in, but the fact that he was tired was very much obvious to everyone in the room. "About time, I was getting tired of kicking these two's asses in Uno."

"Not all of us can get lucky and get _two_ draw fours in a row and a wildcard for your final card." Ashley groaned, equally as tired with her hair down and sticking up in places. "I hate it when people do that. I hate this game."

"Mm." Michael said, looking at the twenty seven cards he had in his hand. "Sure, you hate the game. Yeah, I understand that. But I think it is the _people who play it_ who is deserving of such distaste." A shadow was cast over half of Michael's face, who did not at all seem to look happy with the certain situation he was in.

Hector couldn't help but laugh at the scene. Ashley was on the torturous last three cards, Michael had nearly thirty, and Reggie was looking cocky as he fanned his face with another wildcard, which happened to be his final card. Neither Ashley nor Michael seemed to know, and he wondered what would happen once Reggie put that card down and won what he could only assume would be yet another game.

At the sound of his laughter, his teammates looked at him with surprise. He hasn't laughed like that in quite some time.

"You guys have Uno here?" He asked between laughs.

"Yeah, of course we do." Michael said, shrugging his shoulders.

"O-okay, okay… but what comes after Uno?" He asked next after getting the idea.

"There's something that comes after Uno!?" Reggie asked loudly in his shock. "What is it? Uno Two?"

Hector laughed even harder and boisterously for that matter. He didn't know why, but he was in a good mood that day. Ironic considering Hell just through his body through the ringer in that training session with Ozma. Wait… Ozma? Who was that? He was barely able to hide his confusion with his own thoughts as he wiped a tear of joy from his eye.

"Also, why are your clothes ripped up?" Michael asked.

"Oh," _That_ , he could answer with ease. "I had a bit of a training session with Ozm-pin. Something about wanting me to learn how to control my powers more efficiently."

"Ozpin _himself_ trained you?" Ashley asked, shocked to the point where she dropped her cards.

"Yup." Hector smiled at her and rubbed the back of his head. "I'll tell you about it later Ash, I'm just a bit too tired now." He started making his way to his couch bed in the corner of the room, and fell into it. "We're gonna have a little briefing for the mission tomorrow by the way, so be ready for that."

"O-okay." Ashley answered, a giddy smile on her face that had both Michael and Reggie looking at each other with smug looks. Hector may not have noticed it, but they all did. He called Ashley by the affectionate nickname that he gave her when they first met in initiation, and even smiled warmly at her like he used to before the dance. Ashley _definitely_ noticed, if her red cheeks and the way her dog ears twitched happily was of any indication.

"Thinking what I'm thinking?" Reggie whispered to Michael.

"Possibly." Michael replied.

"Heh, good." Reggie placed his last card down on the deck, the wildcard. "I win."

Michael and Ashley looked at him with hatred.

They all got little sleep that night because of the game that ruins friendships.

* * *

"So," Michael began as they all stepped out of Ozpin's tower the afternoon after yesterday, their minds full of new information. "How much of that did you already know from your, eh, other world?"

"Hm?" Hector hummed curiously. "What do you mean?"

Ashley piped up. "He means that we think you already know basically everything that Ozpin told us about the mission. Was it something from your… what did you call it before? Earth?"

"What? So since I _might_ be from a different dimension that had this whole continuity of events all stored up in an internet show I have to know _everything_ that happens?"

Michael, Reggie, and Ashley all raised an eyebrow at him.

Hector sighed. "Okay, _almost_ everything."

Ashley humphed triumphantly. "I thought so."

Hector huffed amusedly at his partner's expense. Something that Ashley noted and mentally cheered herself for. Her partner was finally warming up to her again after what happened, and that made her incredibly happy.

Hector narrowed his eyes as he spotted something in the distance moving its way toward him. It was something that crackled with blue lightning, but also had a cyclone of rose petals mixed in within it. It merged into purple in some places, but Hector immediately knew what it was once he was able to make out the shape of it.

"Hey Reggie." Hector placed a hand on the shoulder of his orange eyed teammate.

"'Sup." Reggie perked up.

"Step in front of me for a sec." His leader said as he gently lead him to stand in front of him, facing him. "Okay, now use your semblance and harden yourself."

"Bow chicka-"

"NO!" Michael exclaimed, pointing an accusatory finger at his boyfriend.

Reggie sighed. "Okay, but why?" He asked once he hardened his skin into metal.

"Oh, you know." Hector hid his body in front of his teammates. "Payback for initiation."

Reggies eyes went wide.

It was already too late.

" _Ruby slow down!"_ A voice shouted from within the rose cyclone.

" _Can't yet! It takes exactly twenty five feet for me to come to a complete stop, and we're only a hundred feet away from them right now."_

" _Well… stop now"_

" _Stopping!"_

 _THUNK_

Reggie fell forward as two bodies of a Huntress in training and a Huntsman both crashed into his back in a tangle of limbs. Roberts electricity coursed through Reggies metal body which gave him a mind numbing shock which had his body twitching so violently to the point where his skeleton was visible for a few moments. The shock faded away into the ground, and his clothes were beginning to smoke.

Michael took one look at the scene, took a picture of it with his scroll, and then quickly excused himself to "Go to the library."

"I think I miscalculated…" Ruby said, stars dancing around in her version. "Owie…"

"That's why I said stop… where are we?" Robert said, face on the ground.

When he looked back up, it was to the smirking face of Hector Rivers. "Good afternoon to you too." He said smugly.

"Oh… Ruby we made it, it actually worked." Robert said as he got up and offered Ruby a hand.

She took it and dusted herself off. After doing that, she stood up straight and made it look like she totally did not just knock out Reggie on accident by running into him at speeds fast enough to create a tornado. Robert rolled his eyes as he realized he was expected to take a similar pose. Ruby held out a crate toward Hector, who eyed it with wonder in his eyes.

"For me?" He asked, taking it.

"Yes… I'm sorry but we couldn't find a ribbon." Robert said first.

"But it _is_ wrapped." Hector said as he peeled off the crimson wrapping paper that couldn't have been wrapped in more poor of a way. "Thanks for trying."

"No problem, I'll tell Yang you said that." Ruby said happily.

 _Yang_ wrapped that for him!? Well… Hector would have to reprimand himself for insulting her on accident. After ripping off the rest of the wrapping paper he was met with a simple black and silvery lockbox, which was already unlocked, thankfully. When he clicked it open with his thumbs, it was like he was looking into another dimension.

There, it was his weapons. His gauntlets. Except now they had a much different look to them. One of them was still black and red, but this time primarily black and with plenty more gadgets and gizmos added along to it. He didn't know how to describe it, but what he did see was some kind of ventilation system on the side of both of them. The other one however, was almost pure white, with a trim of red to them. All the mechanisms looked exactly the same, but the change in color made him raise an eyebrow.

"We sorta… _broke_ the last one." Ruby tapped her fingers together nervously. "So we had to make a new right gauntlet for you."

Hector's other eyebrow raised.

"Okay, I'll explain… you see it took us hours to get the mythical power cell out of the railgun." Rober started.

"It was the most miniscule Etricium cell I've ever seen!" Ruby complained. "It was like the size of a peanut!"

"We needed precision tools. But we cracked it and we made it work into one of your gauntlets… the left one." Robert said.

"Buuuut… we realized we only had one cell." Ruby piped up again.

"Luckily for us, the barrel of the weapon had other safety mechanics to transport the high power shots."

"More and more _even tinier_ energy cells!" Ruby cried. "It was torture, nothing should ever be that small!"

"So we had to be precise and uh…" Robert continued.

"Well, we didn't get it right the first time." Ruby said

"We miscalculated." Robert said looking at the ground..

"And it sorta blew up."

"Accidents happened."

"Yup."

"But we got it in the end…" Robert finished the tale. "So that is what matters."

"Huh…" Hector tilted his head as he looked back down to his new gauntlets. "Well, I suppose it's time to give them a new name. Since one of them died." He said, smiling when Ruby made a pained whining sound.

"Now before you do that do know that their functions have… switched a bit." Robert started.

"One has the original cell, so it can project stronger… stuff, projectiles and well, that stuff." Ruby said.

"And the other can disperse the energy… make shockwaves per say."

"Wait… so my _left_ hand is going to be stronger than my _dominant right_ hand?" Hector asked.

Robert and Ruby looked at each other.

"You forgot that I was a righty, didn't you?"

"Well… no, but to be fair, we only said one is better at shooting stuff while the other makes explosions." Robert said.

"Huh… That'll take some getting used to, but…" Hector took the white one out of the crate, and slid it onto his right arm. The gauntlet automatically fit itself to him, and it felt like he wasn't wearing anything there at all. It was good to see that it no longer felt like he had just strapped an anvil to his arm as he picked up the other black gauntlet, and slid it into his left. _That_ , was when he felt the difference.

His red flaming aura surged around his arms, and flowed _into_ the weapons. He instantly felt himself get stronger, as if a weight was lifted off of his shoulders. His expression was nothing short of excited as the vents on the sides of the weapons were blowing out heat.

"I know _just_ the name for you two." He said as he looked at each of them, inspecting the gauntlets.

"One is white, and the other is black. Hm…"

Another surge of memories flowed through his mind. This time it was of some kind of store, with many shelves within it. At the top shelf, was another pair of gauntlets, similar looking to the ones he had on now, but prioritized more in lightning. Black and White, the colors of…

"Now if the paint job is an issue that was because-" Robert started.

"Ebony and Ivory… Yeah, that's what I'll name you two." Hector said with a fond smile on his face, clenching his fists together with excitement.

"Never mind then." Robert said with a chuckle.

* * *

 **Done. And even more UH references in this chapter. It started out pretty dark, a little suspenseful maybe, but we brought it back to a more positive route about halfway through. Decided that we're going to take it a little easy with the next chapter, a nice breath of life, right?**

 **Fun all around, you know what… you guys might as well make suggestions for funny scenarios, we might go in a similar direction. -CrowSkull.**

 **Please review and let us know what you think of the story.**

 **T w itter . com (slash) genatools**

 **P a treon . com (slash) Genatools**


	41. A Tale of Two Heroes chapter 41

**Whew, three respective chapters this week and here I am working on the fourth already. I must be crazy, but eh, I've done more and worst and in longer sessions. The OG's out there remember the 44k words in three days back during the time where AUH ran supreme like two months ago. Hah! I don't think I'll ever forget that.**

 **As we said last chapter, this is going to be a bit of a breath of life. There's been so much negativity and plot building that our characters never have any time to just rest and chill out. So to extend on that, this is most likely going to be a shorter chapter as well (Big Thicc Maybe on that one). Don't worry, we'll more than make up for it when it comes to the next arc.** _ **Trust me.**_

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 **Oblivious IJ: The time will come, don't worry. Also, didn't Jack Black totally make a Minecraft video with Pewdiepie? Haha, Hector and Neo, yeah, that's yet another love interest I accidentally made. Though she is kinda crazy… Eh, maybe it'll be a side project or something.**

 **Guest: You know what that is a good idea man. I had a laugh just thinking about all the possibilities that could go with that. I mean, if Hector and Ash were making out, and suddenly Hector muttered Ruby's name, she would probably have a problem with that. That's if she never finds out about the whole Multiverse thing going on here.**

 **Thank you both for the reviews!**

* * *

 **Beta & Co-writer: CrowSkull**

 **Now let's get right back into it!**

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A Tale of Two Heroes

Chapter 41- Breath of Life

A fiery aura roared around Hector's body, right before said aura was sucked right into his two black and white gauntlets on each respective hand. His smile was nothing short of cathartic as he felt a similar yet much more controlled power flow through his veins. Across from him another shared the same smile, slowly extending his electric blades as blue lightning crackled around his form. Just as Robert said, and it was actually much easier than he originally thought it was going to be. These new versions of Ebony and Ivory were really something else, he didn't feel an ounce of the pain he would have felt if he had used his semblance without these things. The stamina drain was still there, as he expected, but even that seemed to be nullified to some extent.

After clenching and unclenching his fist, he looked to the side toward one of the ones who crafted the weapons, Ruby waved back at him and gave him a thumbs up. Showing that she was just as excited as she was, beside her were his teammates, all sitting and showing their support after a tense training session against Glynda herself. Hector's smile went to face splitting proportions as he felt something he hadn't felt in quite some time. Powerful, and not for the wrong reasons this time.

"Now do remember, the space you have to store energy is not infinite, try to keep track of it." Robert instructed. They have been sparring lightly for the past couple of minutes so far, and it has been relatively evenly matched, if only because Hector was still not at _full_ strength and Robert saw fit to not go as hard as he usually would against his friend. Usually he would just make quick dashes in a game of keep away and just let Hector test things out, or until he worked himself to exhaustion.

"How are you feeling in general?" Robert asked.

"I don't know, it's definitely a good feeling." Hector said as he tested out one of the gauntlets, the black one, and threw a mock punch through the air. "I definitely like how these are _still_ around freaking _thirty five_ pounds each like the last ones."

"Sorry!" Ruby chirped from the side.

"Well, just try to think of the massive guns you'll develop." Robert said with a laugh.

Hector chuckled. True to his word, his arms have gotten quite the physique from the previous versions of these gauntlets. The Dragon Fists. He definitely felt stronger at least, and paired up with his Kaioken again the weight felt like nothing around his arms.

"With everything that's happened… you seem to be doing alright at this strength, . It's basic, but it's working, feeling like knocking it up a notch and get experimental?" Robert asked, a slight competitive glint to his eyes as he subtly egged his friend by giving him the classic 'Come on' gesture with one of his hands.

Hector chuckled again, though it was slightly more quiet this time. A flash of memories of what happened on that train went through his mind, but he snuffed them out with a shake of his head. His smile stayed where it was, and he slowly got into the stance that was taught to him by Robert. "Been a while since I let loose a little bit, though I doubt I can go all out just yet-"

"If you go anywhere above a time five multiplier we will be having _words_ Mister Rivers." Glynda snapped, cutting him off and making him wince as she quite literally cracked the whip into her hand.

"Y-yeah, let's stick with that." Hector gulped nervously. "Sure."

"Okay…" Robert refrained from laughing himself. "I want to test something, give one your charges, you know your flying punches."

"Eh? Oh wait." Hector remembered with a brighter look on his face. "Alright, get ready!" He leaned back onto one leg, and got lower to the ground. Robert got ready and made one of his shields and waited, apparently he wanted to receive the punch to test it.

Hector started to expand fiery aura around himself, and as it did before it flowed straight into the gauntlets through the vents on the sides. He rushed forward. Except not like he used to, the power was now stored in the gauntlets, and not all of his body, certainly part of his body but… it led to a bit of unbalancing. His semblance worked different with the modified weapons that he was using now, and as Hector went through the air and impacted his fist into Robert's shield, Hector had a hard time controlling the new balance. In the end , Robert let go of the shield after the impact and caught him… they ended up rolling through the ground in a mess of limbs.

"That's, ah…" Hector said as he started on untangling himself from him.

"Yeah, seems we are gonna have to work on that a bit." Robert said. In truth the impact was just a strong as before, it was just harder to control since it wasn't all of Hector body going at the same speed, the power behind the strike didn't acclimate properly with less velocity supporting the blow. Catching them both off guard and resulting in the tangle of limbs that they were both tied up in now. After a few seconds of struggling almost comically, Glynda gave up on watching and forced them apart herself.

"I have no comment." She said after they both thanked her for the assistance.

"Alright, that's something I am going to have to get used to." Hector said as he looked down at his fists again. "I have the power, but not the speed. Yeah, definitely going to take some getting used to, I felt so slow as I was flying toward you."

"Hey, what you did to Yang apparently fragmented your soul, the fact you have the same strength is a miracle in itself." Robert pointed out. "Don't worry about it too much, at least you're getting used to it now rather than later."

"True." Hector nodded his head with understanding. He knew something was up with him on the inside, but he didn't physically _feel_ all that different. Though he doubted that physical issues are the same as spiritual issues, such as sacrificing a piece of his soul to save another, and thus now having a smaller amount of aura. He morbidly wondered what would happen if he used that little trick Ozpin practically forced into his mind and let Hell take control. Ever since what happened the other night with Ozpin and his surprise training session Hell hasn't exactly been talkative, or even revealed himself again to even him. But he thought better than that, Hell was strong, incredibly so, he forced Ozpin to use a lot of strength to best him, even if he wasn't really winning ground himself. He didn't want to see what might have been the result of Hell fighting all of his team, Robert, _and_ Miss Goodwitch at the same time.

"Can't help but ask this question though…" Hector pointed to a mechanism on the side of Ivory, the gauntlet on his right hand. "What's this spinny thingy with multiple buttons on it?" He asked, spinning said 'Spinny thingy' with his finger and watched as it revolved around a few times before coming to a stop.

"Ooh, ooh! Can I answer that one?" Ruby shouted before Robert could open his mouth to explain.

"... Yeah, sure, go ahead." He said.

Ruby coughed into her hand as in getting ready, with a proper posture and all as well. Michael, Ashley and Reggie also made the effort to give her some more room, entirely amused with the whole thing. "Well, when we made this version of your gauntlets well, Robert told me you couldn't really use your semblance with your aura, and we need aura to use dust, so you couldn't really combine your semblance with dust, you had to use them separately, and guess what?" Ruby said, expectantly awaiting the guess.

"Uh, it's-" Hector tried.

"Exactly!" Ruby cut him off with an excited squeak as she slapped a fist into her hand. "Now that's not an issue anymore! Since the energy is stored in the weapons, now you can combine it! Isn't that awesome!?"

Hector sighed, but not in a negative way. Robert seemed to feel the same way as he crossed his arms and let an amused smirk curve up from his lips. "Very," Hector agreed. "So I can use dust _with_ Kaioken now?"

"Through the gauntlets, important detail that you should _never_ forget." Robert put extra emphasis on the specific word that warned Hector to _not_ try and use Kaioken with dust without Ebony and Ivory. "But yeah, you can do it."

"And how would I do that?"

"Mister Urra can explain that part!" Ruby cheered with triumphant laughter. "I can't have _all_ the credit after all."

"Thank you." Robert nodded his head toward her before looking back to Hector. "It's actually the same way you use Kaioken usually, you see, after some research I found out that dust reacts to aura… aura is part of our very souls, and so are our semblances, our semblances themselves can trigger dust. It's how Weiss is able to modify her glyphs and Blake were her clones. The only real limitations are creativity, control and how the energies combine. For example, I can create lightning, everyone already knows that… but using my semblance with lightning dust won't necessarily mean… more lightning for lack of a better term. It would just mean two energies of the same type combining and making a reaction. Other than maybe a small power boost, it would put on a good colorful light show."

He proceeded to demonstrate getting a yellow dust vial from his pockets, he opened and started to wield lightning in one hand, with the dust close, it reacted and morphed into a solid javelin of blue and yellow lightning on his palm, and he looked ready to throw it as if he were Zeus.

"Did you ever play the game?" Robert asked him with a smirk on his face, referring to the spear he had.

"This is another one of those references that's impossible for us to ever understand, isn't it?" Michael called out from the sidelines with a surprisingly loud voice.

"Eh… Depends." Hector looked toward them. "Ever heard of a guy named Kratos?"

Michael's irritated groan was answer enough.

"Wait what? No, the lord of Sunlight! Praise the Sun! Ring any bells?"

"Agh!" Hector realized with wide eyes. "Dark Souls! Yeah, I definitely played that shit. All three of them, even the shitty one in the middle that _we shall never name_. Fun games." He laughed, and then pushed his feet together, stood on his toes, and extended his arms over his head at an angle, laughing the whole while.

"I would do it, but I'm still holding this thing…" Robert said with a disappointed sigh. A disappointed sigh that was aimed toward himself. He then threw the spear away to the ground, it impacted with giant sparks. "Okay, now I can do it." Robert immediately did the same as Hector, however he ended rather quickly.

"I wanna be involved!" Reggie exclaimed as he mirrored the same stance as the two of them.

"Back on dust matters, different elements have different effects, such as…" Robert pulled out an earth dust vial, this time the dust morpher around his arms in some thin giant whips of rock and lightning, he wiped them around a bit to show how they held and then he dissipated the dust. "Well you get the idea… different effects, for example I definitely cannot do the exact same application Weiss or Blake can, but I can do others, your semblance is more explosive and fire, so you'll get far different results than me or anyone else really… Ruby and I had theorized a few."

"Ice Explosion!" Ruby shouted.

"Cloaking yourself on fire." Robert continued.

"Gravity missiles!" Ruby said.

"Water hurricanes" Robert said.

"Giant rock spikes" Both Ruby and Robert said in unison.

"That all sounds cool, and I honestly can't wait to try it out… In fact." Hector looked toward one of Roberts pockets. "I seem to have misplaced my old dust crystals, care to spare one of yours and we can see what lightning does with my Kaioken?"

"Sure, we wanted to get experimental anyway." Robert said as he tossed over one of his dust vials.

Hector caught it and placed a light orange lightning dust crystal in each of his gauntlets. The effects were almost immediate. His fiery red aura returned, but this time there was crackling lightning around his body. Though it required a little more effort this time around, the flaming aura transferred into the gauntlets, but the crackling lightning effect remained around his body, stagnant. The light orange color of the lightning didn't really match well with the choice of color scheme that he currently had on, but it went well with the look he had in his eyes.

"Now we'll get to see how you like being electrocuted all the time." Hector joked as he held a palm out toward Robert, the Ebony one.

Robert reacted on instinct and the knowledge of the weapons he'd helped create. A shockwave mixed with fire and lightning burst out of the palm of Hector's hand, and Robert sidestepped to the side just in time before it zoomed past him and into the wall, destroying a piece of it. He could _hear_ Glynda rolling her eyes as he used his own lightning to enhance his body movement, dodging the next three that Hector fired toward him, ducking, sidestepping and backing up respectively, aiming to close the distance between them, he decided to not play another game of keep away, this time with Hector in control of the distance.

Difference was between them was while Robert would have usually created even more distance between the two as Hector charged at him, when it was the other way around Hector was more than happy to meet him in the middle. Robert kept an eye on his hands, to see which gauntlet was going to be used against him next. Ebony was good at distance and pulling off moves like Yang might have been able to, but that didn't mean it had no good uses close range. Ivory on the other hand, was more oriented to close range combat, but it was the same case with that one. It still had some uses outside of punching something until it gave up or died.

In the end, it was Ebony that won the mental poll within Hector's instinctual mind. He was a righty, and despite the fact that his left hand was now technically stronger than his right, he had trouble switching between the two on the spot. Robert brought up his left shield and stuffed it into the wrist guard of the black gauntlet and pushed it aside, but Hector fired off the shockwave anyway, one which Robert ducked his head down until his chin was on his chest in order to dodge it. Hector spun with the weight and momentum that the gauntlet gave him, and stopped just a few feet away from him. Robert wasted no time and aimed to close the distance once more, but this time Hector raised his _left_ hand to fight him back.

Hector saw the scenery change before him, and suddenly he was in some dark cave. His eyes were wide with what might have been fear as his red flames burned across his body. Another memory surge, Hector realized immediately, though this one felt so much more real than the others. Instead of Robert who was just in front of him, it was Cinder… _Cinder!_ He was hardly able to believe his own eyes.

His body moved on his own, he wasn't able to control his own movements as he walked closer, step by step. Upon closer inspection, Cinder was wearing a different kind of red dress, and she was missing an arm. She looked up at him, but it wasn't snark, or taunting, or deceptively seductive as it was before. It was _fear_. Wide orange eyes, in fear of _him_. Something about that made Hector smile uncontrollably, and he _felt_ the moment his eyes turned red.

In reality, he couldn't even tell that Ivory crackled with lightning and flames, and the muscles in that arm bulged as Hector thrusted that fist toward Robert with much more strength than he really intended, roaring as he did so. Robert's eyes went wide and he stopped to raise his shield to block what he thought was going to be just another strong punch, but it was so much more than that. They both realized.

Robert's shield barely held up against the force of the punch, and he went sliding back because of the force. Hector continued throwing his fist all the way until it struck the ground. First, cracks and holes flew its way across the ring, surrounding Robert. Then flames started flowing out of those cracks, and then lighting. The explosion came last.

If it wasn't for his quick thinking, things might have gotten a little hairy. A massive explosion of fire and lightning brought down the entire wall that was unfortunately in the same direction Hector threw his fist. Pillars of lightning speared out of the ground and dispersed across the ground, mixed with flames which looked like it was about to melt the stone tiles that they were fighting on. Hector looked as surprised with his own attack as everyone else was, and as he gawked at the damage he caused, Ivory expelled the used up lighting crystal and it clinked against the ground uselessly before falling apart into dust.

"How much energy did you use?!" Robert asked from his position on the ground, just mere feet away from the area of effect where his aura might have tanked a serious blow, or maybe even injure him.

"I-I…" Hector stammered, his eyes were frantic, red, and bloodshot. The beginnings of what might have been tears were quickly wiped away as he shook his head with denial. He just watched himself murder Cinder… while she was alredy defeated. But that's impossible, Cinder was still alive and well and probably plotting as he thought at this moment. His arms fell helplessly to his sides and he took in a sharp breath to try and calm himself down. Of all the memories that could have been unlocked just now, why did it have to be something like _that_?

"Are you okay?" Robert asked as soon as he realized something was wrong, and rushed to his side, worried for multiple reasons.

"M-memories." Hector groaned and shook his head. Getting rid the scene he had just been reminded of. He didn't even notice how practically everyone leapt to his aid, his team must have been waiting for the okay to call a nurse from the infirmary to come pick him up again. "I don't understand… why would I-... _him_ , do something like that?"

"I…" Robert didn't know how to respond to that. The revelation on Hector's supposed memory surges were still fresh on his mind. It was hard to believe, almost impossible. But at times like these, he couldn't help but believe him. "I assume in the process you lost control of what you were immediately doing." Robert said trying to bring back the conversation to the present.

"Sorry about that." Hector said as he slowly calmed down, thanking his team, the professor, and Ruby for coming to his aid so quickly. "I just felt so… _angry_ for some reason. I… He… I don't even know if we're different people or the same, it's so confusing." He explained slowly, doing his absolute best not to reveal that he had just seen a vision of himself _killing_ Cinder. He could still feel his hand stabbing her through the ribcage. It took him looking down to his right hand to confirm for himself that it was not covered in blood.

"... If those memories aren't yours, then it's not you, it must be someone completely different, the Hector Rivers we know is right here right now." Robert said, pointing to the ground as to give emphasis.

"I am not going to lie and say I understand what you are going through." Michael continued, keeping a comforting hand on top of Hector's shoulder. "But you are the only Hector I know, and you are still your own person. Besides, who else would be able to make references literally only one other person in the world would be able to understand?" His attempt at a joke made Hector laugh brokenly.

"Yeah man," Reggie laughed long and hard, infecting those around him with his joy. "So what you're an interdimensional time traveler with a bit of a mental problem-"

"What he _means,_ " Ashley continued after slapping Reggie across the face to shut him up. "Is that we are here for you, until the end." She said, smiling warmly at him.

"That hurt…" Reggie complained as he rubbed his cheek. "Your turn Ruby."

"Eh!?"

"Your turn, you have to say something to make him feel better."

"I-I do?"

Everyone except a snickering Hector looked to her expectantly.

"I-I mean… That punch was really cool?" Ruby said awkwardly with an awkward smile to accompany it.

"Thanks guys, all of you." Hector said, smiling. "I appreciate it."

"Mister Rivers… If you'll allow me to ask. What exactly did you see this time?" Glynda asked, she looked sorry for just having to bring up the topic, but he understood why. She answered to Ozpin, and it was part of her job to ask these kinds of questions.

"I…" Hector hesitated, and came to a decision with a shake of his head. "I'd rather not talk about it just yet, just give me a while, I'll just sit here in the meantime and enjoy the breeze." It was a poor attempt at a joke, and a poor deflection of the conversation, but Glynda allowed it. Not even for Ozpin would she force one of her students to talk about something they did not want to talk about.

The panic quickly settled down and Hector moved over to a different spot in the training room. Robert followed him though. His lack of telling him off said that he was allowed to sit next to him, despite his broody mood at the moment. His team was still off to the side, talking about something with Ruby. Hector didn't know what, but he wasn't exactly enticed to go check for himself.

"By the way, would you allow me to check something?" Robert asked, pointing at Ivory especifically.

"Sure," Hector said, raising his right arm and let Robert to take it off for him. "Anything specific you're looking for?" Robert popped a lid and looked at Ivory, he then pointed at it, letting Hector look. It was a direct look at the cell of energy, before it must have been glowing, but now it was dimly there.

"It seems like what you did was that… well released all the energy it had stored at once." Robert said. "I mean the weapon is still fine, perfectly intact, but… if you do this you have to charge it again, and that would be like before when you tried to use Kaioken and… someone interrupted you while you charged yourself… maybe we can fit an auxiliary mode for emergencies, separate storage or…" Robert realized he was talking mostly alone, Hector was looking at him.

"Umm… did I get carried away?" Hector asked. "If so, let me know, because when I get stronger these are going to have to hold more power. I don't want these things to blow my arms off in the middle of a fight, or something."

"They are fine, and they can store a lot, it's just that if they are empty like they are now it could be inconvenient in the middle of a fight. I know it's not easy… and maybe annoying, but you are going to have at least an idea on how you should leave some energy in them, and not use _all_ of it in one go unless it's an emergency… I know, annoying, I'm just… okay I'll admit I'm just worrying and babbling." Robert said looking down, he really couldn't ask Hector to control this sudden rush of memories, he just hoped that if he pointed out the energy issues, maybe Hector won't be in a useless situation in the future, because from practical moment in Robert's head, if someone dodged that attack… then Hector was exposed, vulnerable, and if that happened and his aura broke…

"I get it." Hector said, cutting off his thoughts. "I'll learn how to control my strength, I just had a little slip up is all. If it weren't for that memory, I'd be alright."

"I know… stuff like this, it's practice, I just wish we had more time." Robert said.

Hector sighed.

"Yeah, me too."

* * *

Aaron Hayes and Cinder Fall kneel to no man, woman, or any pathetic person that called themselves the leader of a country, village or kingdom. Yet, there was one person who was able to make Aaron drop to one knee upon sight as a Seer floated its way into his hideout with Cinder and her two pet children. Through the misty red-violet orb was what appeared to be a corrupted woman, but Aaron and Cinder knew better. They didn't kneel to any ordinary woman, but a Goddess, and so she shall be treated as such.

"My Queen," Aaron greeted as the Seer came to a stop before him. "It brings me joy to be met with you once more."

"Hm, yes, I do see that it does." Salem, the Queen of the Grimm, remarked as she noticed the small smile that tugged up from Aarons lips. "And Cinder as well, as I can imagine."

"Of course, your grace." Cinder said, a smile of her own across her face. Though not one nearly as joyful as Aarons.

"You could use some work… but alas, nobody's perfect." Salem smiled at the two through the Seer, one of her arms was propped up on a black stone armrest and the other unseen from view. "Report to me now, what is the status of your mission in Vale?" She asked, her voice suddenly not as kind or patient as it once was.

"It… is a work in progress." Cinder answered carefully. "I-"

" _We,_ have been forced to push back the reclamation of the Fall Maidens power to a later date," Aaron interrupted, earning a glare from the amber eyed woman. "My Queen, all we need is time until the Vytal Festival, then everything will fall into place."

"Hm," Salem hummed, it could not be distinguished between a positive or a negative gesture, but it was taken as neutral as she continued. "Tell me, how did this come to be? I was under the impression sending you alone to assist Cinder would yield faster results, and yet here we are, with the two of you running back to me with your tails in between your legs. The two of you are supposed to be some of my most valuable pieces." She tutted. "How very… disappointing."

"We ran into unforeseen difficulties." Aaron said, steadfast in the face of death itself as Salem's angry red eyes glared daggers into his soul. Not even Cinder was capable of such a feat, she felt her heart nearly jumped out of her chest. "I have discovered that the ones known as Hector Rivers and Robert Urra are in a similar situation as myself, however, unlike myself they did not even think to turn to you."

"As I've noticed." Salem said. "I sensed their arrival the moment it happened. I can sense the darkness within the one known as Rivers… it is a darkness that I wish to explore myself once he is captured, since no one other than myself shares that kind of power." She smiled at the mere thought, but it quickly faded away as Aaron raised his head to look at her. "Do tell me how two boys with no grasp on their true abilities managed to best you?"

"How did you?"

"I have been keeping eyes on Vale ever since my Monarch was destroyed." Salem tched angrily. "What a headache that gave me, I have been keeping watch ever since."

"Then you should know that someone interfered." Aaron pointed out.

"Oh, I know." Salem gripped her throne with more force. "A Maiden no less, it seems that Miss Branwen has grown the courage to face me yet again. I can hardly blame you for losing to her, not even you can hope to stand up against a Maiden with how exhausted you were."

"Thank you." Aaron, despite being offended, bowed his head in submission. "She will be dealt with personally by myself and Hazel. We've dealt with rebellious Maidens before, let us do so again."

"In time, Aaron, in time." Salem waved a hand dismissively. "So, you are requesting more time so that you can enact this plan during the Vytal Festival, hm? Forgive me, but I do not think you would waste my time with such a request."

"You would be correct." Cinder answered this time, her teeth gritting frustratedly as she forced the words out. "Aaron and I find ourselves in need of… assistance."

Salem raised a snow white eyebrow. "Is that so?"

"Yes," Aaron said, shooting a look toward Cinder to tell her to let him do the talking. "My Queen with all do respect, I've done my best by your side ever since you took me in with you."

"You have," Salem agreed, and then leaned back in her seat as she pushed her mind to remember such events. "Tell me, what did I say to you when I found you in my Grimmlands? Do you remember?"

Aaron's face said it all, he nodded his head. "All too well…"

* * *

 _Cold, half naked save for the pants part of an orange prison jumpsuit, alone, and in an environment he had never been to before, he thought he was dead. The last thing Aaron knew, he was being escorted to his death. Capital punishment for the crime he had comitted. Except he didn't commit it, it had been lies, a fabrication, he had been an escapegoat of the military… he didn't do anything, just a wrong person at the wrong time, serving his country… and now dying for a "greater good". And he had been powerless to stop it._

 _Something happened, something pulled him through some rift of some kind, and suddenly the blue sky he hasn't seen for years was now red, and the white clouds were now black or a dark violet. He even still had the handcuffs around his wrists, and chains binding him so that he couldn't even move properly._

 _The stench of this new foregin land nearly made him vomit, it smelled like death itself. Looking around, he found himself staring down a massive castle that seemed to touch the black clouds itself. Did he somehow get sent back in time? No, that's impossible, he must be dreaming, he must be dead already, he must be-_

 _A dark flash which chilled him to his very bones interrupted his thoughts, and a fear so intense filled his body as he heard ruffling around the shrubbery around him. It was so dark he could barely see it, but it was darker than darkness itself. It was a monster with red glowing eyes._

" _Cease." A voice cut through the air like a knife through butter, and before he could be torn to shreds the monsters stopped. Aaron turned around to see who it was who had saved him, but his eyes went wider still and he felt himself drop to his knees in his fear._

" _W-what?"_

" _What am I?" The creature asked for him. He couldn't even muster up the strength to nod his head. "I should be asked that to you, human." What he guessed could be a woman said as she took a step near him, darkness shrouding over darkness as she got closer and closer to him. She stopped and leaned down to get a better look at him, looking through him, into him._

" _Yes… I can feel it. You have a darkness within you. You feel betrayed by those you loved and cared for." She stated, smiling a scary smile. "I know you want revenge oh so badly because of what they did to you. I can sense it._

" _H-how?" Aaron stammered._

" _My name is Salem," the creature introduces herself, ignoring his question entirely. She then waited for him to say his own name, expecting him to say it himself._

 _He did so obediently. "Aaron… Hayes…"_

" _Aaron Hayes…" Salem narrowed her eyes. "Strange, you are not from around here I suspect. Though I should have guessed as such, few would venture this far into my lands, not even the strongest and bravest would dare to even attempt to lay eyes on me. Tell me, strange one, where are you from?"_

 _Aaron didn't know what compelled him to answer her so obediently. Was it so she would spare him? So that she would give him a quicker death? He didn't know, thought then again, he didn't have much fight left in him._

" _C-California."_

 _Salem raised an eyebrow. "That… is not a land I have ever heard of… and you are not lying…" She hummed, and crouched lower to the ground to get a better look of the broken man. "Very strange indeed. How did you happen to appear here Aaron Hayes?"_

 _He couldn't even say how he didn't know._

" _Hm, if it wasn't for your curious aura I would have been rid of you already. Speaking of aura…" Salem reached a hand toward the brown haired man, and suddenly Aaron felt himself heave and writhe in pain as something within him tried to burst out through his body. The monsters red eyes glowed as it awakened something inside him, and in a burst of black and green, Aaron broke free from his binds and threw himself forward. Utterly exhausted after having his aura unlocked._

" _Your aura is different." Salem went on as if she hadn't just played around with his soul. "Your very soul is different. Where it was once full of light, it is now full of hatred… interesting…"_

" _What… did you…?"_

" _I simply sped up progress that would have completed over time." Salem explained simply. "As of now, I already put an investment in you, just as an old friend of mine done before, I spared you some of my power." She smiled beautifully at him. "You are mine now, and I will take what is mine. Do you understand?"_

" _This… power…" Aaron muttered, still in awe at the strength he now felt, despite being face first in the dirt. "I can have more if I stay?" He asked, looking up at her from his position on the ground._

" _Do you want revenge on those who wronged you?" Salem asked, using his hatred._

" _I… I want to live, I want to show them they haven't gotten rid of me… I want to show them that for once I'll have control of my life!"_

" _Then I shall make you a deal, my subject." She cupped his cheek, and despite its pale color it was still warm to the touch. "You will be mine, when your tasks are done and this Remnant of a world becomes mine, you shall receive everything you have ever desired, and I will make it my personal mission to send you back from where you once came." She extended a hand, and while Aaron could hardly move a muscle he was able to see it by craning his neck up as far as he could._

 _It was an enticing deal, Aaron had to admit. All he had to do was sacrifice his freedom one last time in exchange for being free for the rest of his life, it sounded like a deal worth making to him. High risk and very high rewards. His power seemed to agree with him as well, for in the reflection of Salem's eyes he could see how the whites of his turned black, and glowed green. He pushed himself up to his hands and knees, and then back up to one knee. Then stayed in that position as he raised a hand up and bowed his head down._

 _Salem smiled, and touched his hand._

" _And like this, an alliance is made. You will train with my other subjects, enhance your aura and semblance, grow strong, and I shall uphold my side of our agreement. In time, I will give you your first task." Her red eyes pierced into his as he raised his head to look at her face, spotting all of the corruption that plagued it. "Do make sure to not disappoint me Aaron Hayes. You will not like what I do to those who fail me..."_

* * *

It had been years ago, and he remembered it all like it had just happened minutes ago. He would never forget that day. The day he transformed from a regular human to someone to be feared, revered, respected. No one other than Salem was above him now, and he would keep it that way. These two others from his home world being here meant something… they were a test, a contest, his first and second competition respectively. Salem said it herself, there was a darkness in one of them, he had no idea what could be in the other, but if he was from Earth as well, then he would be better off dead then in his way-… The younger him might have thought solely that way, but he had grown and learned, and realized soon that people could far more useful in your side than as obstacles. Yes… they would be much better off at his side, which was the whole point of him wanting to capture them in the first place. They all shared one thing in common, they were all from Earth, so didn't it make sense that they all band together? Darkness working with darkness, and the last would come to given time. He'd make sure of it personally. They would see the truth.

"As I expected," Salem said. "Give me a reason to allow this endeavor of yours to continue, and why I should not run over Vale myself. Do tell, I will be waiting."

"The Relic of Choice, for starters." Aaron said immediately. "But more than that, it's because in all the time I've been with you I've learned that this world is not so different from mine. Here people still sacrifice themselves for the greater good. A noble act, but nothing but a lie… lives get wasted and people are betrayed, just like I have been, and in my time I've also met people that think the same, they have suffered, they have been treated unfairly and left to rot… and they are willing to act with us, right now I have amassed enough allies to show this world the lies it has been built upon, the kingdoms, the big and powerful families such as the Schnee's or the Nikos'. The way they believe the Huntsman and Huntresses will protect them just like that… they will realize that all of it is a lie, they will realize that they have left people to suffer and burden their mistakes, they will now realize that… when at the Vytal festival these Huntsman and Huntresses turn against them. They won't be victims anymore, and together we will let this sick, sad world burn… and make a new one, one where people won't be betrayed. The rest, they can fall in line and follow this new world, or die. This time we'll control our fate, no kingdoms, no rulers… and no Gods. We'll show everyone in the moment of their most sacred celebration, that the world will change and that it's our turn to rule. To truly change the world."

Aaron ended his speech with a clenched fist, a fist he looked deep into. He took deep personal drive in what he said, and when he looked upon Salem again she was clapping. Cinder looked up and never saw her Queen as excited as this before. She agreed with everything he said, and it looked like Aaron had bought them the time that they needed.

"I _knew_ there was a good reason I took you in." Salem said once she was done clapping her hands. "Very well Aaron, Cinder, you shall have your time, and the help that you so desire."

Aaron smirked. "Thank you, my Queen."

"Do not disappoint me again Aaron," Salem warned, despite the smile still being on her face. "You may have used that silver tongue of yours to escape punishment this time, but next time I may not be so forgiving."

"Once I'm done here. I'll promise you that the world won't be the same." Aaron said with a bow.

"And I have faith that we will both achieve what we so desire… Cinder."

"Yes?" Cinder perked up.

"Aaron has complete control over your mission now, but you still have a very important part to play. Your mentor will make this opportunity the biggest distraction you will ever get, and then the power of the maiden and the Relic will be ours for the taking. I have faith that both of you will be able to do this, the cards should be in our favor now."

Cinder acknowledged, Salem was again right, the chance indeed would be perfect. "Yes, I won't fail you."

"Good. Return to me with news of what happened after the Vytal Festival." Salem said as she crossed one leg over the other. "If you bring the two other Earthlings with you, then a hefty reward will be waiting for you."

"Acknowledged." Aaron nodded his head. The next second, the Seer disconnected what connection they had with each other. Cinder and Aaron both let out a sigh of relief once the Seer disappeared back into the darkness, hopefully to not be seen again anytime soon.

"I've no idea how you managed that." Cinder said as they both slowly rose to their feet.

"Come now, Cinder." Aaron chuckled. "All it takes is a little faith, and Salem and I both have much in each other, despite her between-the-lines threats. Besides, we've all lost something, even her, and together we can finally get it back."

"Hm…"

"We have much to do." Aaron said, spinning quickly on the spot and whipping his trench coat along with him. "Firstly, I have received a response from one of my contacts, opportunity awaits. Summon those two underlings you picked up, as well as that girl who fought with me on the train. I have a task for them…"

* * *

Hector sighed exasperatedly after drinking a whole bottle of water in one go. Beside him was his teammate Reggie, who cheered him on by yelling "Chug" everytime he gulped down a mouthful of water. After finally convincing Robert that he was indeed fine, and that he didn't need to hover around him anymore, he had about a minute to himself before Reggie came along. From what he told him, Ruby took Michael and Ashley to go on a little trip into Vale. Leaving just them two men still in the training room with the massive hole in it. Glynda said that she'd repair it later, and left them there. Trusting that they wouldn't destroy the place even further in her absence.

"And they _totally_ had no idea I kept the draw four as my final card!" Reggie exclaimed, finishing his story of what happened in the Uno game that his team played while he was out with Rob, Ozpin, and that little group of fun. "Gets 'em every time I tell ya'."

"Yeah, I can imagine." Hector said as he dangled his head over the ledge of their improvised balcony. A thought ran through his mind as he really took in the fact that he was completely alone with Reggie just now, not entirely unsettling, but one that might be annoying. "So, you were elected to have this talk with me?"

Reggie laughed entirely too forcefully and tried to wave off his concern. "Whaaat? Pfft, no, of course not. I decided to stay here of my own free will and- Okay yeah," Reggie sagged his shoulders when he saw Hector raised an eyebrow at him. "They figured that I am the easiest for you to talk to on the team considering that Michael is Michael and Ashley is… well, Ashley. It seems like this past month changed some aspects in the team dynamic."

"Sorry for getting kidnapped."

Reggie smacked his shoulder lightly. "That's not what I meant dude, I would never blame you for that. What I mean is you and your partner."

"What about her?" Hector asked.

Reggie sighed. "Don't make this any harder than it has to be, man you know what I mean. You and Ash kissed at the dance."

Hector winced, he was really going for the throat there, wasn't he? "We did…"

"You two would have gotten together then if Ashley didn't confess to her being a spy for the White Fang."

"Probably…"

"So… how is everything going with that now?" Reggie asked, leaning back as he sat and using his arms to keep himself up as his leader kept his gaze toward the moonlit sky.

"No idea what you mean…" Hector said, trying to make it obvious that he didn't want to talk about it.

"You won't talk about this Earth place, you won't talk about these memories, and you won't talk about that other person in your head." Reggie sighed. "Now you won't even talk about girls, you telling me you gay too? I could try to convince Mike to-"

"It's _not_ like that." Hector cut him off with a laugh. "Listen, I don't talk about things because… most of them I don't fully understand myself. Unless you want to hear how apparently those weird people from the WearHouse are somehow existing on a multiversal plane, I don't have much that I can explain to you."

"Then start with Ash."

"Reggie…"

"Oh come on, you guys were giving each other the Fuck Me eyes the whole first half of the semester, not to mention all the flirting Mike and I had to sit through for _weeks_ before the dance actually came around. I swear, if you say you hate her still I am going to clap you up."

Hector shook his head, and resigned to his fate. He didn't see any way out of this except for jumping out from this handmade second story window. While he would probably survive the fall, Reggie would too, and it would escalate after that.

"I don't hate her." He admitted with a shake of his head. "I don't still hold a grudge for what she was."

"And?" Reggie egged him on.

"And I don't think I still have those feelings for her." Hector said honestly. "I did before, and I was very willing to start something with her, but after everything that happened… everything that I've been through… all because I decided to go try and stop Cinder and her pals all by myself stemmed from her, despite it not entirely being her fault. I was angry, _so_ angry, I-" He stopped himself from continuing, not wanting to talk about what happened on that train. Neo was still dancing in his vision, and that N she carved into his hip itched as he thought about it. "Just drop it, it's done. If I fall for her again, I fall for her again. But trapping me and forcing me to talk about it isn't going to speed up the process at all."

"I get it…" Reggie said, suddenly feeling incredibly guilty for what he made his leader say. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring back those shitty memories of yours."

"It's fine." Hector sighed through his nose. "Sorry for snapping like that."

"Don't worry about it." Reggie said as he stood up, stretching his arms, then another question popped through his mind. "Hey, since we're on the topic of love lives, I know pretty much everything of most people that I sit close to or hang out with… except a few, and one of them is your buddy, does he have someone?"

"Rob?" Hector asked, and Reggie nodded his head in confirmation. "Errr… I don't really know, I never asked him. But I think it's safe to assume he's single, any reason why you're asking me that?" His eyes went wide. "Wait, don't tell me you're…"

"No, no, no," Reggie waved his hands back and forth to deny the insinuation. "Asking for a friend… a friend that I will _not_ be telling you about." He said as he slowly began to back up. "Not a soul…"

"Uh…" Hector didn't know what to say, should he warn Rob about this? Probably. Will he though? Probably not. "Okay, I'll just pretend I didn't hear any of that."

"Good choice." Reggie said. "See you back at the room, don't keep us worrying for too long."

"See ya." Hector waved back at him with two fingers before relaxing himself once again. He looked up toward the broken moon, and as he was sure many others did before him, wondered on how it got broken in the first place.

" _ **I am certain I told you this story before."**_ Hell said, appearing beside him. Hector didn't jump or shout in surprise this time, he was used to this, and after what happened with Ozpin, he knew that Hell isn't invincible. Nor was he a demon.

"You have, something about the Gods, right?" Hector asked. Hell nodded his head. There was something different about Hell this time around. His skin, even if he was in spectral form, seemed darker and more full of life. His hair was still snow white, and his eyes were red and black as always. But he looked more human now. Which was strange to him, he always thought he was a demon or some Grimm parasite that got stuck inside him.

" _ **It is so much more than that."**_ Hell said, reading his thoughts.

"Tch, I still have to get used to that." Hector commented. He wondered if anyone was able to deal with this kind of thing before.

" _ **Ironic, coming from you."**_ Hell remarked, laughing at some inside joke Hector didn't understand.

"What do you mean?"

" _ **These memory surges that we keep having… I believe I am starting to finally piece them together. Mine, anyway."**_ Hell said, looking out into the distance. He wasn't angry, sassy, or snarky as he usually was. He was actually being pretty chill, which instantly set off red flags in Hector's book. " _ **Calm down, this isn't any kind of trick."**_

"How do I know that?"

" _ **Because even if I wanted to, I'd never be able to get full control over this body, and neither can you. Our souls have merged together, whatever that is left anyway. Together, yet still separated."**_ Hell shook his head. " _ **I take it that perplexes you."**_

"A little bit, yeah." Hector admitted. "I… don't remember everything myself, it's slowly coming together, and it feels like I am slowly regaining the memories of a life I forgot I lived.

" _ **No, they are not yours."**_ Hell said, slowly turning to him. Red eyes met red, but neither were angry, just having a chat with each other. " _ **They're mine, and even then some are not. Just… inherited by force."**_

"That doesn't sound confusing at all…" Hector remarked.

" _ **I will not pretend to know that I know everything."**_ Hell said, quite frustratedly at that. " _ **I wish that I did, so I could remember how I died for the first time, and how I ended up here. With you."**_

"Wait a second," Hector recoiled. "Are you telling me that I am from Earth, and you are from somewhere _beyond_ or something?"

" _ **Something like that."**_

Hector stared at him for a few seconds, and then buckled over himself as he laughed uncontrollably. After a few seconds Hell began to snicker as well, and he slowly faded away back into his self conscious and those laughs turned into broken tearless sobs.

"Man…" Hector said as his reached his hand up to his eye, and it came away dry. "I am so fucked up."

"You and me both Hex." Hector perked up at the sound of the familiar voice calling out his familiar nickname, and turned around in his seat as he spotted the blonde brawler standing not five feet behind him, an all too amused smirk on her face as she looked at him. Her most noticeable trait at the time was that her arms were no longer in casts, and instead heavily bandaged. She still had free movement of them however, and despite the bandages she still had Ember Celica holstered on her wrists. He'd have liked to show her Ebony and Ivory, but they were already taken by Ruby and Robert for some last minute modifications. Despite that, he was happy to see the blonde on her feet and with the use of her arms.

"Yang… heh, so you heard all of that?"

"Only the parts where you talked to yourself, which was pretty weird, I guess." She said as she took the vacant spot next to him, joining him in staring out into the moonlit sky. "But hey, we all have our down moments, right?"

"Guess so." Hector snickered, then turned to her. "What are you doing here? Come looking for me?"

"Yup." Her blatant truth surprised him, so much so that Yang laughed when she noticed his confusion. "Surprised? I wanted to show you my _remarkable_ recovery." She said as she flexed her arms, suppressing a wince as her bones creaked and moved.

"How does it feel?" Hector asked as he reached toward her and gently stroke one of her arms. He could feel her aura stick to his fingers, or at least the aura that he donated to her as an effort to save her life. She seemed to have felt the same thing he had, and neither of them pulled away from each other as they sat practically hip to hip.

"I wish I could recover as fast as you did, or have _metal bones_." Hector chuckled. So it was true, Yang was a little salty that Reggie had those metal bones to prevent turning his bones into dust, while he had his incredible healing fact in Hell's control. Yang however, had no such abilities. Which made it all the more impressive how she was able to help stop that train with them. "But I guess I can stick with _faster than average_." He laughed again when she glared at him, before giving up and poking one of the scars that he also had on his arms. "At least we're going to have matching scars, eh?"

"Yeah, how many people can say they stopped a train with their bare hands?"

"Or fought against some crazy guy with a weird ghostly semblance."

"Or fight Neo and live."

"Or _literally_ lose a piece of your soul to save someone else."

Yang and Hector looked each other in the eye, and they both laughed about it. They both went through all of that, even if the latter was exclusively him unto her. She was very grateful for that, he could tell. They got much closer because of it as well, they must have had some aura connection of some kind. They definitely had a spiritual connection, since Hector literally gave a piece of himself to save her. That was without a doubt. Now Yang was going to be stronger than ever once she recovered, which was great for her. Not so much for him, since he had to rely on tools in order to use his strength now.

"Thank you." Yang said, cutting him off from those thoughts. "I know I said it before, but I just can't help but say it again. Thank you, Hector, for saving my life like that." She smiled beautifully at him. "Because of you, I get to see my sister, dad, and one day punch my mom in the face for leaving me."

Hector laughed at that last part, which was quickly followed up by Yang. He didn't even realize that they were holding hands as they laughed together, he didn't mind it though, she was warm, and he knew that he was warm as well due to his semblance, and it was _not_ because he realized that he was sitting this close to a girl as pretty as Yang, holding her hand, and with her now leaning her cheek into his shoulder. Definitely not any of that.

Thankfully, he was able to prevent any blood from rushing into his cheeks by just simply chatting with her. There was still the aching concern that she was going to ask about her mother, since she was barely conscious during the time that she came to save her, and by extension, him. But that fear was washed away as Yang's smile just seemed a little too genuine. Instead, they simply chatted. About anything, really. When she asked a question, he answered. When she asked a question about Mount Glenn, he still answered. If a little more hesitant. When he asked a question in return, she answered as well, and even went on about how she was happy that Ruby was able to become friends with him, and become such good friends at that. He shivered at the question about how his team was doing, since it reminded him about Reggies previous interrogation of him over his conflicting feelings for his partner, but Yang noticed and stopped immediately. Which earned his gratitude.

Before the knew it, they looked at each other, faces inches apart. Both suddenly became aware of their current positions. Holding hands, hips practically connected to each other, and neither of them made any effort to make the distance any farther. Instead, they both leaned in. Their foreheads touched first, and they looked into each others eyes, faces burning with red eyes staring into lilac. Yang wasn't scared of his red eyes, which drove him to push forward.

Their lips met, and melted into each other at that. It was clear that neither of them had that much experience in kissing, but they were very willing to learn with each other. After a few moments, they broke apart for air. Faces even more red than before and panting for breath.

It didn't stop them from going in for another round of course, and for the first time since he escaped from that nightmare in Mountain Glenn, he found himself completely at ease and relaxed as his lips melded with Yangs perfectly. That was until a memory decided to force itself into his mind.

This time it was of Raven… the scene was enough for his eyes to widen and to suddenly break apart from her and hold onto his head. Raven was dying, saying her last words to an older Yang which he could barely hear himself in yet another field of snow, snow that was slowly turning red as Raven was drained of her life. Surrounded by Yang, Qrow, and himself. By the time it was over, he was groaning in pain over the headache he now had, and Yang was terrified for him.

"What's wrong!?"

"I-it wasn't you," He said immediately, reassuring her that it wasn't her fault. "Just a memory that decided to pop up, I'm sorry."

Yang was nothing short of sympathetic, and she pulled him in so that his head rested on the top of her breasts. He let it happen, he was in desperate need of comfort, and Yang was happy to provide it. He figured that he should have gone back to their dorms after another hour passed, but neither of them wanted to move. Because they knew that Hector had to go on a mission, leaving tomorrow. This was going to be the last chance they had to spend time together for who knows how long this mission lasted.

Oh well… he supposed a little more of this boob pillow wouldn't hurt.

* * *

Hector strapped on Ebony on his right hand, pulling it down and locking it in place. He made sure to put it on standby mode, and did the same with ivory on his other hand. Beside him was his partner Ashley, who nodded to him as she finished sharpening one of her swords and sheathed it behind her back. Michael was next, who finished wrapped his chains around his arms and shoulders. Lastly was Reggie, who gave his large battle axe a quick test swing before collapsing it and placing it in a holster on his back. Once they were all ready, Hector closed his eyes and nodded his head, giving them a signal to start moving on toward the Bullheads.

In another room, Robert finished setting up Raios, fitted his boots, and ate one last sandwich before rushing out of the door and toward the landing pad. He walked with purpose, and promised to himself and to all of the friends that he was going on this mission with that he was going to do his best to make sure nothing bad happens to them. He'd stake it with his life.

They met halfway there, and after some short greetings, Robert took the lead and led them to the rest of the way there. Where they were met by Headmaster Ozpin, General Ironwood, Professor Goodwitch, and even Winter and Qrow. The latter nodding his head toward Hector and Robert as they caught up to them.

"Seeing us out?" Robert asked the obvious.

"Of course," Ironwood answered. "This is an important mission, and I would see fit to shake all of your hands myself before you depart." The General said as he walked up to Robert first, extending his right hand. Robert took it and shook it with a nod, the Generals handshake was incredibly tight, but before it started to hurt he moved on to Hector, who stood right beside him. He went down the line from there, and next up was Ozpin, who did much the same. When Glynda came next, Qrow sneered.

"Oh come on, are we all going to shake the kids hand?"

"Qrow…" Winter warned.

"So… anything particular to say?" Robert asked, it wasn't a mean tone in any way though.

"Be careful, and don't try anything stupid." Glynda said sternly.

"I'll do my best _mom_." Robert replied with a roll of his eyes.

"As I explained to you before, you will all start this mission in the Emerald Forest and pick up where our lost scout left off. From there, whatever you transportation you need will be provided for you via Bullhead. This mission will not end until Merlots defeat or capture." Ozpin went on. "Mister Urra will be in charge of you all, but you are all in this together. Work together, and if it makes it easier, think of Mister Urra as a fifth team member."

Robert paid attention to the instructions… but also to another bullhead that recently landed, and out of it came out…

"Oh gosh, I don't believe it." Robert said to himself. From out the bullhead and quickly walking in their direction was Team CFVY, they had been on a mission for quite some time, and it seemed like they have finally returned.

"Well, well, well," The leader of Team CFVY tutted as she immediately spotted them all and made her way, along with her team, toward them all. "Look at this boys and girls, it looks like he newbies are going out on a mission." She winked toward Robert. "Missed me hun?"

"I'll admit, it has been too peaceful, I was starting to get suspicious."

"Haha," Coco laughed. "Funny, and I see _you're_ still running that tight ass. Nice." she added as she lowered her glasses down the bridge of her nose, staring straight at Hector's bottom.

Hector suddenly became much more self conscious of himself, and hid behind Robert. "All yours man, you got this." He whispered as he pointedly refused to look anywhere in Coco's direction.

"Really!?" Robert whispered back, an annoyed expression on his face.

"Miss Adel, I will be ready for your report in five minutes time." Ozpin said, coming to both of their rescue. "Do be sure they are on time, or there may be punishment."

"Ah, you teachers are no fun." She winked toward Robert again, and behind her the rest of the members of Team CFVY, who were very much exhausted at the time, filed in behind her.

"By the way _hun_ , your outfit has seen better days." Robert sniped.

"I've been fighting around the outskirts of Vale since the _dance_ ," Coco seethed, but still managed a smile on her face. "But thanks for noticing, yours looks damaged too though." In truth ever since the sewers Robert's outfit looked really… weathered.

"Well… it's hard to find places with good options." Robert said back.

"Oh really? Well if you don't mind, I know some places."

"Sure, then you can make sure I look beautiful." Robert answered, truth be told he wanted a new outfit. Coco looked excited at the proposal.

"Oh gosh, please don't tell me that's how you flirt." Hector gagged as he ran a hand over his face. "Can't we go on the mission now? Or is there another team that wants to suddenly appear."

"Well…" Qrow snickered, and pointed behind them. When he turned around, Team RWBY and JNPR were both there strolling up to them, Yang sending him a wink from the middle of the crowd and making his face burn as a result. He gulped, and turned back toward the adults, hoping no one saw that.

"Ahem…" Winter coughed meaningfully into her hand, and Penny stepped out from behind her

"Oh shit," Hector leaned toward Robert. "Is it bad that I forgot about her for like a week?" He whispered as he kept a happy smile on his face.

"Don't worry, she doesn't mind."

Many, many more goodbye-for-nows were made in the next few minutes that followed. Hector had to hug eight people, and Nora and Penny three times respectively. He lingered a little longer when it came to Yang however, something that _everyone_ noticed of course, especially since Yang made sure to plant a nice kiss on his cheek and wink at him once they broke away. Whatever efforts he made to prevent such a red faced reaction from him was now null as he stood in front of _everyone_ with red cheeks. It didn't help at all that Qrow, Yang's uncle, was behind him the whole time. Thankfully, when it came to Nora's fourth time around, things calmed down a little. Though his canine partner seemed to appear as a tad bit irritated and jealous.

When it came to Robert's goodbyes, everything went normal… until Weiss came to say goodbye, Robert noticed something was off, he didn't know what exactly.

"Weiss?" Robert asked.

"Hmm? Oh, I'm sorry it's just…" Truth be told everyone had seen Robert's exchange with Coco, but Weiss felt conflicted about it… in a way she couldn't explain, it was subtle, but enough to gnaw at her. "...Just be safe, okay?" She said, and tried to turn away.

"Nah uh uh!" Yang popped out of nowhere, gripping Weiss by her shoulders and pushing her back toward Robert. "You are going to do this."

"X-Xiao Long, get your hands off of me!"

"Sure."

Weiss yelped as she was shoved toward Robert, who caught her before she could fall. Her face was in his chest, and she had to look up to see who her savior was. Her face turned red for a moment, before she properly padded herself down and stood up straight. Robert raised an eyebrow, but didn't deny that he felt a certain amount of butterflies fly around in his stomach after being so close to the heiress like that.

"Be safe." Weiss said, much more confidently this time around. "I will be awaiting your return… because I would like to have more conversations with you… about your semblance control yeah, that's it."

Robert didn't say a thing, he just stared… confused.

"She's saying that she is going to miss you." Yang whispered loudly, so that everyone heard."

Robert felt his heart skip a beat.

"Eh!?"

Weiss was gone and yanking away her blonde teammate and stomping away while saying all sorts of rude things to her without actually cursing. It was truly a sight to behold, and after Hector managed to escape from Nora and Penny, he patted Robert on the shoulder.

"Wow, I don't know how you did it, but you did it." He said teasingly.

"You're saying that as if you don't have that kiss mark on your cheek." Robert clapped back, with a very flat tone.

It got the desired reaction that he wanted, and Hector went into all sorts of excuses that only had Robert snickering and dragging him into the Bullhead first. Hector adjusted himself midway through so that he was on his left side, and now close to Qrow, who was now glaring at him with a very cold smile on his face. The rest of Team HAMR followed shortly after, but before the hatch could close, Ruby called up to them.

"Michael! Do the thing one more time! Please!" She practically begged.

Hector turned to his teammate. "What thing?"

Michael sighed, and then cleared his throat. He stepped over to the opening of the Bullhead, and used a voice Hector never thought he would have heard out of him.

"Goodbye everyone!" He said in Pyrrha's voice. "I am going to regulate my schedule to meet back with you shortly," He said in Weiss's voice next. He eyed Robert with a smug grin as he looked at him with a shocked expression. "Love you all, see you soon!" He said, using Roberts voice as he bowed toward the clapping and ecstatic girls, begging for an encore as the Bullhead slowly closed its hatch.

"I want my copyright money." Robert said.

"Since fucking when!?" Hector interrupted before Michael could reply to him.

"It is a secret, I am afraid it is not something I can bestow upon you." Michael laughed after using Ozpin's voice. He strapped himself in one of the seats a moment later, right beside Reggie who was dying with laughter.

"I… hate myself for not learning about this sooner." Hector said with a chuckle. "Anyway, I think we're all ready to go now, right?"

"Mmhm." Robert answered, truth be told he wasn't right there right now, he was thinking, he wasn't stupid he realized what had happened, and he also knew he tecnically also had a date with Coco and now this… changed things, he didn't know how feel about it, Coco was one thing… but Weiss, after everything he had done… would that even work? All of it was going through his head, very quickly.

"I'm so boned."

"Yeah…" Hector agreed, taking the spot next to him. "I have a feeling I know what you mean by that."

"Something you wanna tell me?" Robert teased.

Hector sighed. "N-not right now… maybe later." He leaned closer. "The walls have ears… which is why I am whispering right now… but I maybe sorta kinda made out with Yang last night." His face was red as he said it, but he had to get it out. It would help with the dark mood as the Bullhead raised into the sky. "So there's that."

"Wow… I mean… huh?" Robert leaned back in his seat. "Okay then, secret is safe with me."

"Awesome!" Reggie exclaimed, not to them like they originally thought, but to his other teammates while pulling out a deck of cards. "Who's down for some Uno!?"

"Hold on what?" Robert asked. He then looked at the card deck that Reggie pulled out. "How the fuck?"

"I know right!" Hector exclaimed, catching the cards that Reggie threw his way. "I have no idea how either, but there is one possibility." He said as he tossed Robert his deck, and let Reggie throw another seven cards his way. "Uno is eternal."

Robert didn't answer, he just showed a skip card as his answer.

Hectors eyes flashed red.

"Oh, it's fucking on."

And so, the game that ends friendships continued to reign supreme.

* * *

 **Remember when I said this was going to be a short chapter? Ha! Yeah, that didn't happen. You know, a casual 12.8k words, no biggie. - Genatools**

 **We fooled you! Pulled it right under your noses. - CrowSkull**

 **So yeah, it was a bit of a breath of life, some motivations and a little flashback with Aaron. Then Hector casually making out with Yang, you know, the little things. Boy, I can't** _ **wait**_ **for those reviews. - Genatools**

 **Please review and let us know what you think of the story!**

 **T w itter . com (slash) genatools**

 **P a treon .com (slash) Genatools**


	42. A Tale of Two Heroes chapter 42

**And we're back, happy to see you too boys and girls and men and women. For research purposes both me and CrowSkull bought RWBY: Grimm Eclipse, and played through the entire campaign in about 2-3 hours so we can get a better understanding of this Merlot arc, and one thing right off the bat, there is no conceivable way in which I can pronounce 'Merlot' 'Mer-low'. I just don't get it, we personally think it should be 'Mer-Lot.' But of course, english is weird like that.**

 **Yes, we invested money on all of you… it was fun though. -CrowSkull.**

* * *

 **Alf7: Yeah, I did some research on it** _ **after**_ **the chapter and yeah, apparently Coco is gay. Yet in a lot of fanfiction cases we are able to, you know, bypass that. Not confirming anything, but there is a sense of Creative Liberty CrowSkull and I can use in order to make some exceptions. Thank you for pointing that out however, I had to look it up and see for myself if it was true or not.**

 **Oblivious IJ: There were a few hints about Red Dragon becoming a thing here and there throughout the story, but since Red Ash used to be the main ship, and after that happened in Mountain Glenn, Red Dragon just sorta became something that made more sense. Glynda gets underused, I agree, but don't worry, she's been getting that God of Darkness dick in Detective Grimm. Maybe just for you I'll write more Glynda scenes as well.**

 **Thank you all for the reviews!**

 **Transiton**

 **Beta & Co-Writer: CrowSkull**

 **Now let's keep it going.**

* * *

A Tale of Two Heroes

Chapter 42- Return to the Mountain

Qrow yawned as he looked over the city of Vale from up in the headmasters office in Beacon's tower. Once he took a long swig from his flask, he turned around to face the white haired man as he typed away at his computer. "So let me get this straight," He said as he stepped toward the table, sitting on the edge of it beside the headmaster of Beacon while holding his flask close to his chest. "You're worried that this Rob kid is susceptible to snappin' like that other kid did when you trained with him. That 'bout right?"

"Partly." Ozpin said as he turned off his computer, and gave Qrow his full attention. "Another reason for my insistence that Mister Urra, Mister Rivers and his team to go on this mission into the Emerald Forest is more so a… experiment, if you will."

"Experiment?" Qrow echoed. "This like the kind of experiment you did with my sister and I or is this Jimmy's kind of experiment."

"A mixture of the two," Ozpin chuckled, remembering the moment he first gave Qrow and Raven Branwen the ability to turn into birds. Watching them try to master the transformation form was most amusing to watch. "Let me explain; Mister Rivers, before transforming into his 'Hell' form for the first time, has never taken a life before. He only snapped as he did and gained this form when he was succumbed to weeks of torture and starvation. His mental state was at its weakest, and I can hardly fault the boy for taking lives at that time."

"Ruby told me about that." Qrow sighed. "And he's the one my niece got all smoochy with? Man, talk about choices."

"I will not have you speaking ill of my student, Qrow. No matter how close we may be."

"Relax. It's not like I'm saying he's an asshole or he's not good enough for her or anything." Qrow waved a hand toward him in dismissal.

"As you say. The point I am trying to make is that both Mister Rivers and Mister Urra are both from a different world, you know this already so I will spare you the details. What I am worried about is that Mister Urra has not shown any of the same signs as Mister Rivers, and-"

"And since he has killed before he got any transformation, you worried that if he does snap one of these days, that he would cause a lot of destruction. Maybe even become more dangerous." Qrow finished for him.

Ozpin nodded his head in confirmation. "Precisely. If such an occurrence happens on the mission he is on, I trust in Mister Rivers and his team to be able either calm him down, or defeat him. Especially if this 'Hell' reemerges."

"Gotcha, anything you want me to do in the meantime?" Qrow asked. "You already got my message, and with what the kid told us before, most of that woman's plans are pretty much gone. How are the efforts of reinforcing the Amity Colosseum?"

"I have been recalling Huntsman from all over Vale to partake in such an event." Ozpin answered.

"They're going to be _in_ the tournament?"

"Heavens no," Ozpin chuckled. "They are going to be added security, and in the possibility that an attack as was foretold by Mister Urra does indeed happen, we will have a much larger force of defense."

"That might still not be enough, Oz." Qrow pointed out solemnly.

"Nothing might be enough, if Salem if behind this behavior." Ozpin turned in his chair, and stood up to walk over to the glass windows, looking through it with a face chiseled from stone. "If she is desperate enough to send Aaron Hayes of all people, then I am afraid that we might already be out of time."

* * *

"Bullshit!" Ashley cried out and threw Uno cards everywhere, pointing an accusing finger toward Reggie straight after. "There is no _conceivable_ way that you have that many draw four cards!"

"What can I say?" Reggie asked as he fanned at his face with his two cards left. "I just have good luck top decking."

"Yeah, and now I get draw eight." Hector groaned. "I just made it back down below ten cards, too."

"Yeah, must suck." Michael piped up, his pile of Uno cards stacked up beside him in an impressively long stack. "It must suck _so_ much."

"I feel like I might be to blame for that." Robert said, shrugging his shoulders apologetically toward the blonde fighter. "Ashley keeps trying to give me draw 2's, but I keep countering back with another. You should blame her for that now that I think about it."

"Hey!" Ashley glared at him. "I have words for you too Mister I-put-down-a-skip-or-reverse-every-other-card." She said, hugging her cards close to her chest protectively just in case he tried to reverse it on her again. She had no more blues, and she was afraid he had one to put down after Reggie selected blue for his color after the draw four.

"Hey, look I already have enough bad luck just drawing, with all the cards I have I must have something to use." And it was true, out of all of them Robert hadn't been the victim of draw cards, just his own bad luck drawing.

"Well, we might have to cut this game short, because it looks like we're getting near." Hector pointed out as he looked outside the window beside him. "How long do we have left!" He asked the pilot.

" _Landing when I find a safe enough spot."_

"So we have about that much time." Hector said with a nod of his head.

"Well, you could just all forfeit." Reggie suggested with a smug grin on his face. "Not like I have the least cards or anything."

"We still have about a minute." Ashley said, her three cards still tight to her chest. "I think a surprise might be in store."

" _I don't recommend that."_ The pilot piped in again. " _It doesn't take long to land-"_

"Don't take this away from me! I haven't won one yet." Ashley cut the man off, and after a sigh that was audible in the microphone in one of the corners of the Bullhead, his voice cut off and the entire ship shook. Sending the cards flying everywhere.

"You did that on purpose!" Ashley shrieked as she lost her cards in the chaos.

" _Yup."_

"We can say this game never happened." Robert suggested.

"As the leader of Team HAMR, I declare this previous Uno game something that never happened." Hector said as he threw his cards to the side to hold on to the straps as the Bullhead slowly came to a landing in the Emerald Forest.

"Boo, sore losers. All of you." Reggie said as he looked throughout the Bullhead with a defeated expression on his face, all the cards were scattered everywhere. He wondered whether or not it was worth the hassle of picking them all up.

" _I am not picking these up."_ The pilot said, just in case they actually needed to hear him say it. " _Also, we are coming into contact with the ground in sub-ten seconds. For your safety, hold on to your straps tightly."_

"I am glad to see that he cares for us so much." Michael said with a roll of his eyes.

The Bullhead landed on the ground of the Emerald forest within seconds. It was a little rumbly, but nothing like what might have been implied when the pilot told them to hold on tight. Team HAMR and Robert all unclasped their straps and stood up for the first time after half an hour of flying. An interesting fact about the Emerald Forest was that it was right next to Beacon, yet somehow it still took a decent while for the pilot to get them to where they needed to go. The reasoning for that is that the forest is much more vast than what is visible from up top on the Beacon cliffs. It spans out for miles and miles and even into the outskirts of Vale.

"Ah," Hector groaned a satisfying sound as he stretched his arms up above his head. The bones in his back clicking and creaking in a pleasurable way the longer he stretched. "Man, that hit the spot. It's been a while since I've been back in this forest, doesn't it bring back some memories guys?"

"Yeah, like us leaving you to defend yourself against that Deathstalker." Michael snickered.

"It was intentional?" Robert asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Eh…" Reggie tilted his hand back and forth. "Fifty-fifty."

"Oh… well he survived." Robert said.

"At least the pilot cared about my safety." Hector joked as he brought two fingers up to the communication device in his ear. "Hello?" He called into the microphone.

" _Hello!"_ Peter Port called back with boisterous laughter. " _I see that you all made it to the Emerald Forest safe and sound! Congratulations, the first step of your mission is now complete. Ha zah!"_

"Yeah… thanks." Hector raised an eyebrow toward Robert, who simply shrugged back in response. Neither knowing what exactly was the correct way to respond to that. "Which way are we headed now?"

" _Since you are all in range, I have a reading of our previous scouts emergency locator beacon. Head toward that first, and see if there is anything we can take back to Beacon."_ The fact that Professor Port phrased that in a way that implied that this scout was already dead and couldn't be saved made some members of their team shiver. Hector simply nodded his head in silent respect for the fallen scout, and after a few more exchange in words with the pilot of their Bullhead it was agreed upon that the pilot would return after the two security nodes were repaired or designated destroyed.

Robert started walking ahead, lazily getting used to the Emerald forest as he did so. In a way, he thought it was nice, the trees were green and healthy, the grass in a much more similar state, and there was even a path that they were able to take that conveniently lead in the same direction of where Port told them to go. It was pretty and all, but there was a job to be done. He couldn't spend too much time worrying about the aesthetics of a forest filled with Grimm. "So shall we go?" Robert said as he started to speed up his pace.

"Creeps." Michael called out, Robert spun back around and saw a small pack of about seven or so creeps. As a team of five Huntsman, they weren't going to stand a chance.

"Oh, already starting I see." Robert said as he dashed in, kicking one of the Creeps in the snout and tossing it into the air, he then zapped it out of existence with a bolt of lightning and used his lightning blades to slice up two other Creeps that came for him from the sides, with that done he let HAMR deal with the rest.

"Damn," Reggie said as he scraped the final creep off of his battle axe. It was almost a strange sight to see, Reggie actually using his axe for once. It seemed like Glynda's lessons were finally taking hold within his mind. "These Grimm are like, nothing now. I remember when we used to struggle with just a few of these things."

"We've gotten stronger." Michael started with a shrug.

"Yeah, guess you're right."

Further down the road, there was another pack of creeps. More quantiful in number this time around, and with one of them being much larger and stronger than the others. It was an alpha Creep, but before it could pose any kind of threat, Robert was able to silence it before it could even burrow into the ground. It was one of the first to go.

"Oh, look!" Reggie exclaimed and _dove_ into a bush. Michael cursed and ran in after him, but before he could jump over the bush Reggie popped back up with a grin on his face, holding a chess piece the size of his head in one of his hands. "I found a relic!"

"Those are real…?" Hector asked himself with a mental facepalm.

"Why… how…" Ashley shook her head and looked away, opting to think about the impossibility of finding a relic this far out from Beacon another time.

"Those must be for tests similar to the initiations." Robert helpfully provided.

"Yes, but all the way out here?" Michael pointed out. "It's strange, Hector, do you have any ideas?"

Hector refused to answer that question. "I don't know, I'm as lost as you are." He lied.

"Well, I am going to look out for more of these things." Reggie said as he placed the chess piece, which was a white bishop, into one of his pockets. "Maybe we'll get a bonus if we bring this back to the headmaster."

"Sure, go ahead. By all means." Hector said as he took point, mostly because he didn't want to get stuck with explaining what these relics were actually meant for. "Just don't run off to go get one in the middle of a fight."

"Guys." Robert called. "The security node should be close." He while holding his scroll, specifically in the locator app.

" _Correct!"_ Port interjected before anyone could reply. " _You are just a few hundred feet away, the scout must have found it before something happened. Go forth! But be wary of Grimm my students… and Mister Urra."_

"I see how it is." Robert said under his breath with a soft chuckle.

"Grimm aren't really that much of a threat anymore, honestly." Hector said as he walked out in the middle of the open with his hands laced together and up behind his head. "Sure, they're dangerous to an average person. But all of us are anything but that, if anything, the only Grimm that I consider dangerous are the really old ones, and maybe if they overwhelm us with a massive force."

"I disagree. There is a reason the Grimm were able to beat humanity back to near extinction and keep us in this state for so many years. The ones we're facing now are nowhere near as strong as those I know are out there." Michael said.

"Yeah, and this is the Emerald Forest," Ashley continued. "It's not like the teachers are going to let really strong Grimm roam literally right next to Beacon where inexperienced students are still training."

"Well… not unmonitored that is. Well mostly..." Robert said out loud.

Hector shrugged, and faced them as he started to walk backwards. "Guess you're right, I might be getting a little cocky, considering the power boosts we've all gotten."

"Yeah, speak for yourself Mister I-can- _literally_ -multiply-my-strength-and-speed." Reggie said in a chuckle.

"Heh, to be fair I can't go that far anymore. I don't want to destroy the bones in my arms or anything like that. Right now, my max is times five."

" _Time's five._ " Reggie mocked. "You make that sound like it's not a lot. You go from being decently strong to pretty much being the strongest in the world. I'd _love_ to multiply my strength whatever I want, you got the luck of the draw when it comes with semblances."

"Now you're just making my feel insecure." Hector said as a nervous drop of sweat rolled down his forehead. "I mean, sure I can multiply my strength and such, but I can't do that all-"

"Watch out!" Ashley exclaimed with wide eyes, she drew her two swords and started running toward him, only to freeze as Hector felt something breathe into his ears.

A Beowolf, many Beowolves were behind Hector. He stood there frozen in shock as one of them placed their snout right on top of his shoulder and almost appeared to sigh. But at the sight of the rest of his team and Robert, it started to growl and snap at them. Hector came back to his senses and shoved the Beowolf's head off of his shoulder, but instead of attacking him immediately like a normal Grimm would. It simply barked at him once before running straight past him.

"What the…" Hector said, shocked once again as the other Beowolves ran straight past him and toward the rest of his friends. They didn't even give him a second glance. "Why did they…?"

" _ **Forget about me?"**_ Hell asked, appearing in his ghostly form beside Hector. He had a smug look on his face. " _ **As long as we share a body, now that I have awakened they will not see you as prey."**_

"That's… going to take a lot of getting used too." Hector said as his hands started to shake lightly, a flash of memories going through his head as he remembers something similar happening to him in Mountain Glenn some time after he escaped.

Once Hector rejoined the group, the small pack of just five Beowolves, and some Creeps that were attracted to the fighting, all the Grimm were slain and defeated. Their decomposing body parts lying on the ground burning away as Team HAMR all stood around their leader, all with varying degrees of questioning looks on their faces. Robert stood beside him, he didn't know that Grimm wouldn't attack Hector, but he was still more than willing to stand beside him. He figured that it was that Hell persona that lead to this side effect. However he still looked at him with a raised eyebrow, mostly at how he just stood there, ashamed and not knowing what to say.

"Why didn't they attack you?" Michael asked the most obvious question that was on everybody's mind already. "They just walked straight past you, like you were one of them."

"I'm not." Hector immediately denied with a fierce scowl.

"I know," Michael agreed. "You have aura, a soul, and you have your own will and set of emotions. But that still doesn't excuse you from being able to just be… _ignored_ by Grimm."

"Is there something you haven't told us yet?" Reggie asked with crossed arms. He wasn't angry, or mad or any negative emotion. What he did convey was shock, surprise, and perhaps a bit of awe and wonder.

"Ahem." Robert started, making all of them look at him. "Grimm territory? Security node? That way?" He asked, pointing in a specific direction.

"We have plenty of time for that, I think we should all gain a better understanding of what is happening to our leader. Your friend, as well. You can't look at me with that face and tell me you are not at all curious about Hector's sudden ability to trick Grimm into thinking he's one of them." Michael said, then before Robert could reply, looked back to Hector with sad eyes. "You can tell us what's wrong, if it's anything. This isn't going to change the way we look at you. You're my friend, _our_ friend. Even after this, we're not going to consider you anything less than that. I am sure I can speak for everyone on that matter."

Ashley and Reggie voiced their agreement quickly after, though the former looked terribly guilty as she did. Almost like she was blaming herself for this. When it became obvious that nothing he said was going to stop this from happening, Robert added his hand to the promise. They all gave their word that what Hector said here was going to remain a secret between them all. After building up the confidence within himself, Hector nodded and agreed to talk.

"Back in Mountain Glenn, as you all know, I broke myself out. But at the same time, it wasn't _me_ who broke myself out." Hector began slowly, Robert knew where this was going already, but let him continue.

"What do you mean?" Ashley asked.

"There's… something, or some _one_ , who shares this body and mind with me." Hector admitted. His confession yield the expected results. Michael did his best to make it look like it didn't affect him, but his breathing increased and he tightened his hands wrapped around his arms while he had them crossed. Reggie was much more obvious with his shock, jaw literally dropping as Hector continued, and Ashley looked even more sad. "I'd show you to prove it, but I don't trust him to not try anything if I do."

" _ **Rude."**_ Hell commented, he was also present in this conversation. But he sat off to the side on one of the rocks. " _ **I wouldn't waste my time killing these weaklings anyway."**_

Hector ignored him. "His name is Hell, and he is the one who was able to stop the train. Not me. I had to force him into it, but it worked. He's _much_ stronger than I am after all. Though, I found out afterwards that he attacked you all. I felt terrible for it and-" His voice hitched, eyes turned red as the stress started to get more intense. He shut them tightly and thought about a way to try and explain it in an easier to understand way. "Long story short, I think Hell is also not from around here, but not from where I or Rob am from either. To put it simply, he is from another _other_ universe, and the memory surges I told you all about before are because of him and some way somehow, he got merged with me."

"That's… wow." Reggie whistled and laughed nervously once Hector finished his tale. "And to think I was finally beginning to understand mostly everything about you."

"Yeah… sorry." Hector said, hanging his head and refusing to look at any of them.

"Don't be," Ashley spoke up, and stepped forward. "If there is anything I know about you, it's that you always of this ability to surprise us. First with your strength, then with this revelation of you being from another world, and the list can go on and on. I guess that's also part of your charm too, we never know what to expect from you." She said. "This is just another one of those surprises, and if this 'Hell' asshole isn't able to control your body outright, than it's _you_ who is the stronger one."

"Ash…" Hector said her name softly as a smile smile curved up from his lips. He was touched, and coming from Ashley, it was enough for her to earn some forgiveness.

"What she said and more," Michael followed up. "We're with you, as always."

" _I certainly hope you are!"_ Port exclaimed, scaring them all out of their boots. " _Because while I am touched by such a heartwarming display of camaraderie and friendship, there is still a security node to go investigate! Move forth my pupils! For glory!"_ His voice cut out a moment later, and after another moment all of Team HAMR began to laugh.

Robert started walking ahead silently, in fact HAMR didn't exactly notice that he disappeared suddenly.

"So much for that," Hector said. "Let's get through this mission first and then I'll explain more about him, it's actually good that you all know about him now anyway, but he isn't going to come out unless it's an absolute emergency."

"Fair enough," Michael said, and once they all started moving again, Team HAMR was once again a team with all four members walking side by side. "If we need any stealth approaches against the Grimm though, you'll be the one we pick."

"Deal." Hector said with a chuckle.

They all moved together and traversed the last few hundred feet until they were able to come across the security node, it was an oddly shaped and large machine that stuck out of the ground. Why a security node was in a _cave_ of all places was weird to think about, but perhaps that was why it was built here in the first place, or secrecy.

As the locator suggested, the scout that was sent out some time ago was in fact by this first security node, however not much of their body remained. The Grimm picked it clean of any muscle, and his or her clothing was torn to pieces. With a heavy heart, Michael was the one to wrap what was left of the body up in a body bag that the pilot provided them with. After that, everyone took a position round the node to see what was wrong with it. Robert peeked his head from behind the node to look at them, and waved them over.

"Oh, you guys are here, great." He said, he was observing the node and the device attached to it.

"See anything obviously wrong with it?" Hector asked as he looked around the node. "'Cause I don't."

"How about that rectangle there, the one with the big M." Robert pointed to the device.

"That doesn't look good." Reggie commented, popping up behind them. In the next second his battle axe was in place to pry the thing off. "M must mean to _maim_ it, so lets rip it off!"

"Wait! You can just rip off a…" Ashley trailed off and face palmed herself as the foreign object was _torn_ off of the security node and sent flying across the cave. "Piece of equipment like that…"

"Umm… Port, was the damage irreversible?" Robert asked through his ear piece.

" _Fortunately no, but I suggest you don't do that again, it might cause some further issues down the line, like our entire security network shutting down. But fortunately that isn't the case… yet. I must inform you though that you might have some company in there, you must defend the node while we fix this issue."_

"Copy that." Robert said.

"Oh great," Hector cocked Ebony and Ivory as he saw a few Creeps burrow out of the ground. "At least I get some more practice with these things."

From what they counted, there was a little more than two dozen Beowolves, half that of Creeps, and one alpha of each. Team HAMR and Robert formed a semi-circle around the security node, with the three melee oriented fighters forming a front line being Ashley, Reggie and Hector, with Robert and Michael farther back using ranged attacks to support them.

The fight started quickly with Robert throwing lightning grenades and Michael picking Grimm' with his chains, Hector, Ashley and Reggie blitzed into combat picking their targets.

"What the hell?" Ashley asked as her weapons dug into the forearms of one of the Beowolves. The Grimm crossed its arms across its chest and actually formed a guard to protect itself. "Since when do Grimm block!?"

"Apparently today!" Reggie exclaimed as his battle axe got caught, and so he thrust a metal fist through the Beowolves arms and through out through its chest. "Ugh, I felt it's heart for a second there."

"Just aim your weapons at their legs, or just where they aren't blocking!" Robert yelled, leading by example as he cut a Beowolf's leg and then pierced its neck with one of his blades.

"Ah!" Hector yelped as one Beowolf brushed it's snout against his shoulder a little _too_ gently. "Stop that! Stop snuggling me!" He exclaimed as he hammered his fist down and crushed its skull, causing a splatter of black blood to drench his face. His disappointed red eyes could be seen through the blood as he turned to his friends, who all had to suppress their laughter. Never in their lives did they think they were going to see someone complaining and trying to stop a Beowolf from snuggling with them.

At the end of the encounter, the only real problems were the Alpha Beowolf and Alpha Creep. The former of the two being dealt with my Hector and Reggie, and the latter being dealt with by Robert… in his own fun special way.

"Come here buddy, com here." Robert said taunting the Creep to burrow out and try and attack him, it did soon enough and Robert immediately grabbed it by the face and piledrived to the floor, he finished it using the momentum he had to land on and stab it and conducting lightning into it. Meanwhile, Hector and Reggie both ripped off both of the arms of the Alpha Beowolf, and while it screamed in pain Ashley jumped up from behind and cut off it's head.

"Is that all?" Hector asked, looking around the save for any more Grimm.

" _Bravo team, amazing work! Now, I hope you are not tired, because I just found out that there is another node for you all to go and patch me through. I'll send you the coordinates now, good luck!"_

Hector sighed. "Okay, is everyone ready to go- what are you doing?" He asked Reggie when he saw him throwing rocks around in a dark corner of the cave.

"I saw something shiny here, just give me a sec and… ah ha!" Reggie pulled out yet another large chess piece. "I found another one!"

"Oh gosh, is this going to be something that happens regularly on this mission?" Ashley asked.

"Yup!" Reggie replied.

"Why does Beacon have an obsession with chess? Besides because of Ozpin vut..." Robert wondered to himself.

"... Let's just get to the second node guys." Hector pleaded.

Team HAMR and Robert soon travelled around the Emerald forest directly to the second security node, passing by an old bridge, more waves of Grimm and also cages… cages full of Grimm. They don't know how or why there was Grimm in cages just scattered about every now and again, though they didn't worry too much about it. Sooner than they might have thought they reached the second node, this time Reggie didn't break the device attached to it, though Michael was the one who had to stop him, and once again they fought a decent sized force of Grimm that tried to stop them. After fighting Boarbatusks, Creeps and Beowolves the fight ended with Robert throwing an Alpha Creep to Ashley for her to split down the middle. Overall it had been pretty decent teamwork. There was another incident of a Boarbatusk nuzzling against Hector's stomach while he just stood there with a blank expression on his face, but while laughing Reggie was able to get it off him after breaking off it's horns and using it to stab it in the eyes.

"And there you go." Robert said as he didn't spot anymore Grimm on the area. "Are those all of them Port? Are you finished too?" He asked Professor Port via earpiece.

" _Indeed, great work team. The second security node has been secured and… oh dear… this is not good."_

"What's wrong?" Robert asked.

" _Well, it seems like this symbol on that strange device belongs to a company once long forgotten, Merlot Industries. I say 'oh dear' because this extends this mission into Mountain Glenn, where the company was last seen standing."_

Hector didn't react outwardly, but his friends knew that there was discord within his mind. It wasn't good at all, he was going back to the place where he got tortured, where he was forced to kill people and almost became a monster. "It's fine guys," He said, sensing their concern. "I knew this was coming sooner or later, I've prepared for it."

" _Yes, you will have to trust in the word of your team leader. Now quickly prepare yourselves for another trip, and return to pick up the scouts body. I believe I have a friend that will be better able to serve you for the next part of your mission… Onward! To VICTORY!"_

* * *

The Bullhead ride to Mountain Glenn was one that was mostly taken in silence. Hector did not speak or initiate and seemed to hardly be paying attention to what was happening around him, but once the pilot announced that they made it to Mountain Glenn after a few hours of flying, that was the moment where the shield an emotional barrier that Hector set up for himself started to fail. By the time they landed, the leader of Team HAMR was the last to leave the ship, and his hands shook at his sides as he looked over the familiar ruins of Mountain Glenn, a sight that he had plenty of experience memorizing.

"Are you okay?" Ashley asked him. Hector looked down to see his partner raise a hand up to help him off the ship, despite them already being landed and there being a simple two foot jump to get down to the ground.

His hand still shook as he accepted her help, and allowed her to help him off the Bullhead. His eyes were red, but not in his iris' this time. It looked like he was on the verge of breaking down, but just barely being able to control himself to prevent that from happening.

Ashley felt like crying when she noticed this herself. She knew it was irrational and stupid of herself to keep blaming herself for what happened at the dance, but she couldn't help it. If she went after him once he left the hall, she might have been able to stop him. If not her, then all of their friends, mutual or no. The fact that her leader, partner and once potential lover was now in such a state that could have been prevented had she just not done nothing after her confession had her feeling a tremendous amount of guilt.

She wasn't on her own, however. Before Hector knew it, Reggie and Michael were at his side as well, each of them having a hand on either of his shoulders. Hector swallowed nervously and got his breathing under control, nodding to them all in thanks as he radioed the pilot the okay to lift off and head back to Beacon to refuel.

Robert watched this with distant respect. He would have liked to show his support as well, but he had already proclaimed that he was there for Hector through anything, even with what he had done and what was done to him in Mountain Glenn. He also already knew most of what happened to him, and why he was so nervous at the prospect of returning here. Once they were all done helping Hector out of his emotional shock, he raised a question to attention.

"So, where do we go from here?" He asked.

"Let me ask Oobleck, because unless we're going down in the subway I am no help here." Hector said as he pressed down on the ear piece. "We just touched down Professor, which way should we start heading?"

" _If this locator is correct, you should head down the block you are standing on now and once you make it to a ruined man-made canal, radio me in again and I shall direct you toward the entrance to what we believe is the old Merlot Industries. And of course, be careful of the Grimm that are without a doubt wandering about this tragic city. Even after the sudden disappearance of many Grimm in the area."_

"Uh huh." Robert said to himself.

" _They will be stronger than the ones in the Emerald Forest, so be careful!"_ Oobleck didn't miss a beat and ended his line of communication. Hector nodded and looked toward the road that was just ahead of them over a grassy hill. There was a sign that had the words 'Mountain Glenn' engraved into it, but it was spray painted over by ominous all capital wording saying 'KEEP OUT' in black paint.

" _ **Well, well, well,"**_ Hell appeared on top of the hill, his arms crossed and red and black eyes scanning over the entire city. " _ **Isn't this a place of memories."**_

"Mhm," Hector hummed softly and started climbing the hill, when he made it to the top, the road that Oobleck told them about earlier was clearly visible before them. " _I'd rather not have to remember any of those memories we share."_ He mentally replied to Hell as he spotted some more Creeps and Beowolves scattered around the entire block. "Some Grimm ahead, we shouldn't stay here too long. Like Oobleck said there are bound to be some stronger Grimm around, so let's not wait for them to show up. Don't bother holding back."

They went forth, and went through the city as quickly as possible lest more Grimm appear, to be fair Hector also wanted this mission to be done as soon as possible at the moment. They faced the same packs of Creeps and Beowolves and even Ursai to get to one of the main streets that connected to Merlot's facility. There was more than what they had to get through in the Emerald Forest, but the ones in Mountain Glenn were much more powerful. It didn't mean much to a full team of Huntsman, but it made things go by slightly more slowly when the Grimm didn't die in a few attacks like the ones in the forest did.

"Do Grimm really bother that much to destroy buildings? I mean this place is beyond smashed to the ground." Robert commented.

Hector shrugged his shoulders as he answered. "While I was here I saw some Grimm that were just wrecking stuff to wreck it. Maybe they get bored?"

"Found another one!" Reggie exclaimed, he was on top of one of the destroyed buildings, and held up a black rook piece over his head. His smile was ecstatic, and he almost went ignored until someone put together that a relic from Beacon shouldn't be all the way out in Mountain Glenn.

"...The fuck?" Robert asked himself.

"... Okay, so, Oobleck we just opened up one of the doors to get us into the facility, it's a little run down. Where do we go from here?" Hector asked Oobleck through the earpiece.

" _Magnificent progress students. The facility has seen better days, but if I know Merlot I know that he would not let something like this hinder his research. Continue on into the facility, and let me know what you see."_

"... That's not what I-" Hector stopped as he was tapped on the shoulder by Michael, he then pointed at the massive building behind them with the M on it. "Oh… yeah, we're on our way there now."

"Why didn't you point that out to me sooner?" Hector complained as they started walking toward the tower.

"Be more perceptive." Michael lazily replied.

"Fair enough…" Hector looked down to his gauntlets. "I haven't really had to use any of the other abilities these things give me against Grimm yet, I wonder when we are actually going to be pushed a little harder."

"Don't do that, you're jinxing it." Robert scolded.

"Oh come on, not all of us can use our semblances willy nilly and dash all over the place." Hector said with a roll of his eyes.

"Now, to be fair it actually isn't li-" Robert got stopped mid sentence as a pack of Grimm came from the alleyways, among them there was an Ursa Major. "Well, won't you look at that, if you are gonna do the thing, do it in that direction." Robert said pointing straight at the Major.

"Ooo, okay, no holding back, right?" Hector asked as he rolled his right arm, then remembered that Ivory on his left was the more powerful one, and started rolling that one.

"Not what I meant, but go for it." Robert said with a small smile, giving him a thumbs up while pushing back the other members of Team HAMR just in case.

"That tower doesn't seem too stable to me…" Michael commented, tilting his head as they moved farther away from it. "Does it seem a little… tilted to you guys too?"

"It is?" Robert suddenly asked, losing focus of what Hector was doing.

"Oh, well look at that, it is." Reggie said as he put yet another chess piece into his pocket. "Oh… wait… um, we should probably not stand here anymore-"

"Kaioken times five!"

"Kaio what- RUN!" Reggie called out and dove to the side in his metal form.

Hector pulled back his left fist, clenched it tightly and watched as his flaming aura was pulled into the gauntlet. His smile was nothing short of maniacal as he looked toward the Grimm that were idling about near the tower. That smile turned into a groan of effort as he threw his fist through the air at maximum strength and slammed it into the concrete road before him. Cracks of fiery explosions ran throughout the ground, destroying the Grimm in his path. Hector cheered in celebration for the deaths of the Grimm, but one of his delayed explosions went off at last, shattering the supports and building that was keeping Merlot's tower up and standing. A shadow loomed over them as a massive black dust cloud _rushed_ over him and his friends.

"I have many regrets." Robert said to himself. "Telling him to that is another one."

"I HATE MOUNTAIN GLENN!" Hector screamed as the debris from the tower landed all around them, shattering and caving in the road and sending them all underground. " _ **That's what you get for being reckless."**_ Hell commented as he too fell with them.

As the ground was collapsing and debris falling on top of them, Robert looked to the side and saw the Ursa Major, rushing towards them without a care for the surrounding chaos.

"You are still alive?!" Robert asked shocked, the debris kept falling and soon they were all falling, the Ursa Major with them.

* * *

"Ow…" Hector groaned in stiff soreness, he was unable to get up, for there was a massive weight sitting on top of his back. "Someone help… something is pinning me down."

"Uh…" Ashley squinted her eyes toward the scene before her, still a little dizzy after their fall. "That's… not what you think it is. I think."

"I don't care what it is, just help me." Hector pleaded.

"What's wrong- PFFT." Reggie burst out laughing as he took in the sight that was before him. It wasn't a rock, far from it. It was the Ursa Major that fell with them, and it was _sitting_ on Hector's back, licking it's paw and scratching his head with it's other hand. When it noticed the other sets of eyes looking at it, it growled angrily.

"Nooo…" Hector groaned and slammed a fist on the ground frustratedly.

As the Ursa started to get up both Robert and Michael came from above, both hanging on to one Michael's chain, Robert quickly sliced at the Ursa's neck with his blades, Michael did the same, they quickly jumped and in display of (literal) lightning speed and acrobatics they wrapped the chain around Ursa's neck, they pulled and forcefully ripped its head on its shoulders.

"As Yang would say… _that_ was a thing." Reggie said as he recovered from his laughter.

"Whatever _thing_ that was, I hate it." Hector said as he pushed himself up from the ground.

"A job well done if I do say so myself." Robert said.

"We could have added something… maybe." Michael contemplated.

"If you guys say so." Hector said before he sighed loudly through his nose.

"Okay… umm Dr. Oobleck can you read us?" Robert asked through his earpiece.

" _Students! Team! Report in!"_

"We are alive and well… and underground." Robert responded.

" _Ah, excellent… well as you kindly said Mister Urra you are all now on Mountain Glenn's subterranean levels, be careful down there, and report in once you find an exit, or if anything happens… in fact also report in if nothing happens, because that would also be worrisome."_ Oobleck finished.

"We'll look for an exit." Robert called back.

"Is there an exit that _can_ be found?" Ashley asked.

"Well… the main street was in-" Robert looked around, and then up. "Umm… that general direction so if I had to guess, we should go over there." Robert explained.

"That's the professional deduction?" Michael asked.

"Yes, yes it is." Robert said back to him.

They travelled through the rubble and made their way through more Grimm and debris, as they passed through an old underground railway they decided to follow deeper into the caves to an old dust mining facility. Hector winced at the sight of railroad tracks, especially this deep in Mountain Glenn, but he was able to calm his nerves and take control over himself. Pushing through it, they were all able to keep exploring until something appeared around a corner, another Creep, but bright green, bloated, and frothing at the mouth.

"W-what is that?" Ashley asked, not knowing what she was seeing

"That's one of Merlot's mutants, I presume." Robert said.

"I-is it like a normal Creep?" Reggie asked, poking it with the staff at the end of his battle axe and jumping back when it turned to look at him.

"Well… to be safe don't get close to them, they look… slimy and bloated, that's never good." Robert said to Reggie.

"I vote for Hector to check it out." Reggie said as he put his hands on Hector's shoulders.

"Eh!?"

"Yeah, just think about it. You're the only one in the world that Grimm would rather cuddle then try to tear apart. You got this man, just walk up to it and… pet it, I dunno." Reggie shrugged.

"You want me to pet _that_?" Hector asked frantically, pointing at the glowing green Creep as it stared at them, still frothing at the mouth yet not attacking just yet.

"I have complete faith in you." Michael added.

"You too? Ugh… fine, I guess." Hector said as he took a step toward the mutated Grimm, and then a second one when the Creep didn't immediately attack him. After a few more steps he was just about a foot away from it, and he reached out his hand to touch it.

The very instant the tip of his finger made contact with its head, the mutated Creep shrieked and bloated up even further. "Watch out!" Robet exclaimed when he put together that the creature was about to self-destruct. Hector yelped and crossed his arms to defend himself against the acidic explosions that sent green goo all over the tunnel they were in. He was blown back until Reggie in his metal form was able to catch him and stop him in his tracks.

"Okay, rule number one!" Hector exclaimed as he wiped green acid off his arms and gauntlets. He didn't want to think about what his arms would look like right now if he didn't have aura to defend himself with. "Do _not_ send me to pet any kind of Grimm anymore."

"Agreed." Michael said.

"Sorry." Reggie bowed his head apologetically.

"I recorded it." Ashley said as she put her scroll away in her pocket. Hector knew it was a lost cause to try and get it back from her, so he didn't try to.

"Are you okay?" Robert asked next.

" _Thank you_ , Rob, for being the _only_ one to ask me that." Hector said with a strained and forced chuckle as he glared back at his teammates. "Let's just keep going, there has to be something down here for us to find."

"Like another chess piece?" Reggie suggested.

"I certainly hope not."

"Tell you what, if you manage to find one, you'll impress me." Robert said to Reggie.

The group continued to follow the railway, Reggie in particular checking every corner for another chess piece, they did find more Grimm however, enough for a quick scuffle. The Grimm proved strong enough to last barely over a minute. After dealing with them the group came across a giant door.

" _Okay team, I have your location you should be able to exit through those doors, you just need to reset the power and we can open them up."_ Oobleck said through the channel.

"Roger that!" Reggie said he quickly looked over the machine connected to the door, pressed one giant button and the doors opened… and on the other side there was a rail cart with a giant blue container.

"Oh… shit." Robert said, he might have not played the game himself, but he had learned enough on Remnant to recognize a bomb when he saw one.

"Oh gosh," Hector gulped, pointedly _not_ looking at the bomb but instead at something else. "Don't you dare-"

"Wow, there's another chess piece!" Reggie exclaimed as he zipped around a chain link fence that was for some reason underground and next to the bomb itself. "Look at that, seems like Ozpin has some secrets to tell us eh?"

" _THE BOMB IS RIGGED TO EXPLODE!"_ Ooblecks voice screamed out through the comms. " _Okay, calm down everyone, do not touch it if you do it might trigger an explosion, if you don't touch it shouldn't be an issue… okay… lucky I can see through schematics that this railway ends on a river and massive chasm. I am sensing also multiple fuel type dust crystals still in good enough condition to power the cart the bomb is resting on, you must grab each of them and power the cart, push it over the cliff ahead of you! The bomb will detonate in six minutes! Good luck! Make haste!"_

"Oh, oh shit." Hector and his team shared the same thoughts as they looked around frantically for any glow of dust crystals.

Hell, appearing to sit on top of the bomb itself, helpfully pointed behind him to some kind of mining machine that had a bundle of fuel crystals in it. "Yes, thanks Hell!" Hector exclaimed as he sprinted to go get it, only for another mutated Creep to burrow out of the ground in front of him and block his path.

"Get back!" Robert shouted to Hector, he did so and Robert shot a thunderbolt right at the Creep, making it explode.

"What the hell, there's like thirty of these things now!" Hector said as they all formed a defensive circle around themselves, surrounded by mutated Creeps and Beowolves and regular Creeps.

"Doesn't matter, push through!" Michael exclaimed as he started whipping his Kusarigama every which way he can.

"Imma get the dust thingy!" Reggie exclaimed as she shoulder charged straight through three mutated Creep explosions in order to get to the machine. Once he made it, almost all of his clothes were melted off, and he grabbed the bundle of dust and threw it backwards over his head.

Ashley caught it in mid air, and threw it into the compartment in the cart itself. Only then did it finally start to move… and only for about ten seconds. "We need more dust!" Ashley called out to Reggie

"There's none over here!" Reggie called back.

"Then go find another one!"

"I can't i'm scared now!"

"There's a Beowolf hugging my leg!" Hector cried out as he frantically swung his leg back and forth to try and get rid of the creature.

"It needs to be raw dust." Robert started to rant as he threw lightning missiles, grenades and as he sliced any Grimm that go close. "It couldn't have been processed Dust, oh no, this way it's easier, we have it basically all around us, we could rip from the walls, yeah good design Remnant… amazing." He kept ranting as he sliced a Beowolf in half.

"You heard him, punch the walls Reggie!" Hector ordered his teammate.

"Wait, I wouldn't suggest-" Robert was cut off as he heard Reggie slam his metal fist into the wall. "That…"

"There's no dust!" Reggie cried out.

"Punch it again!" Hector screamed.

"Okay! Hah!" Reggie slammed his fist into the stone wall again, and like a pinata a bundle of raw dust came rolling out of the hole. With a triumphant cheer and a Creep trying to bite down on his shoulder, he threw the raw dust toward the cart.

Ashley caught it again, and threw it into the compartment. Only for the dust to work a little _too_ much, and for the cart to zoom forward and speeds none of them expected, and come to a sudden halt just about a hundred feet away from the cliff that leads to a bottomless pit.

"Oh, shit." Robert exclaimed. "Quickly!"

All of them ran to the cart as soon as possible, Hector used his Gaunlet's shockwaves to clear the path of exploding Creeps, while everyone zoomed past and took care of the rest of the Grimm, Robert slid under a Beowolf slicing and cutting its legs, he tackled a full pack of them and diced them to pieces with lightning speed, the last one he grabbed by the torso and properly channeled his lightning turning it to just black ashes and dust. Just then even more exploding Creeps came out of the walls.

Ashley did her own work to cut down Creeps Beowolves and even and Ursai, that one she jumped over did her best by stabbing it on the head multiple times, it tried to shake her off, but it wasn't able to, it soon dropped to the ground dead. Michael was on the Creeps as soon as they appeared with his chained blades, and whenever one of the explosive Creeps got close he condensed their blast with his semblance, casting a bubble over them so that none of the explosion or aftermath was able to cause any damage. Reggie roared as he slammed his volcanic battle axe into the skull of Ursa Minor, and cleave it in two. His axe glowed and flamed as he swung it around, and after finally running out of dust in his weapon, he switched to ice dust. The first time he had to do such a thing mid battle, and his fire attacks turned into ice oriented attacks as spears of ice and waves of hail was casted throughout the battle.

As they reached cart, Robert exploded another band of mutated creeps, beheaded a Beowolf and sliced the head of and Ursa, he then spotted another machine for dust on the wall, close to to bomb cart itself near the bottomless pit in fact, they were close now, finishing of the Ursa with a lightning palm he rushed for the machine, blasting and slicing any Grimm that he happened to run by.

However when he reached the machine…

"What the, there's nothing here!" He yelled.

"What do you mean there's nothing there!?" Hector called back.

"What I said, there's nothing here!"

"Fuck! Reggie, punch the wall again!"

"I can't!" Reggie called back. "I found another chess piece and I have no pockets where to put it anymore."

"Are you fucking serious!" Robert yelled.

"This is not the time for looking for chess pieces Reggie!" Michael screamed. "Drop it! Right now!"

"Okay…" Reggie said with a pout, then dropped the white king piece on the ground next to him.

"There must be another piece of dust, there must be…" Robert stopped when he spotted it, he saw one of the machines on the other side of the room.

"Ah you bitching sack of cocks!" Robert yelled to no one in particular, he immediately put everything on his semblance and dashed and jumped over Grimm, even jumping on their heads to get to it, he reached it and rushed back at speeds like never before, he managed to toss the Dust in the cart dispenser just in time. "Okay, that's it, it should go over the edge now!" Robert yelled, slashing backward to a Beowolf that tried to get the drop on him.

"Yes! That's going over the edge right now, and with just over thirty seconds left." Hector cheered as he watched the bomb cart slowly move closer and closer to the edge. "Yet another victory for Team HAMR!"

" _And_ the Grimm are dwindling, there's not many left anymore." Robert pointed out with a relieved sigh. "How is everyone else doing?"

"I lost my pants, but I'm okay." Reggie said with a huff. "I think I lost all my chess pieces."

"Thank God." Michael groaned after tangling an Alpha Beowolf in his chains, and holding it still for Ashley to finish off. "Let's get ready to take cover, that explosion might not be big, but I don't want to risk it."

"Agreed." Robert said as he battled and Ursa, slashing its throat with both blades and doing a flying roundhouse kick to send its head flying.

The bomb cart slowly got closer and closer to the edge of the broken bridge, Hector and Robert held their breath as they watched it just slightly go over the tracks, but paled when it stopped _just_ before it had enough weight on one side for it to fall over.

" _You need more fuel! And there is just ten seconds left!"_

"Are you kidding me!?" Hector screamed, and looked around for more dust. "Where is the last dust crystal!" Hell, who was sitting on the bomb the entire time caught Hector's attention, and with an amused grin, flicked his chin back to the _beginning_ of the tracks. All the way back there was an unseen dust machine, with _multiple_ bundles of dust sitting in the opening of it.

"No, _fuck_ that." Hector said as he pushed his shoulder against the back of the bomb. "We're pushing this thing off! Help me!"

"Just kick it off it's right there!" Robert yelled.

"Rargh!" Ashley roared as she threw her foot into the back of the cart, shaking it. Michael and Reggie joined her, and after the first few failed attempts, when they all worked together and synced their kicks into one more powerful one, the Bomb went sailing off the tracks and down into the pit, where it exploded the moment it touches the bottom. The flames burst upwards and the force blew everybody back, killing any remaining Grimm that were still alive and chasing them. The flames continued to burst upwards until it melted the top of the cave, and after a few seconds of that, it receded.

Everyone was flat on their backs, in awe and shock of their near death experience. But with smiles on each of their faces, they were alive, and the entire experience was plain comical when they thought about it.

"Fucking A." Robert let out as he took in a deep breath.

"Agreed…" Hector groaned back. "Team fist bump!" He called out, raising his fist into the air. None of them actually bumped the others fists, but an effort was made, and that was all that mattered.

" _ **That could have all been avoided if you simply turned left mid way down the tracks, you know."**_ Hell pointed out as he stood over Hector, the amused smirk on his face taunting him.

"Yeah, well fuck you too."

" _Pardon me?"_ Oobleck said, offended.

"T-that wasn't meant for you!" Hector amended quickly.

" _I certainly hope not._ _Well... I'm glad everyone was able to keep their cool... and not explode... that would've made for an uncomfortable conference with Glynda. Still... it seems Merlot has set booby traps around his old facility, and Mister Urra's report seems to have been true, he has managed to mutate Grimm… those are not good news."_

"Yeah… that seems like a _tomorrow_ sort of thing, yeah?" Hector asked his teammates.

"No complaints here." Everyone said at the same time.

"We'll deal with that later." Hector said to Oobleck.

" _Fair enough, rest up now, and remember! Always sleep in shifts, someone should always watch out for any of those pesky Grimm sneaking about… especially if they can explode!"_ Oobleck chuckled before calling off the comms once more.

"So… is it a good time to point out that I lost my clothes?" Reggie asked as he stood up, the only thing covering his privates from view being one of his chess pieces that he stuffed in his nearly ruined underwear. "And did we bring any spares?"

"Thank you for volunteering to be first watch." Hector said as he rolled over to his other side, giving Reggie his back.

* * *

 **And that is part one of this Merlot arc. This covers about four missions, and skipping a lot, and planning, but we did it. About partway through, I realized that technically did not need to buy the game and play it, since there is a wiki that tells you** _ **everything**_ **about it, but don't tell CrowSkull that. It's a secret between you and I reader. - Genatools.**

 **I'm right here. -CrowSkull (AKA the voice in Genatool's head.)**

 **That's just the voice in my head, don't listen to it. - Genatools**

 **Either way we still got most of our ideas actually playing the game, it was an… interesting experience. -Voice inside head.**

 **Yes… very interesting**

 **Please review and let us know what you think of the story!**

 **T witter . com (slash) genatools**

 **P a treon . com (slash) Genatools**


	43. A Tale of Two Heroes chapter 43

**Here we are again. More Grimm Eclipse stuff. Glad we are doing this because it brought forth many new ideas for the future of this story, as well as some new extra development points. New stuff all around, Hell is a thing, this story is getting up there. One day it will be as big as An Unlikely Hero, I just know it.**

* * *

 **Oblivious IJ: You might have thought that because that sorta might have happened. Maybe, I never actually wrote it, but it could be chalked up as something that happened in headcanon.**

 **TigerVolcano5000: I was wondering where you were, I feared that we lost ya. No please, no riots, my heart wouldn't be able to take it. In all seriousness, put your trust in me and I shall not disappoint. You are the first one to point that out, I think, good on ya. I originally planned for that to** _ **not**_ **be a thing, but you know me, plans change all the time.**

 **Alf7: That my friend, you will see down the line when we get to that part of the story.**

 **Thank you all for the reviews!**

* * *

 **Beta & Co-writer: CrowSkull**

 **Good news everyone, Crow finally continued one of his stories and I did not keep bringing it up to him from time to time. So whenever you guys have some free time, go visit his profile.**

 **Now let us continue!**

* * *

A Tale of Two Heroes

Chapter 43-Isle of Robots

After returning the body of the deceased scout, Team HAMR and their 'volunteer' Huntsman were set out on a path to return to the Forest of Forever Fall. It was a much more welcome sight than the ruined city of Mountain Glenn, especially because of Hector's reasons that affected the entire team one way or another. The sight of the red leaves, bushes, and pale bark of the trees filled them all with a certain instinctual pleasure. They almost didn't want to have to land just so they could take in the sight from above, but duty calls, as Hector said.

"Same thing as last time," The pilot told Hector. "I'll be returning to Beacon to refuel, but in the case of an emergency you can request assistance from Doctor Oobleck and he'll send another pilot to come pick you up."

"Got it," The leader of Team HAMR said with a determined nod. "Don't think we'll need it though, we got this."

"Confidence, nice." The pilot chuckled. "I would believe it more if you weren't nearly shitting your pants back in Glenn-"

"Goodbye Mister Pilot," Hector said as he slammed the hatch shut with an indignant pout on his face. The pilot could still be heard laughing inside as he made his way back to the cockpit. Within seconds, the Bullhead started to ascend back up into the sky.

"Asshole," Hector muttered as he flew off into the distance.

"We can let him have just that one," Michael said. "I wouldn't blame him, since he had to listen to Reggie talk about his version of philosophy for the past couple of hours."

"Hey! I'm just saying, since Boss and other guy here-"

"Robert."

"-are from different dimensions, then there is probably _another_ infinite amount of dimensions out there. One day, we might even be able to see what those other dimensions entail." He explained with a determined look on his face.

"I'm not saying that you're wrong," Ashley said out loud. "But you're still probably wrong. Hector and Robert don't know how they got here as far as they know."

"We're not going through this again, please." Hector interrupted before another argument could start. "We have a mission to do, and Grimm to kill probably. This place looks pretty but my back still hurts when I remember being attacked by a gorilla."

"Beringel, and that was fun," Reggie remarked.

"I'll just ignore that I heard that," Robert said as he looked off to the path before them. "It looks like we have another convenient path for us to follow. We should stick to it for now and see where it goes."

"Could lead nowhere." Michael pointed out.

"Could also lead _somewhere._ " Robert countered.

"He's got you there Mike," Hector said as he patted his teammate on the back. "Let's go then, I'm not sure how much sunlight we have left but my gut tells me that it's less than I think and more than I can assume."

"That… makes very little sense." Michael remarked.

"Just start walking guys." Hector groaned.

"Already doing so," Robert said, walking ahead.

The path lead them through twists and turns and up over the hills. It was surprisingly quiet given that this was a forest, but they were smart enough to not let that silence fool them into thinking that they were safe. They're guard staying up was rewarded with a failed ambush of just a few Creeps and Beowolves. Once they were found out, they were dealt with accordingly, and Hector managed to not get hugged by one of them again.

As they traveled, Hector saw his mirror image walking beside him, or rather walking backward and facing him. He waited for him to say something, because he wasn't in the mood to start a casual conversation at the moment, but Hell simply looked at him curiously. It started to creep him out, but before he could tell him to stop something much more important caught his attention. "Wow, that is one big door." He whistled impressively as the path split into three different directions, each direction leading to a sealed stone door with a square. What he didn't notice, however…

"Hey you know, you could pay attention to what's happening?" Robert said to him, Hector looked back and saw how his team and Rob had just slaughtered a pack of Beowolves that decided to ambush them, Robert still had his blade stuck at a Beowolves neck at the moment.

"How…?"

"They ignored you, again." Robert said.

"In my defense, I was being distracted," Hector said as he pointed to a space beside him.

" _ **It was not my fault you kept staring at me."**_ Hell argued.

"Shut up. It is." Hector replied out loud, then sighed as he realized that he said it out loud. "Also, at this point I am pretty sure I can live with Grimm if I wanted to, so at least now you guys don't need to worry about me on that front."

"... Good for you, I guess?" Robert answered, it was difficult to find a proper response when Hector was seemingly talking to himself. Despite knowing the truth it didn't make it any easier to watch and let it pass by as if it was a regular occurrence.

" _ **Three doors, how much do you want to bet that there is only one or two keys?"**_ Hell said as he walked up to one of the doors, the one in the middle and pressed his hand against it. Being in his spectral form, his hand went right through it. He pulled it back with a soft sigh, still not being used to being in such a state.

"So, how much do you guys want to bet there's a key or two around here somewhere?" Reggie asked with a chuckle.

Hell frowned, And Hector laughed. It was just like one of those cases where someone says the correct answer, but someone else gets credit for saying it louder. Except in this case, the only one who could hear Hell was Hector, who wasn't going to argue for his sake.

"Well, there are a few random clay pots just laying around," Ashley said as she kicked over one of the pots, watching as it fragility caused it to shatter on the ground upon impact.

"If Reggie can somehow find chess pieces lying around in Mountain Glenn of all places. I would assume a key of some kind for these doors could be found." Michael agreed.

"Alright, let's start breaking pots then," Hector said as he kicked one of them, only to wince as his foot came into contact with something much harder and winced even harder when a tablet embedded itself into one of the doors because of the amount of force he'd accidentally put behind his strike. "Uh… I found one."

"Nice one, now you get to pull it out," Robert said as he crossed his arms.

Hector rolled his eyes but didn't argue, wrenching it out wasn't all that difficult, especially when all it took was one hard tug and the stone trapping it there gave way. That was what happened when one had aura training and a Grimm demon thing who might be from another dimension living inside them, strength just kind of came to him.

"So… one tablet, and three doors," Hector said as he made his way back to his friends. "We've got to choose, and unless we find another one we only have one shot at this."

His thoughts slowed as he noticed Hell standing in front of the middle door with crossed arms and a look of wonder on his face. His hand went through the door again, and it came back unscathed. Right now, Hell was a phantom, and since he's been pretty well behaved lately…

"Guys, I have an idea," Hector said finally. "We're going to use Hell."

"Eh?" Robert reacted first. "Are you sure about that? Last time he came out, he wasn't exactly friendly with any of us."

"No, no, no, I don't mean by letting him out." Hector corrected with a frantic shake of his head.

"I don't know how else you think we can take this." Ashley said. "Last time we saw that… side of you, he sort of went a little crazy."

"It won't be like that this time," Hector said, a low growl escaping from his throat as the memory hit him once again. "He's sort of like a phantom right now, and whenever I am in control. Which is most of the time. He is more tame this way,"

" _ **Tame!?"**_ Hell looked over his shoulder with angry glowing red eyes.

"I-I mean relaxed," He amended. "He might do as I say if I ask him nicely."

"Might," Michael stressed.

Hector shrugged his shoulders.

"If you want to try it out… go ahead." Robert said, giving him his support. "Just keep in mind that if he does try to get out, we're going to have to bring you back one way or another." Raios sparked as he said this, the implication was clear.

"Just trust me," Hector said as he started backing up slowly, and turned his back to them to regard his mirror image, who was now staring at him with a quizzical expression on his face. "So, Hell, I got something to ask of you."

" _ **You want me to phase through the wall here and see what is on the other side?"**_ Hell asked him before he could ask the question himself.

"How did you…" Hector palmed his face as he remembered something. "Wait… yeah… that."

" _ **How could you forget that we can share thoughts and memories even if I am far away?"**_ Hell asked him with a chuckle. " _ **No matter, if you want me to check I suppose I can, it is not like I have anything better to do anyway."**_

Hector smiled and gave his other self a thumbs up. "Thanks, Hell!"

" _ **You're already making me regret this,"**_ Hell said as he walked through the door.

"What did he say?" Michael asked once Hector walked back to them.

"Oh you know, the same old 'I have nothing better to do so sure' drabble. So it was mostly a success." His eyes widened and he grimaced as Hell relayed some information back at him. "Don't go through the right door."

"Why?" Robert asked. "What's on the other side."

He leaned in to whisper to him. What he told him had Robert wincing and agreeing with him. There was no way they were going to let themselves heard Reggie bragging about finding another one of _those_.

"The left one leads to a maze that leads to the middle door, and so far he hasn't said anything about the middle door." Hector continued without a second thought.

"Huh, so maybe Hell _can_ be trusted, eh?" Ashley said with a smile.

" _ **Oh yes, this one is completely safe,"**_ Hell told him with sinful laughter. " _ **Very safe, in fact you can run through it right now. There is nothing on the other side and it leads to a small field, I promise that I am telling the truth."**_

Hector sighed. His partner just _had_ to jinx it.

"So?" Robert asked.

"Just… stay on guard." Hector warned as he walked up to the door and pressed the tablet into the opening provided for him. Conveniently, Hell walked back through it to greet them, a small smug grin on his face as the door slowly slid open.

They were met with about three dozen Grimm.

Hector sighed again. "Real funny, Hell, real funny."

" _ **I thought I would like to expand my sense of humor,"**_ Hell replied as one of the Grimm noticed them, everyone got their weapons ready. " _ **And I must say, I like pranks."**_

Hells little prank ended up with them having to fight through this small ocean of Grimm, they all shifted into action and took on their foes, Reggie used his axe to cut two Beowolves in half with a single strike, and the cut didn't end there, he ended the cut jumping up and slamming down on a Creep with excessive force. Robert and Ash decided to work together, Robert dashed in first and slice and roundhoused kicked Beowolves and Ursai, he sliced their legs and arms, killing some and letting other vulnerable, that was were Ashley came in used her swords to finish them off. After dashing in they stood back to back slicing and dicing Grimm, Robert killed three Beowolves and creep before launching a lightning grenade to another group of Grimm, Ashley cut the head of creeps while finishing off any opponents Robert left exposed for her. Together they killed more than a dozen of Grimm, cutting them apart faster than they could approach them. Ashley killed two Creeps and stabbed a Beowolf through the neck letting it die and saw as Robert ended his part killing Creeps with lightning bolts and kicking an Alpha Creep with an Axe kick followed by a Hammer kick so strong it broke its face plating, killing it. Micheal used his chains to get through most of the Grimm that appeared or tried to get close to him while using his semblance to support his other teammates, he spun his chain in tight circles and saw as the Creeps and Beowolves bounced of the whirl of chains, he uses a shield to push the Grimm back further and with a precise swing of his chains he got multiple kills on several weakened Grimm. Hector had to fight off an Alpha Beowolf trying to lick him, and did so by continuously shoving his palm on its head and punching it.

The Alpha eventually got the message that Hector wasn't interested in its affections. It got it once Hector used his gauntlet to deliver Kaioken powered punches and destroy it's head, As that was over Hector took the chance to sucker punch any other Grimm that didn't see him as a threat… which was all of them.

The group ended the fight by Reggie and Mike pulling an Ursa to the ground and bisecting it right after, Ashley and Hector double-teaming about eight Beowolves and Robert mercilessly murdering another set of Beowolves and Creeps, slicing them, kicking them, and breaking their bones, he finished by kicking and Alpha Beowolf in the head and wrapping his legs around its neck, snapping it with a sudden twist.

When they were all done, they were each covered in their layer of black Grimm blood, and all with a very spiteful glare toward the leader of Team HAMR, who was just as dirty as they were.

"Hell didn't tell me this…" Hector said as a pathetic attempt to defend himself.

" _ **I feel like I hinted that it was not safe."**_ Hell remarked as he appeared beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"We can talk about that later." Robert said as he flicked his chin toward another strange-looking Grimm creature. Similar to the green glowing explosive Creeps from Mountain Glenn, this one seemed to take the form of a Beowolf. This Beowolf was bigger than an alpha, and had green glowing protrusions and armour plating all over its body, making it much bulkier than it's regular counterparts.

"That's a… really big boy right there." Robert commented.

"Oh hey, another green one." Reggie said as he shifted his arms into metal. "Boss, wanna go pet this one too?"

"I'll pass." Hector said, and took a step back when the green creature growled at him. "I don't think this one likes me."

"I don't think _I_ like you at this moment." Reggie jokes. "Let's take it down guys!"

The Grimm was big and strong, and surprisingly fast for its size. It might have given one of them a bit of trouble if it was a one on one, but against all five of them at the same time, it hardly stood a chance against them. It tried to protect itself like its other Grimm cousins did, but after being attacked by five different directions, it soon lost one of its limbs, and soon enough it was finished off as Michael held it down so that Ashley would decapitate it with her dual swords. The large heavy body crashed to the ground, and melted into disgusting green goo.

"Eugh, did you catch that Oobleck?" Hector asked as he pressed a finger to his ear.

" _I did… this is worrying, these green Grimm seem to not be exclusive to Mountain Gleen. Keep on guard students, I shall look into this myself in the meantime with the information we have on Merlot's past projects."_

"That's another pack of Grimm…" Robert said as he dusted himself off. "Huh… I wonder if Bruin is still around these parts." He pondered, Forever Fall was were he appeared on Remnant after all.

" _Ah ha! Students, I have dug into the old records of Merlots past activities in Forever Fall and found out that he had a small facility built into an ancient temple deeper into the forest. It shouldn't be that far from where you on now, perhaps a few miles or so, continue and radio me in every twenty minutes! Good luck!"_

"Okay then, and there goes my suggestion that we take it easy for a bit." Hector said as he stood up and cracked his neck to one side. "Everyone okay to keep going?" He asked.

"Pretty much," Michael answered for his team.

"I'm good." Robert added.

"Alright, let's keep going then."

Team HAMR and their plus one decided to run to their next destination towards the temple, they did so without obstacles besides a couple of Grimm, however once they made it the coast near the temple, they saw a ship, a Merlot Industries ship. They followed the ship but lost it when the trees overhead became dense and thick. They kept following the dull sound the ship gave off, and ended up coming across another set of doors.

"This looks just a _little_ out of place, don't you guys agree?" Reggie asked as he looked the more modernized set of doors that were within an ancient temple.

"A little bit, wanna try to Hell idea again?" Hector asked. His answer was given by the distant roar of Grimm.

He looked to Hell with a pleading expression on his face.

" _ **Fine."**_ The dark spirit said as he walked through the door with the number three still visible on its front.

The key was easy enough to find the second time around, mostly because everyone kicked around the pots frantically until someone found one. Hell gave Hector the all clear and he relayed that message to his friends, who all sprinted toward the door upon hearing them. Reggie was the last to enter and had to be forcefully pulled in as he complained that he was missing one of the relics and he could see it _right there_ on top of a ledge just ten feet above them. His team had none of it, and he was forced to leave it behind as the heavy metal door slid shut behind them.

He was struck with grief as he fell to his knees and banged on the door. But his boyfriend snapped him out of it after wrapping chains around his legs, almost hogtying him as he was dragged along like a hunter would a successful kill.

The inside of the temple was as what someone could expect, but many cages were broken open. It was almost like the temple was being used to store Grimm, and it didn't go very well. Given that the cages looked very old and worn, it seemed like an experiment that had gone wrong. Well, except for one cage that is.

"Awe~!" Reggie cooed as a tiny Creep clawed at it's tiny cage. It was barely the size of his foot, and it was unable to break free from it's trap. "Look at this little guy, hey Boss, can I keep him? Please-"

Michael stomped down on the cage, killing the Creep within.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Reggie cried out. However, the cage was sturdy and the Creep didn't die.

"Oh look, it's still ali-" Reggie didn't get much further as Ashley stomped on the Creep's head, this time killing it.

"NOOOOOOOO!" Reggie cried out a second time as a splatter of black blood spilled onto his shoes.

"C'mon, don't mourn for the Creep you met five seconds ago." Hector said as he helped Reggie back up to his feet. His tears were soaked into his shirt as Reggie sought him for comfort, and hissed at Michael and Ashley whenever they got near.

"Does this happen often?" Robert asked Michael.

"More than you know," Michael replied with a sigh. "Last time it was Beowolf, and he managed to sneak it into a village one time. There was an… accident, which lead to it's untimely death."

"I see." Robert said as he watched Hector awkwardly comfort his teammate by patting and rubbing him on the back.

Reggie would recover from his grief in a few minutes, and not a second too late either. Grimm started attacking them, and older ones at that. But it was much less than they were fighting before, and so they went down relatively quickly after practicing some teamwork. Reggie would eventually make up with Michael and Ashley after they finally gave in to his sad pouty looks, and the team was all back together again. After traveling through the temple in search of something that might scream out ' _investigate me_ ', and they found that in the from of a massive hole in the wall that lead to a field of storage containers.

"I think we should probably look at those." Michael suggested.

"Yeah, seems like a good idea." Hector agreed.

They made their way through the hole and out into a small field with red grass. Some of the storage containers were marked by an Atlesian insignia, some others the Scheen emblem. Not just that however, there was also marks that hailed from Mistral, Vale, and even Vacuo. They were all closed and locked, and for fear of causing a dust explosion they did not try to force them open. They all looked pretty old after all.

"Hey look!" Reggie happily exclaimed as he pointed toward an open storage container, and more specifically what was inside of it. "There is another chess piece!"

"Wait!" Hector called out to him as he started running. "Don't just run in there you idiot!"

"Reggie for fuck's sake don't-" Robert began, he stped as reggie turned around.

"Oh come on guys, lighten up!" Reggie shouted back as he hopped into the storage container, and lifted the chess piece and victoriously held it over his head. "It's fine! I doubt this thing is just going to trap me in here-"

 _SLAM!_

The open doors of the storage container slammed shut with an ear-piercing clang, Robert facepalmed as it happened, they all looked at each other, they had to bust Reggie out, but then the ship that they saw earlier appeared and honked its horn loudly.

"Shit, take cover don't let it see you," Robert said to the rest of the team. They all dashed to whatever cover they could find and peeked to see what the ship was doing, it was lifting some of the containers, and it appeared to be ready to lift Reggie's container.

"Ah fuck…" Robert cursed silently from his hiding spot.

" _What's happening student please tell me that nothing horrible has hap-"_ Oobleck got stopped as Robert whispered through his ear piece.

"Yeah Dr., something happened just ah… we'll get back to you in a bit." He said as he cut off communication.

"Hex, that ship is important right?" Robert asked.

"Hell's on it, and he says yes." Hector said. "I probably should have said this earlier but he sorta got stuck in the storage container with Reggie. He is practically begging for my help at the moment."

"Isn't he a ghost or something?"

"You know, I was about to ask the _same_ thing..."

"We have to get on that ship!" Michael exclaimed, jumping out of his cover and throwing his chains up over the edge of the ship and held them taut. "Climb the chains!"

"Just uh… be quiet, we are supposed to be stowaways, they must not know." Robert said as he quickly leaped after the chains and into the ship with his acrobatic skills. Ashley was next and jumped off of Michaels's shoulders and didn't even need the chains to help herself get onto to it. Hector was next, and out of fear of being too destructive and loud he went for the more simple route of leaping onto one of the chains and holding on to it, slowly making his way up it as Michael climbed up the other chain. They all made it, and looked out toward the stacks upon stacks of storage containers stacked up on the ship before them.

"So…" Ashely said as a nervous drop of sweat dripped from her brow. "Which one do you think has Reggie in it?"

"Whichever has someone talking a lot inside of it I would suppose," Robert said.

"Yeah, let's go with that-" Hector cut himself off with a yelp as Hell's spectral form popped up in front of him. Robert caught him before he could trip over himself, and he looked into Hell's eyes with a scornful look on his face. "Was that necessary?" He asked the maybe ghost.

" _ **You were not fast enough."**_ Hell replied. " _ **Also your dumbass friend is useless and going through a phase right now, you should probably go help him."**_

"Lead us to him then." Hector said.

" _ **I don't know, I am feeling real petty right about now."**_ Hell faked a yawn. " _ **You have a few hours I would presume, go on a scavenger hunt."**_

"Hell. Hell! Don't you _dare-_ The bastard hung up on me." Hector pinched the bridge of his nose with a frustrated growl.

"He can do that?" Michael asked.

"Apparently."

"So where is Reggie?" Ashley asked. "Did he tell you?

"Uh, guys… the ship is moving." Robert said. They all noticed as the ship started to move, quite fast actually.

"Huh… Well I think we're about the find that facility." Hector looked to the rest of his friends. "So, who's ready to pass the time looking for Reggie as a scavenger hunt? Maybe we can make a game out of it."

"Really?" Michael asked, unamused.

"Really. What else do we have to do anyway? It's not like there's any Grimm on board with us." A growl from a nearby container proved him very wrong. "Guys, I think we should go find Reggie."

"Yeah, before he tries and breaks his way out in his usual fashion, come on let's hurry," Robert said, quickly sneaking around and doing his best to find the right container.

* * *

Reggie scratched at his non-existent beard as he chalked down another hour on the wall of the storage container that he was locked in. He lined up all of the chess pieces that he has found so far and gave them all a single name. Greg. They were all Greg, and he was their leader, the great and fearless metal man.

"Don't worry Greg," Reggie said as he caressed the side of the black bishop piece with gentleness unbefitting of his metal arms. "I'll make sure we get out of this alive." He could have sworn that he wasn't by himself in the beginning of this little error that he made, but he couldn't make contact with them, no matter how hard he tried.

It's been years — A couple of hours at best — since Reggie has last seen the light of the sun. Greg, Greg, and Greg in the corner have all come of ill of a sudden sickness that has been spreading throughout the storage container. One of the Gregs were already dead, and the only female, Gregarina, has been cornered by her jealous ex-boyfriend, the black rook while her fallen comrade laid in two pieces beside her, a white rook which was missing one of its top pieces.

"I see they're still arguing about pointless stuff as usual, and the other poor Greg seemed to get caught up in the storm," Reggie said as he huddled a few pawns in the corner with him. "Ssh, don't let them hear you baby Greg, they might drag you into it too." He said as he rubbed the top of one of the pawns delicately.

Hell watched the scene play out with a disgusted expression on his face. Out of pure curiosity, he'd thought to see how this one was doing, and he immediately regretted his decision as he slowly phased back out of the storage container. It was strange, one would think that Reggie was giving off negative emotions, but Hell could sense none from the boy, he was practically invisible to the Grimm that he knew were around them.

Outside of his container the rest of the team was sitting outside, they had figured out a couple hours ago which container Reggie was locked inside, they even opened the door slightly. The thing was... they needed to be stealthy, and with unpredictable Reggie having his little… moment, they decided that maybe for the time being that it was best to leave him there for a bit.

"Hell says, and I quote, "He is going bat shit crazy"," Hector whispered to his teammates sitting all around him.

Robert was close to one of the containers, making watch in case anything came their way. "So… he's being himself?"

"Well if you count naming and arranging chess pieces to form some kind of messed up family with them all being named Greg or Gregarina, then sure." Hector shrugged his shoulders.

"He does that sometimes," Michael started. "When he is alone I mean, he is probably just trying to pass the time somehow. No matter how… weird as it may seem." He shivered. "Just be happy he isn't doing anything else that I know he does when he is bored."

"Uh… huh." Robert hummed, then he sighed. "I need to stretch my legs, I'll peek again if we are getting close to somewhere." He said as he dashed quietly away.

"Uuggghhh." Ashley groaned as she slumped her head back against the container behind them. "How long is it going to take for this ship to get to wherever we're going?"

"I don't know," Hector shrugged his shoulders as he watched Robert move away. "I lost contact with Oobleck about an hour ago, so I have no more updates for you. I might be able to send Hell up ahead, but I don't know if he'd be completely honest with us."

" _ **The ship is slowing down."**_ Hell pointed out as he sat on top of one of the storage containers.

"And that is convenient timing." Hector groaned. "Alright, no more break time, lets go guys. Rob! The ship is- woah!" He nearly fell over as the entire ship started coming to a sudden stop. He didn't know what kind of brakes the ship, if the ship had brakes at all, but a hand caught him before he could fall and he used the wall to steady himself. He nodded his thanks to Ashley and went on to beat on the door to Reggie's container. "Reggie, you in there!?" He called through the door in a way to elude him from the fact that they have been sitting by his container for the past couple of hours.

"Ah! My saviors have arrived!" Reggie exclaimed with excitement. "Save me my old friends, it is finally time for this old man to find his peace!"

"Snap out of it Reggie Nole." Michael demanded. As soon as the door was opened Reggie snapped out of his persona so quickly it must have given him whiplash as he dashed toward Michael and picked him up in a big hug.

Robert came back, atop one of the other containers just in time to see the scene, he didn't say anything, he merely nodded towards Hector and Ashley, then he signaled them to go to the front of the ship, they had indeed arrived. After Reggie finished acclimating back into his life as a Huntsman, the five of them arrived at the very end of the ship, which was now docking in a harbor beside a massive island with huge naturally formed stone pillars reaching toward the sky, and then less natural factories rising with them from overhead.

"This has to be it, right?" Ashley asked as she looked over the place.

"It is, now we just need to… explore I guess, and eventually find Merlot." Robert said as he stepped off the boat and jumped onto the island.

"Let's go." Hector said as he jumped after him, landing next to Robert and bent his knees to lessen the impact on his body. His team followed one by one, when Reggie landed last, Hector tried his communication device one more time, only to be met with some more static. "Comm's are still down," He called out to his friends. "I guess we should keep moving then."

He took the lead this time, being the one that is pretty much immune to the attention of Grimm he could call them out before they would even begin to care about his friends. They crossed through an abandoned factory, and the only resistance they had was a few stray Grimm that didn't stand a chance against them as they were now. They kept moving until something moved ahead of them, it wasn't a Grimm, not with the way it moved, but there was something about it that just didn't seem right.

"Who's there?" Hector asked the commotion in front of them.

"Woah…" Reggie was impressed at the sight of two ten foot tall red robots with long electrical halberds stepping out from the darkness. Their movements were precise and mechanical, as were their glares as they locked on to Hector's form.

"Uh… hi?" Hector tried, waving at them as if they were a stranger on the other side of the street.

The robots tilted their heads at them, they just kept staring.

"Well this is weird." Michael said. "Are they hostile?"

"I don't want to take the chance, Hector get back here!" Robert called out as he prepared Raios for combat.

"Maybe they're friendly?" Hector suggested as he leaned forward to inspect them closer.

That was seen as a threatening action, apparently, and all of his allies had to duck to dodge his body as it flew through the air and a few stray crates full of old dust. Hector exploded out of the rubble with an angry red aura around them. "That's it, destroy them both!"

 _[THREAT DETECTED: LETHAL FORCE, AUTHORIZED]_ The robots announced in unison.

"... I don't know why he's so mad, but you heard him, destroy the robots!" Robert said pointing with Raios directly at said robots.

Hector zoomed past them with a certain rage in his eyes, and he tackled one of the robots to the other side of the room. His grapple was countered as the red robot twisted and flipped him off of its body, and moved as a huntress would as it switch kicked him across the face and then cleaved him in the side with it's weapon, sending an electrical shock throughout his body. "B-B-B-B-Bitch!" He cried out as he was being electrocuted.

Robert for his part fought the other robot, they exchanged a furious amount of blows at fast speed, moving around and dodging and slicing at each other. Robert sliced low and the robot parried and tried to stab him multiple times in the face, Robert dodged the strikes and dashed behind the Robt and cut away at it's back, attacking from the sides and tearing multiple parts out with four swift strikes. The robot bent forward unnaturally fast and almost grabbed Robert by the head, t would have if Robert had not rushed forward and stretched his palm out, he used a palm of lightning and the robot started short circuiting, with that Robert sliced it's arms off and caved in the head of the Robot with his knee.

"Why is mine a ninja!?" Hector complained as his robot acrobatically flipped to dodge his punch, and during its flip clapped him from the bottom of his chin with it's foot. The weapon it had has been destroyed and discarded into a different part of the room, and the rest of his team, who could very easily help him, were too busy holding in their laughter to do so.

"URGH!" He growled as the robot dodged yet another one of his punches.

Robert looked to his teammates, who were doing precious little to help their leader.

"What?" Michael asked. "It's not like he's in any danger, his aura is still above ninety. Besides, you can't look at that and think it's not funny."

Robert didn't agree, even if it was funny it wasn't what teamwork was about, this time he glared at them.

" _Fine_." Reggie sighed, the only one to succumb to his glare. "Boss! Just used your gauntlet's powers!"

"Eh?" Hector looked down at Ebony and Ivory. "Oh, right. I still have those." With clenched fists, he punched the ground underneath him and launched a shockwave that broke the robot into several pieces. It's head bounced on the ground and rolled toward his foot, which was immediately crushed out of anger. "If I ever see _any_ of those things again, it would be too soon."

"Are you okay?" Robert asked him as he went up to make sure he was okay.

"No. I'm angry, and now I have an unyielding hatred for anything made out of metal and has two legs." As he said this, Reggie grimaced and made sure that his body was still skin and bones.

"What about Penny?" Robert said.

"She gets a free pass, I like her." Hector said in the same dark tone as before.

" _ **Why didn't you just use more of your strength?"**_ Hell asked as he looked down on Hector from a different elevation above them. " _ **You wouldn't have made yourself look like a fool if you had."**_

" _Besides_ ," Hector seethed, doing his best to force his face to not flush with warm blood. "She's an android, these things are robots. There's a big difference between the two."

"Sure, I'll believe that for now." Robert said as he brought up his hand to his earpiece. "Anyone there? Oobleck, can you read me?"

The only thing he got as a response was blaring static with barely comprehensible words mixed in. " _... Can't… communi… dow…"_

"That answers that question." Ashley said as she turned off the communications. "Comms are still down, there has to be a way that we can get them operational again though. This is an old industry after all, they had to have some way of communicating to the outside world, especially this far away on an island."

"There must be signal towers then, and if not some jammers or a signal disk we can use… excommunicated and searching for a way to send a message, just like the tunnels I guess." Robert said as he stretched his arms around.

"We should get outside then, or in a more wide open space so we can see any radio towers overhead." Michael suggested.

"Yeah, that sounds like something we should do." Hector agreed, gesturing to a nearby exit unblocked.

"Let's keep going then, we shouldn't give the robots the advantage of knowing where we are." Robert said as he began to walk towards the exit.

"Oh, hey." Reggie chuckled as he opened the door for everyone. "Look at that, we get one for free." He said as he pulled open the door as far as it would go, revealing a towering structure of metal reaching the skies above them. In front of them was a catwalk that lead to a blue computer screen low to the ground. It was still operational against all odds.

"Okay, now the next order of business." Hector scratched his head. "Does anyone know how to work this kind of stuff?"

"We need to first pull out that jammer attached to it-" Robert said pointing at the box attached to the terminal that operated the tower. "-and then we need to make the signal of this island open to the outside world. Preferably directly at Beacon."

"I'll remove the square thingy!" Reggie offered as he took out his very oversized axe.

"With subtlety!" Robert exclaimed, stopping him before he could destroy the entire thing.

"So I ask again, does anyone know how to do that?" Hector asked the people around him. Michael and Reggie shrugged their shoulders helplessly, and when he looked to Robert...

"I have the basics… but I'm no expert yet." He said.

" _ **I might be able to help."**_

"No." Hector said right away.

"I could do it." Ashley stepped up, kneeling in front of the machine. "I had some computer training when I was still with the White Fang, they showed me the ropes just in case I ever made up my mind and joined them."

"Huh, that's going to bite them in the ass right about now." Reggie commented with a smile.

"Think you can get past the jamming?" Robert asked, more specifically for her professional opinion.

"Only one way to find out." Ashley said as she cracked her fingers, and went to work. She knew where to go and she needed to do, found to correct connection to the black box connected to the terminal immediately, her fingers typing away at the provided keyboard along with how fast windows on the screen shifted and moved was an impressive sight to behold. She ended up drawing a small audience in being her allies as they all looked over her shoulder as she typed a couple codes, connected her scroll and searched for a specific password, and filled up black boxes with small white lettering when it was needed. This whole action took only about four minutes.

"Annnd done!" Ashley cheered as the machine whirred to life, and then the whole tower itself.

"So now, we now we just unplug it and plug it back in?" Robert asked.

"Turn it off first, then it should be safe."

"Perfect." Robert said while unplugging the thing. "Now we just need the outside world, connecting one of our scrolls should do it." Robert said taking control of the terminal to do exactly that.

"Damn, I didn't think that you'd be so good with computers." Hector said as he looked up at the tower. "Good job."

"Thanks." Ashley replied happily.

" _ **I could've done better."**_ Hell sulked as he faded from Hector's vision.

"Oobleck do you read us?" Robert asked into his earpiece.

" _... Urra… hear… still rough… must…"_ The feed cut out before he could hear any more.

"Of course it wouldn't be that easy," Robert said with a sigh. "There must be more towers on the island, maybe more jammers… are they all random IP's Ash?"

"Not really, I guess this Merlot guy never expected to have people come here." She replied.

"So the password is…"

" _Lusus Naturae._ " She said.

"Heh… okay, so now we just need to access the black box through the terminal and type that and well, everyone remembers to turn it off first." Robert said.

"Sounds like a plan." Hector said as he looked into the distance. There was a metal staircase that lead down to the rocky ground below, and then there was another one that lead to the top of the building they were in. Both directions held Grimm, but only one held Grimm and robots at the same time. "Let's go this way." He said as he started heading down the stairs, his allies lining up behind him as they did the same thing.

They walked through a small valley first, and Hector managed to warn them this time about approaching Grimm. They were dealt with accordingly and they made their way deeper into the island. As they traveled the rocky landscape transformed more and more into an industrial factory of some kind. Pipes and broken down structures ran up and down along the ground and walls, and some of the pipes were leaking some strangely colored green goo, presumably the same type of stuff that were on the mutated Grimm that they had fought earlier. Even knowing that, Michael still had to stop Reggie from collecting a cup of it to bring back to Beacon for study. It was known to be prone to spontaneous explosions after all.

After getting through another wave of Grimm, the team was able to locate the next communications tower, and since the password was now already known all they had to do was remove the jammer and enter the password through the terminal. Once the tower was back online, Robert tried to work the comms again.

"How about now, Oobleck?" He called out into the mic.

" _...Whatever you did... just keep doing that! The radio seems to give me some feedback so I'm not sure… somewhere else on the island. You must make sure at all costs that you... Understood?"_

"Well… yes and no, we'll keep pushing forward. There has to be another tower nearby somewhere." Robert said as the comms were shut off once more.

"Man, this place looks so dead." Reggie commented as they traveled through the island. "And radioactive, given the random puddles of glowing schlop that we see now and again. And I've only found one more relic during all this."

"It is beyond my understanding why there is one of those things this far out." Michael said. "Just keep moving, we should get to the tower before the sun goes down. I wouldn't want to have to battle Grimm in darkness."

"You're just saying that because of that one time when a Grimm broke your glasses and you could barely move without tripping over-" Reggie coughed as an elbow was driven into his side, silencing him.

Another pack of Beowolves, another ten Grimm dead. This was starting to get old, Hector thought as the final tower was in their vision, or at least they hoped it was the final tower. They've been traveling for over an hour ever since they activated the second comms tower, and it has only been getting worse from there. To the surprising coldness of the island to the exhausting robots that kept coming out of nowhere with their annoying karate moves and disturbing existence, this entire mission was starting to get old.

"Is that it? Please say that's it." He said to Ashley as she activated the final terminal.

"I hope so." She replied. "Try the comms again."

" _Ah, finally,"_ A voice that was _not_ Oobleck spoke. " _It's about time you fools finally finished activating the towers, I've been trying to contact you for quite some time now."_

"Welp… hello there Dr." Robert said through the earpiece.

"Merlot?" Hector asked.

" _It's pronounced 'Mer-lo', not 'Mer-lot'. Silly boy."_ The doctor chuckled.

"Whatever you say Merlot." Robert said, emphasizing the T.

" _Oh dear… I'll have to get used to that, won't I? In any case, you are the first visitors that I have had in… well, lets just say a very long time. What do you think of my glorious island?"_

"It's shitty, like your robots," Hector growled.

" _I knew you'd say something like that, since my robots can put you on the backfoot, Hector Rivers."_ Merlot chuckled.

"Eh?"

"How do you know his name?" Robert asked coldly.

" _A man can hold secrets of his own, but if you must know, I've been keeping an eye on you for quite some time. Your biology is something that I must study, for the sake of science and my… experiments."_

"Oh hell the fuck no." Hector shuddered, already feeling the blades cutting his skin open.

"So you must have watched how the Grimm reacted to him… that means you have cameras even on the Emerald Forest where we first landed."

" _Smart man, that is precisely correct."_

"Seems we have just found Beacon's new resident creep." Robert said.

" _You say creep, I say scientist willing to go a step further. And since we are on this topic…"_ Grimm howled in the distance, everyone tensed up and prepared themselves for combat. " _I don't think I need all of you, do I? Just the one with the red hair."_

"Sorry, I think we are a deal package," Robert said, activating Raios.

" _In that case, I would like to make a complaint…"_

Team HAMR and Robert fought whatever Grimm approached them, it was a combination of packs of Ursai and Beowolves, both of them with a corresponding alpha leading them. Reggie and Mike jumped into the fray first, Michael slicing lesser Beowolfs with his chains and Reggie taking on a couple of Ursai, they covered each other killing each other's targets and using their semblances, attacking and countering together in one motion, Robert for his part jumped into action with his own lightning cluster grenades, three Beowolves died to them and other Grimm got knocked back, he then used his new ability, the Cyclone, it was a good place for it, he faced a dozen Beowolves and three Ursas, whenever they tried to get closed they shocked and chopped by the cyclone, which was even counting Robert's already dangerous blades and kicks.

Ashley and Hector fought together for the first time in a while. They were forced away from their comrades as many Ursai and Mutant Beowolves forced them into a corner. They had to fend for themselves, and they were okay with that. After sharing a look, they smirked and pressed their backs against one another. The two partners charged forward together, with Hector taking the vanguard with his immense strength as Ashley covered his rear and other blind angles. It was like they were never apart in the first place, with his new gauntlets Hector was able to smash through the thick armour plating both the Ursai and the Beowolves had on their body, and crushed through the softer insides. Ashley moved with great agility and was never on the ground with both her feet for more than a second as she flipped through the air and swung her weapons in a way Hector could only describe as 'Ninja shit'. She was very well trained, and it was much more apparent that she has been holding back with the grace that was shown in her movements.

Her heartbeat in her ears, her smile was wide. This was what she wanted, to fight with her team, and be with her partner again. The Grimm were being pushed back, but that wasn't enough. They needed to be pushed _farther_ to the edge until they fell over and there was none left. She could feel her body heat up the faster she moved, and she barely even noticed a white trace behind her movements as she moved faster and faster. Hector noticed, and widened his eyes as his partner suddenly _zoomed_ through a group of Grimm, riddling them all with stab wounds in their bodies, and slashed limbs. The Grimm all fell to the ground limp, and Ashley fell to her hands and knees, panting for air.

"What the hell- Ash!" Hector exclaimed as he ran up to defend her, breaking through the line and shouting "Kaioken!" As his gauntlets absorbed more and more of his power so he didn't hurt himself. "Are you okay?" He asked as he helped his partner up to her feet, allowing her to rest her head on his shoulder as her eyes blinked steadily open.

"Mmm… what did I just do!?" She suddenly shrieked as her consciousness fully came back.

"I don't know… but I would guess that was probably your semblance." Hector said with a chuckle, patting her on the shoulder as she became able to stand on her own.

"My… semblance?" Ashley echoed, looking down at her own hands. They moved with a trace of white, just like before, but this time she noticed it. The white was gone as her focus was suddenly lost.

"Don't stay behind me for now." Hector said as he pulled up his fists at the snarling and drooling Grimm before him. "Take a break, your aura tanked a lot."

"Eh?" Ashley looked at her scroll, and saw that her aura was suddenly down in the red. What the? She knew she had a small amount of aura, but there was just no way she could lose all of it in just one of attacks, she didn't have _that_ little amount of aura. Her leader was right, she needed to rest and regenerate her aura now. There was no point to her risking her life when she knew her partner was more than strong enough to handle his own in the meantime. "Okay, just be careful." She said with a determined expression.

"Heh, of course."

Michael and Reggie and chopped down the Alpha Bewolf, Michael trapped it's head on a bubble shield while holding its arms with his chains, and Reggie went ham on its neck with his axe. Robert finished off the Alpha Ursa, once it stood on its hinge legs he kicked and broke it's back knee with a sliding kick, he then sliced at it's torso in a flurry of slices, finished with a flying backward kick and fired a point-blank lightning missile, he made it land on its stomach with all the punishment and broken leg, and finished it by tossing a lightning grenade on its mouth.

" _You are proving to be more resilient than what my calculations showed me… how irritating."_ Merlot said over the comms, typing could be heard as he released more Grimm onto the battlefield.

" _What is irritating is how you think my students would fall to such paltry enemies. Merlot."_ Ozpin interrupted, bursting onto the comms with barely restrained anger in his voice.

" _Ah! Oz, may I call you Oz? It has been such a long time, how have you been old friend?"_ Merlot asked the headmaster, apparently not worried for having been found out like he has.

" _I thought you perished in the Mountain Glenn incident… a tragedy you caused."_ Ozpin said.

" _Of course I caused it, it was part of my plan to release my mutated Grimm and see how they react to humans."_ The mad scientist chuckled. As they were fighting, every member of HAMR plus Robert all widened their eyes in shocked anger. It just made them fight even harder. " _Imagine my surprise when they were able to bring down the entire city. You should be thanking me, I've done my part in population control."_

" _This world would have been a much better place if you fell then… but now… Mister Urra, Rivers, your objective has changed. Locate Doctor Merlot, and terminate him if you must."_ Ozpin said. " _He is too dangerous to be kept a free man."_

" _Oh my, you certainly have changed."_ Merlot said in an impressed tone.

"I mean, you are seriously giving scientists a bad name, it would be a public service." Robert commented.

" _Is it so bad that I am trying to make the world a better place with my Mutated Grimm? Just think about it, if just a few of them were able to spark the downfall of Mountain Glenn, just imagine the destructive capabilities in our proper control!"_ Merlot was heard slamming a hand against his chest. " _I could be the hero of this world! The one who made the impossibility to control the Grimm into fact! All I need is one final subject, and I am certain that my research will become complete!"_

"You're insane!" Hector called out to the skies, his eyes glowing red with anger. "There's no way I am going to let myself be studied by you, whatever is up with me is none of your concern!" As he roared, the Grimm attacking him backed away, even the Mutated ones hesitated as he unleashed a longer angry cry and gained a thick dark red aura.

" _You see! Ozpin, I know you saw that!"_ Merlot shouted. " _The Grimm listened to his command, they fear him! Imagine if someone could master such an ability."_

" _I don't need too."_ Ozpin muttered. " _You have gone too far Merlot, I will look forward to hearing of my students victory. Team HAMR, Mister Urra, these Grimm are not endless, slay them and I will direct you to the entrance to his underground facility. Thanks to Miss Cain's skills, we were able to hack in and gain the entire layout of his lab. I will send it to your scrolls now"_

" _Tch…"_ Merlot cut off the comms, definitely so that he could prepare for the incoming attack.

"We are almost done here!" Robert yelled to Ozpin as he back elbowed and slice two Beowolves and stopped a Boarbatusk on his tracks with a thunderbolt, it fell dead and so he focused back on stomping a creep to death and kicking another Beowolf's legs and slicing its arms off, it died by decapitation soon after.

The battle went on in waves which grew fewer and fewer in number in terms of Grimm. Soon enough by the time the sun was down, all the Grimm Merlot had directed toward them were slain. Hector was left standing in the middle of a mist of darkness, an angry red glow to his body as he shook with anger.

"You need to calm down," Robert told him, doing his best to mediate the pain.

"I know." Hector growled back as he shut his eyes tight, a vein popped out of his forehead, but after taking some deep breaths, his dark aura was able to shift back to normal, and the lighter shade of his head went back down to how it usually looked. "Sorry, that guy just brought up some…"

Painful screaming, a scientist putting him together piece by piece. Darkness. Pain. Awakening.

"Hector! Hectorio Rivers are you there?" Robert asked him.

"Hm?" Hector hummed, washing the memory away with a shake of his head. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just remembered something unpleasant."

Hell stared at him from across the arena, making a 'tch' sound as he faded away. In his mind, Hector could feel something strange coming from his relative. It was like his privacy was invaded, which was quickly explained why. These weren't _his_ memories per say, it was Hell's, and he felt like there was something that the spirit didn't want him to see. Including what he just saw.

"Well, enough of that then." Michael said as he stepped up to him. "Ozpin sent use a straight path toward the entrance of this place. I say we get there with what little light we have left, and set up camp so we can rest up and Ashley can regain her aura."

"Okay, that sounds good." Hector said, his eyes blinking back to brown as he looked at his blond teammate.

* * *

"Say… Rob…" Hector awkwardly looked toward the person sitting on his right. They made it to the entrance rather quickly thanks to Ozpin's directions, and after a discussion it was agreed that Reggie, Michael and Ashley could sleep throughout the night while the former two changed shifts with Robert and Hector. Ashley drew the longest straw given her aura gauge, getting to get a full night's sleep unlike anyone else. They were just a few hundred feet away from the entrance itself, and Hector and Robert sat around a fire that was made in the center of a roofless building they huddled up in for the night.

"Hmm, what?" Robert said as he ate his fill of rations.

"How good are you with girls?" Hector asked.

"... Look whatever your trouble is, I'm not the best person to ask, but… I'll do my best." Robert said.

"Well, besides Reggie and Michael, who are _gay_ , you're pretty much the only guy friend I can talk to about this." Hector pointed out.

"What about Jaune and Ren?"

"Are they here?"

"Well… no."

"Then you're the only option I've got." Hector chuckled. "It's about Yang… and Ashley… and about the other thing I told you about before."

"... Go ahead." Robert said, intent on listening.

"Well… okay so you know me and Yang sorta had a… how do I say this without making it even more awkward?" Hector asked

"You made out." Robert said bluntly.

"Right." Hector's face burned at the memory. "It kinda happened out of nowhere, but I am pretty sure I liked it… and she did too. I mean, we all saw what she did before we left for this mission."

"She kissed you on the cheek." Robert said, he said it flatly mostly because where Robert comes from, kisses on the cheeks aren't a big deal.

"Yeah," Hector reached a hand up to graze against the side of his face. The spot where he remembered Yang pressing her lips against. "That. Okay, I'll stop beating around the bush. I like Yang, she likes me, and maybe there's a pretty good chance we are going to get together. The problem with that is though, I don't want to hurt Ashley. Because I know she still likes me, or at least still has some feelings for me, even if they are diminished now. So I am caught in the middle here. Basically what I am trying to ask you is what I should do about this? Get with Yang and potentially break my partners heart? Or I just don't date… anyone." He stopped to catch his breath.

"Hmm…" Robert pondered. "Look, I'm hardly the one you should ask for a good guess, back in school I count about uh… six girls that had crushes on me and I ignored all of them because I liked someone else… and that ended up leading to nowhere, but anyway back to your problem. Are you sure this with Yang has been a thing coming? Or it just happened out of nowhere?"

"Well…" Hector remembered some of the shameless flirting the two shared every once in a while. Though he thought they were just joking at the time, he couldn't deny that he held an attraction for her. Then all the puns that they'd come up with together, like that moment back after the battle with Roman's paladin where they kept making ice puns. As he thought about it now, it got worse and worse. He was able to put together the moment where Yang let Ashley get her chance, and then after he saved her life back on that train, those feelings within her could have been bounced up to a massive crush, especially since they now had the same connection that Hector had with Ashley, except possibly stronger since Yang had a literal piece of his soul living within her. "Yeah," He said once he realized that it was still his turn to speak. "This was probably a long time coming, I was just too stupid to pay attention to it at the time because of everything else that was going on."

"... I think you are looking too deep into it, I'm more asking if you think it happened too suddenly. Did it?" Robert asked him back.

"It did, or at least I think so. Yang sorta came into the room, sat next to me, we kept moving closer, and then we kissed. At least until that day, there wasn't much build up to it. It just sorta… happened."

"Hmm… remember when we told you there were… side effects to soul transferring?" Robert asked him.

Hector's eyes suddenly widened with fear. "You don't think that she did that because-"

"No, no, nothing like that." Robert cut him off as he realized he had picked up the wrong kind of message. "What I'm saying is that you shouldn't jump the gun too soon, you have all had a difficult time, where a lot has happened, and one way or another have more than just hormones going on in your brains, it's complicated beyond normal."

"Huh…" Hector rubbed his chin. "Maybe, this partial soul transfer thing must have played a part at least. She might have had something going on for me that wasn't strong before, and then after what happened on the train, that feeling… overloaded, I guess?"

"The more important question is the one thing you haven't mentioned, why do you not want to go on with this, why does it matter so much to you to not break Ashley's heart? Is there something still there? One way or another, that's an important detail." Robert asked.

Hector hadn't even considered that. He kept telling himself that it was over between he and Ash, and even told Reggie the same thing. He was angry at her betrayal, and for a time he didn't even consider her a friend. But as time went by he came to know that it wasn't all her fault, she was just confessing to him, and betrayed everything she was raised to believe just for him. Maybe…

"Ah, fuck…" Hector's face fell into his hands as the realization dawned on him. "I think I have crushes on two girls at the same time now."

"Yeah, that's why I said to not jump the gun, it's more complicated than you initially thought eh?" Robert said, patting his back.

"So now what?" Hector turned his head to look at him. "I've already made out with Yang, and she practically made it publicly known that she wants me before we left. I can't just string her along after that, nor can I say that I don't like her back because I enjoyed what we shared. I still do like her, even if I just admitted to still liking Ash."

"Well, no matter what things might seem like things can change, my family is proof enough of that, but that's a story for another time, for now try to be aware of what you are feeling and well… try to guess the correct path, like I've said, I gotta do the same thing, I still have problems of my own…" Robert said, a bit more resigned.

"Well, if we're moving on to you for a bit…" Hector's eyes turned teasing. "Coco and Weiss? I see you're getting the same problem I just got myself into. Which one are you going to choose?"

"... I don't know, I barely know them, and I don't think they know that much about me, you? With your issues, well they accept all of your personalities and dark moments, in my case… oh boy, look I'm not the best choice for either of them, I am not… hopefully in Weiss' case is nothing more than a crush, on top of that… I need to be professional about this, I'm a fucking assistant… I feel like all of these things scream 'bad idea'… and I still got myself a pseudo date, good job Robert, you really could have done better." Robert finished, sounding defeated.

"Wow… look at us." Hector laughed. "Dimensional travelers and we're having problems with girls. Go figure. On the bright side, at least we have the option to just wait it out until Beacon is attacked." He suggested jokingly.

"Is it wrong that I was planning on that, and that it also sounds appealing for some reason?"

"No. No it is not. Just don't tell anyone and only trust yourself and me. Maybe Hell too, right Hell?"

" _ **Hm?"**_ Hell hummed, just now paying attention. " _ **What was that?"**_

"You can trust Hell too." Hector said with a smirk.

"Just theoretically I wanted to ask, how do you see my situation?" Robert asked, not looking at Hector.

"Fucked." Hector said honestly. "Were you expecting something different? Dude, I'm not even eighteen, and you're in your twenties. I was sorta hoping you had at least _some_ experience in this sort of stuff."

"Well… you were the one with the Harem."

"We swore never to speak of that again!" Hector exclaimed.

"Just saying."

"Ugh…" A voice from one of the corners of the camp groaned. "Why are you guys shouting, are their Grimm?" Reggie asked.

"Nothing, just Rob being an idiot." Hector said. "Go back to sleep, we'll wake you up later.

"M'kay." Reggie slumbered back to his bed, which was currently Michael.

"Well, at least killing Grimm will keep us occupied." Robert thought. "You know I could get used to missions, I feel almost at home in them."

"Yeah…" Hector looked up to the starry sky. A distant memory coming forth in his mind. "Strangely enough, I think I feel the same."

* * *

 **And there we go, two chapters written in one day. I almost wrote half of chapter 81 from AUH today, what an achievement. Some hints here and there, we decided to alter Merlots story a bit here, and since he doesn't have much other than what we know from the games, we have a special little plan in mind for him. Just you wait**

 **Plans, plans plans plans plans and plots and general mayhem.- CrowSkull.**

 **Please review and let us know what you think of the story so far!**

 **T witter . com (slash) genatools**

 **P at re on . com (slash) Genatools**


	44. A Tale of Two Heroes chapter 44

**Once more into the fray as they say. If all goes well, this chapter will mark the end of the Merlot/Grimm Eclipse arc, but you all know me and CrowSkull, we like to do things in our own special modified little way. Even if that means accidentally confirming then denying then kinda confirming two different ships throughout this story. Why do I do this to myself you ask? Because as much as I like making plans, there's a saying that goes "No plan survives contact with the enemy." And that enemy is called imagination.**

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 **Oblivious IJ: You really like putting those song lyrics in your reviews huh? I hope you understand that I didn't actually read through the entire thing, but I do remember the song. Ashley's semblance will be fully explained soon enough, you just gotta wait and see.**

 **Alf7: I am glad you enjoy this story! Ashley's semblance will be further explained down the line, so I hope that you can be patient. So far we have already planned to build-up for the fall, and after the fall, and trust me, we've discussed all of those things in detail.**

 **Tigervolcano5000: I can't seem to come to a decision, it was so easy before in AUH when all I had to do was make a poll and let everyone choose who they wanted to be Hector's pairing. I** _ **had**_ **my mind made up for this story once, then everything in Glenn happened, and then I had my mind made up** _ **again**_ **, and then the last chapter happened and I wrote something that was I regret and now I am back at it again. Yang or Ash? I don't know, I'll have to discuss it with CrowSkull, or go the easy route and put it up to a poll.**

 **Thank you all for the reviews!**

* * *

 **Beta & Co-writer: CrowSkull**

 **Now let's get right back into it!**

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A Tale of Two Heroes

Chapter 44- Resisting Temptation

The sun was rising up higher in the sky when Hector opened his eyes to wake up from his slumber, in the shared space Robert woke up soon after. Wordlessly, they nodded to each other and stood up to join their waiting allies. Michael, Reggie, and Ashley were all either already awake, or still recovering from waking up even earlier than what their bodies were used too. They would have loved to brush their teeth and get into a fresh change of clothes, but considering the mission has already lasted longer than what was previously expected, they couldn't be blamed for this moment of being unprepared.

"We can go open the door now?" Reggie asked with a yawn.

"Hold on, I need to call Ozpin first to let him know we're here. I don't know if anyone did last night." Hector said as he raised two fingers to press down on the device installed in his ear.

" _I'm here,"_ The old man said before Hector could speak, causing a majority of the team to jump. " _I have been awaiting you to make contact for quite some time, I feared that when your tracker went still that the worst happened."_

"S-sorry about that," Hector said nervously. "We camped in a nearby building in front of the entrance, and thankfully nothing tried to attack us while we were sleeping and resting."

" _I see, besides Miss Cain, you all have aura in the high eighties or nineties. I would recommend Miss Cain to take it easy and always fight with a partner. We don't know what's down there after all."_ Ozpin suggested.

"Right." Hector looked to Ashley, and she nodded back. He'd stay by her side for now, no matter what silly feelings the two may have had for each other. Michael and Reggie would work well together and will watch each other's backs, and Robert would be able to take care of himself. He had the strength and the intelligence to do so. "Is there any special way to open this door or can we just break-in?" He asked next, looking up and around the large set of metallic sliding doors that must have been afoot thick of pure steel.

" _Not that I know of,"_ Ozpin hummed as he thought. " _But perhaps you can-"_

The headmaster was cut off as the two massive doors started to shift away from each other, revealing a downwards metal ramp that lead down into the facility. Immediately, Hector, his team, and Robert all went on high alert. Their weapons were on the ready, and they were prepared for combat. Interestingly enough, however, nothing came out to attack them.

"Or… that can happen," Robert said with narrowed eyes. "I don't trust this for a second, scratch that, not even a fraction of a second."

"I don't think any of us do," Hector said. "Ozpin, you're seeing this, right?"

" _I am,"_ Ozpin replied. " _Be on high alert and proceed with caution, and quite frankly cause as much chaos as you can. Merlots research is dangerous, and cannot be allowed to develop any further."_

"Destroy everything that looks important, got it." Hector said. "You heard that right Reggie?"

"Of course I did!" Reggie laughed as he slapped an elemental dust crystal back into his battleax, and watched in awe as it gained a molten effect along the edge. "I get to use a little modified dust crystal finally, I've been waiting for a chance to use it. Fire and rock dust combined together to create molten attacks. Hehe…" Reggie cackled to himself as he took a few practice swings with his newly amplified weapon. Michael and Ashley made it a point to leave his side and join the other two with how wide his swings were.

"Well… that's something I didn't know you could do." Hector said as he looked down at his own gauntlets. They still had that revolving mechanism with all sorts of kinds of dust crystals, and right now they were on fire and lightning each. Though he still had nearly every other kind he could use at his disposal. Experimenting is for later however, he was best with wind dust, fire dust, and lightning dust, and for whatever it is that may or may not be down there if his memory was correct, he would prefer to stick with what he was good with.

Robert saw that idea and committed it to memory. That could help everyone in the long run, and was surprised that Ruby didn't know about it just yet. He had a feeling Reggie and her were about to become much better friends once she realizes that it was him that was the one to invent such a technique.

"Anything else for us?" Hector asked the headmaster through his earpiece.

" _The termination of Doctor Merlot is a secondary objective, yet on a personal record, I would place him of equal importance to the destruction of his laboratory,"_ Ozpin explained. " _Other than that, you are free to proceed. Communicate with me whenever you need to, and I will do my best to direct you from my end with what I have available to me."_

"Sounds like a plan, I'll contact you again in half an hour earlier if I need too. Over and out." Hector removed his fingers from his earpiece and looked back to his friends. "Well, let's get in there. Ash, stay close to me or anyone here, everyone else, you know what to do."

"Taking charge I see," Robert commented as they all entered the facility as one unit.

"I feel like I haven't exactly been the best leader to my team recently," Hector admitted out of earshot of his teammates. "So I figured that I would try a little harder. You don't mind, right?"

"Of course I don't, go for it. If anything, it makes my job a little easier." Robert said with a slight smile. "I'm not exactly a leader myself, more of a do what needs to be done kind of person."

"I get it, and thanks," Hector smirked.

As soon as they got halfway down the ramp, the big metal doors behind them started to slide shut slowly, the loud noise of metal grinding against metal as the mechanisms within the walls turned and shifted had the team feeling more unsettled as they slammed shut suddenly. The noise echoing off the walls as the lights above them flickered to life.

"Not ominous at all…" Michael remarked.

A loudspeaker woke up with static noises straight after, setting them all on edge once more as they formed a defensive circle on the ramp, just in case anything was going to jump out and attack them.

" _Welcome, welcome!"_ The large screen blurred to life, revealing an old man with elderly gray hair, and mechanical parts attached to his face. One of his eyes was also mechanical, which had Hector wincing and reaching up to trace the area around his left eye for some strange unsettling reason. He looked like some mad scientist pulled straight out of a comic book in his appearance. " _Sorry for the dust, and the dried blood, I am afraid I haven't had much time to tidy up for your arrival. I am sure you understand, you are all understanding people from what I have learned so far."_

"What's the plan here Merlot?" Hector asked as he stepped up and looked straight into the much older man's eyes through the screen. "Why are you just letting us walk in like this?"

" _For you, of course."_ The doctor admitted easily, propping up his head on one of his elbows as he looked through the screen. " _Let me explain. You are an anomaly, something that this world has never experienced before. You are a boy with extraordinary abilities, and capable of controlling the Grimm. To any scientist, your body will be well worth studying."_

"Does that mean we can proceed and break everything in sight freely? I mean like you said it's a unique opportunity." Robert commented to Merlot.

"Not yet," Hector said through gritted teeth. "I want some more answers. Merlot, you know more about me than you're letting on, aren't you?"

" _Ah, smarter than you appear. Interesting."_ Merlot smirked and ugly smirk. " _You see, I have never been not paying attention to Beacon, I mean, any quote-unquote 'Villain' would want to keep tabs on what their potential enemies are doing. I've seen the clips, Mister Rivers, and the ones that Ozpin didn't tell you about? The ones that involved a certain train incident? I must say, it has made me very interested in you, and this 'Hell'."_

"Seem pretty stock Villian to me in all honesty, also seems you are bigger creep than before." Robert snarked, mostly to deflect the matter of the talk.

Hector didn't reply, at least not right away. His eyes flashed red with anger for a moment, but flashed back to brown straight after. He wasn't going to allow himself to be blinded by anger, not here and not again. Though, Ozpin and he were going to need to have a strong talk about privacy when they get back. "I'll just go off on a limb and say that you know everything then, just to be safe."

" _Fair enough, fair enough. Though, not even I can know everything. Good precaution though."_ The scientist yawned as he reached over and pressed a button. The walls fell down around them, and started sliding down the ramp. Cursing, everyone started sprinting down the ramp as to not get crushed.

" _And now it-"_ Merlot was cut off as Michael shot at the screen with his hidden submachine guns within his Kusarigama.

"His voice is annoying." The blonde said as his only reasoning. Everyone mentally thanked him for the effort. Quickly enough, everyone made it down the ramp. Looking behind them, they could see that the walls that came down behind them shattered to pieces and piled up so high that they blocked off the entire doorway, trapping them inside the facility.

"So keep moving forward and destroy things in the process?" Robert asked with his weapons ready.

"You got it," Hector said as he used Ebony to destroy another screen that came to life a few meters to his right.

" _You do realize that I don't need the screens to speak to you, correct?"_ Merlot asked with an amused chuckle.

"Yeah, well you can fuck off," Hector said as he shot another screen before it could have the chance to turn on.

"Wait, wait… just in case don't destroy every terminal, we still have to ping this bastard. That might shut him up." Robert added.

"I might be able to hack into one if you give me some time," Ashley said.

"You think you can out-geek a scientist who has had decades to learn and practice that kind of stuff?" Reggie asked with a raised eyebrow. "Ashley, I love ya, but I don't think you're _that_ good."

"We'll give her a shot," Hector interjected. "Who knows, it might work. It might not. But at least we'd try."

"Sounds fair." Reggie shrugged, swinging his axe over his shoulders as he started wandering around, yet staying close just in case any enemies attacked.

The halls of the laboratory were massive, with ceilings that reached up to fifty feet in height, and walls that were as many feet apart. Some hallways were littered with smaller rooms on the side, all of them aged and with signs that there was once some people who used to live in this place. The group went on, cautious and on guard. There weren't any Grimm around, at least not yet. And even though they doubted that Merlot was going to allow living Grimm roam around in his laboratory, there was still plenty of reasons for them to stay on guard, especially with those droids that they all know that he has on stock somewhere.

They were able to find another terminal similar to the ones outside under the communication towers, and Ashley gave her hacking skills another try as she knelt down in front of it and began her typing. After a few minutes of her team guarding her as she worked, eventually, a video of an emoticon laughing at them with one mechanical glowing red eye told them that it truly was foolish to try and hack into his systems. Mature, real mature, Ashley thought with an exasperated sigh.

"Say… is that terminal connected to these walls right here?" Robert asked Ashley.

"It probably is," Ashley replied.

"Okay, how about those big ones over there?" Robert said pointing at a metal tune with some wires within

They all turned to look at another arrangement of terminals, some more elevated than others but some were destroyed. It was all connected to some wires that lead into the ground and then into the wall. The ones that were on had a login screen ready.

"They don't appear to be… why?" Ashley asked as she stood up and started walking over to the new terminals.

"Because you might have try again one more time," Robert said shooting sparks between his hands… he was going to short circuit a big part of the facility.

" _Oh no, that's a no I'm afraid!"_ Hector winced as something hit him in the back of his head, but flipping forward with the momentum and batted away a red robot that fell from the ceiling. It was then quickly cleaved in half as Reggie's battle axe ran right through it with a sizzling strike.

"We'll cover you!" Michael exclaimed as he jumped up beside Reggie, and took a defensive position on the left-most flank. Robert looked to Hector and told him to guard the right as he went to help Ashley get into the system. There were androids all around, and Hector hated the way they fought like some people would with their get in and out strategy, but he took this as a chance to get some very well needed revenge on some annoying droids. This time, when his eyes turned red, it was for satisfaction and not anger.

"Here goes nothing," Robert said as he tore out a metal plate and started shocking with big streams of lightning the metal tube full of cables, sparks flew, some lights shut off. "The thing about hacking is that you have to think out of the box. Ashley is he distracted?"

"Whatever you did he appears to have less control. How did you know?" She asked.

"I didn't, I took a gambit… with a bit of reasoning behind it but… well it's working that's what matters." Robert said, he just guessed that if he made another area of the facility blackout, maybe just maybe, that would be where Merlot's control came from… maybe for once he was lucky.

" _Damn it… alright, it appears I was being a little too kind to you children."_ Merlot's voice came over the speakers, and the robots that were attacking them started to retreat into the deep halls of the laboratory they were in around them. " _No more, time to really put some effort into ridding all of the unneeded variables."_

"Yeah, I don't like the sound of that," Ashley said as she hopped back up to her feet and drew both of her swords. "Let's get out of here, we can look at what I got later."

This time around, exploring the facility was not as safe as it was before. Their retreat was harassed by robots hidden in the shadows, taking shots at them whenever someone looked the other way. It was pesky, obnoxious, and dangerous. Around every corner, there was a droid. At some points, they were able to separate them. But every time that happened, the stronger members of their group were able to close the gap between them and their allies. One time, they tried to grab Hector and run so that Merlot could do whatever it was that he wanted to do to him, but before they could get far Hector broke out of their grip and destroyed them all with a burst from his semblance. Giving his allies time to cut through the droids and regroup with him. They had no time to explore and there were no breaks between each attack. So they made the decision to bunker down in one of the smaller side rooms so that Ashley would be able to look into her scroll and see the map of Merlots lab that Ozpin sent them, and focused on bringing the information she captured to light.

"There!" She exclaimed as a small red blip popped up near the highest part of the facility, along with coordinates and a side screen where a camera was hacked into. Merlot looked into it, and promptly took out a pistol to shoot the camera, destroying it and blind Ashley.

"What do we have?" Robert said as he sliced in half one of the Robot's glaives, he sliced the robot with two cuts, and used each end of the glaive to stab another two robots.

"I sent it to all of you, I know where Merlot is. Though he seems to be higher up in the facility, we need to find a way up." Ashley explained as she pointed toward the ceiling with her thumb.

"These droids aren't just going to let us pass," Michael pointed out. "Every time we destroy one of them, another three come and take its place. Eventually they'll tire us out."

Robert kicked a robot three times with the same roundhouse quick until the head came off, and sliced and blasted away another that came from the side with a lightning palm, they were partially endless, some coming from side doors, from vents, from above… " _Above?"_ he thought to himself quickly, he looked up and saw another robot drop through some pipes, he quickly got an idea, just as he shifted around and was poked on the side of the head by one of the robot's glaive, he threw numerous kicks and punches to trash it a bit out of anger, he sliced it's head with scissor slash and darted left and right parrying and slashing at three other robots that attacked him in coordination. One of them made the mistake of thinking him defenseless, he used his semblance to dart quickly and shocked the robot from behind and sliced the other two in one motion when they were open.

"... Okay, I have an idea. Michael, Hector I need both of you." Robert said taking a quick breath.

"What's up?" Hector asked as he and Michael stepped closer to him.

"They are coming from up there." He said as he pointed at the opening between tubes on the ceiling. "That's our way up."

"They are not gonna let us climb or jump up that," Michael said.

"That's why we together are going to make a lift with Hector's gauntlets, a bit of wind dust, your shields and my cyclone… I think we can make a stable tornado that can lift us up there. That way we can also fight them as we rise up." Robert said

"Okay… That's crazy, and probably not scientifically possible." Michael said, he then looked to the side and saw more robots coming from the vents. "But I'm open to the idea at the moment."

"You can make those shields that reflect energy, can you make it so it reflects downwards so that it can propel us upward. Is that something you can do?" Robert asked him.

"I might be able to mix two kinds of shields into one…" Michael said as he tested out the theory in a small space between his hands. "Yeah, I think it should work." He said as he successfully managed to create a few small one-way reflective shields with a larger flat shield between it.

"Alright, everyone over here we are going up!" Hector shouted to their other two teammates, Reggie and Ashley promptly came near them as quickly as they could. "So how are we doing this, how's this supposed to work?" Hector asked as he shifted both of his gauntlets on wind dust.

"Michael's going to make a solid shield beneath us, you are going to use you semblance with wind dust to make shockwave of wind underneath us, and I'm going to use my cyclone to maintain the energy in a circle and make the shield float up with us, it also should," Robert said.

"And how do you know that this is going to work?"

"Glynda's regimen has its benefits, ready Michael?" Robert asked, Michael nodded.

Michael lowered himself to the ground and placed his hands on the floor underneath them. After concentrating so hard to the point where beads of sweat started to flow down his face from his brow, he managed to create a flat shield underneath them which was slightly curved downward in a half-sphere as other reflective shield appeared all around the edges of the makeshift platform. As he worked on improving the platform further and applied absorption and release effects to the bottom largest shield, Robert made his cyclone with his bow and centered the energy around the shield. It did make it more stable.

"Okay Hector, punch it… yeah literally." Robert said.

"Right," Hector's left arm flamed up as his semblance activated, and a whirlwind appeared around that arm. He clenched his fists tight and warned the others to hold on tight. There wasn't anything to hold on to tight.

He slammed his fist into the shield beneath him as hard as he could, and then a blast of pressurized air burst out of the ends of his fists. The force was so strong that Hector felt like his left arm was dislocated, which might actually be as the platform beneath them began to rise up and hover off the ground as the reflective shields took the released forced and propelled them upward. As they flew up, they had very little control over where they were going to go. But that was where Robert came in. He used his lightning as a cyclone and maneuvered it in a way that their man-made tornado was aimed toward one of the openings in the ceiling where the droids were coming through. He used the cyclone and more lightning to reflect more energy through the shield, the robots around them got carried away by gusts of wind and sparked by an aggressive tornado shooting blue and green lightning.

"Agh," Hector winced as he threw himself through the opening, being caught by his Faunus partner as they made it through. "Yeah, I might have put a little too much force into that one."

"Are you okay?" Robert asked, kneeling down to get a better look at his injury.

"Yeah, should be." Hector tried rolling his left shoulder, which earned another wince from him. This time more loud and pained.

"You dislocated your arm dipshit." Ashley snapped as she felt around the socket. "You went too hard."

"... shit." Robert said. "We lost the robots for a bit, okay we are gonna do this the old fashioned way," Robert said.

"Can't we just, pop it back in?" Hector asked. "Like from the movies?"

" _That's_ the old fashioned way, you are gonna have to concentrate your aura away from that specific arm though," Robert said.

"Yeah, I can do that." Hector focused for a moment, and forced all of the aura within his soul into his right hand, which glowed a frantic flickering and sparking red as it glowed around the lower length of that arm. "Now what- FUUUCK!"

Ashley clapped her hands together as if she was ridding them of dust. While Hector was distracted focusing on his other teammates, she took that opportunity to pull up his arm and _pop_ the bone back into its socket with a sound that had everyone feeling bad for the leader. Hector sucked in air through his nose and cursed in a whisper.

"You're welcome," Ashley said with an amused smirk as she stepped away from him.

"Yeah, yeah, fuck you too," Hector said with his teeth gritted shut.

"Your aura should do the rest," Robert said. "Just take it easy with that arm for now."

"My question is, how did _I_ not dislocate either of my arms while I was pushing back a train?" Reggie asked as he scratched an itch on his scalp with a chess piece.

"... Yeah, a lot of good questions." Robert said looking specifically at the chess piece.

"It's probably because you were made of metal, Reggie," Michael said, rolling his eyes.

"I don't know man, I mean, Yang didn't even dislocate her arms. She just broke them, and boss here just kinda turned them into dust. But yet, they remained in their sockets." If Reggie had a monocle, everyone imagined it would be shining in the light they were under. "Interesting plot hole… Very interesting."

"I don't know… I once got a sprain by jumping two steps on a staircase." Robert said.

"Yeah," Hector looked around the new room that they were in. In four different directions, it spanned four different hallways. All littered with broken pieces of robots, tech, and unsettlingly enough, bones. Most of the latter more than anything else. "We're walking in a mass grave right now, but at least we started making _upward_ progress."

"Puns later, which way should we go?" Michael asked, lighting up each of the hallways with the glow from his shields.

"This one is angled up a little bit." Ashley pointed to what she meant. One of the passageways was at a slight angle. But still going up, the end was nowhere to be seen, but there had to be one. The robots were coming through here after all.

"Well, one of the other ones is a dead end, and the other two lead down and straight respectively," Michael said. "So I say we go that way as well."

"Alright, everyone okay with that?" Hector asked. Everyone nodded their heads. "Then let's go."

They were careful not to step on the bones of the other workers, scientists, or whoever these people may have been. That answered the question of where the people who used to work here. Merlot must have killed them all one way or another. If that wasn't enough to make everyone want his head on a pike even more, some of the skulls were small, like a child's. It wasn't unheard of that some workplaces would have facilities for families who didn't want to part from their children, and for an industry like Merlot's that used to be very big back before Glenn fell, there must have been a lot of jobs that was made available to those all around the world. Everyone was apaled a the idea, many wondering just why… Robert in particular, felt a bit of anger but more than that he felt the aura of death around them felt familiar, he felt like he was back on the tunnels.

" _ **Disgusting,"**_ Hell commented for the first time that day.

For once, Hector agreed wholeheartedly.

They made it to the end of the passageway in about ten minutes. It was longer than they thought it would be, and their effort seemed to be wasted as they looked down toward a ledge that was sitting high over a different part of the facility. Where the floor looked like it was still cavern in nature with some kind of blue liquid dust being pumped out of the ground through big glass and metal pipes.

"Yeah, this seems like it's going to be sending us backward a bit," Reggie spoke up.

"Should we head back?" Ashley asked, internally herself for accidentally bringing her team farther from their goal instead of closer.

"That looks like an ambush if I'd ever seen one," Hector said, nodding his head as he came to a decision. "Let's head back, we can take one of the other tunnels and follow the map from there."

"Yeah… about that." Robert pointed toward a strangely glowing green substance leaking out of the walls. "I don't think we can go back."

" _Of course you can't!"_ Merlot's voice echoed throughout the tunnel with bellowing laughter. " _If I was really worried about you all being in there, do you really think I would have called back my droids so prematurely? Ha, talk about gullible."_

" _The tunnel will eventually fill up with the same fluid I use to mutate my Grimm with, I've never tested it on a human before, or a fuanus, but feel free to test out my theory and head back. I am sure you might have enough time to get to a different. Tunnel. Might."_ Might, that was a big and scary word in this situation. From what they learned about the green mutated Grimm, they were even more mindless than the regular Grimm. And some of them even exploded when they died. None of them wanted to think about what might have happened to them if they let that stuff touch their skin.

"Yeah, no… now let's see, think we can barrel through one of these walls?" Robert asked.

" _Tick, tock, tick, tock."_ The fluid coming from the wall started to leak into the tunnel faster.

"I think the wall is where this stuff is coming out of," Hector growled. "We have no choice, we're going to have to jump down there and take out whatever Merlot has in store for us."

"Damn, and I hate falling." Reggie groaned. "I always land so hard."

Robert sniffed the air. "Does that stuff smell by any chance?"

"Like shit," Hector said as he scrunched up his nose.

"Oh… my nose has stopped working." And he looked to the sides, fluid coming out of the walls. "Aah, it's the sewers all over again…" Robert lamented to himself.

"Okay, out, everyone," Hector said as he revolved his gauntlets until he landed on the ice dust, and then placed both hands on the ground and filled Ebony and Ivory up with his semblance. "I'll see if I can block it off here so it doesn't leak out behind us."

Reggie was the first to go, or more specifically, the first to be pushed out. As he fell he turned himself into metal so that no damage would come to him physically. Michael dropped down onto his back, and then Ashley nearby them, landing softly on her feet and bending her knees to come to a roll to mitigate the fall itself. Robert was the second to last, landing in a similar way to the former. Up in the tunnel, Hector pound his palms into the ground, and up in front of him came a wall of ice that cut into the ceiling and blocked off the entire tunnel. It was so cold that the green fluid froze when it came into contact with it. After a labored sigh, Hector leaped out of the tunnel and landed hard on the metal. Besides a little damage to his aura, he came out relatively okay.

"What is this place?" Michael asked as he looked around. The ground looked cavern, just as it did from up there in the tunnel. Now that they were closer, they were standing on a platform above the cavernous ground, and they all eyed the bright blue fluids being pumped through pipes that lead up into the ceiling.

"I don't know, but I think those look important, right?" Reggie asked as he pushed himself up from the ground, his skin still made out of metal.

"Stage two. Processing." Robert read out loud some massive letters printed on the wall.

" _Welcome to the processing plant!"_ Merlot's face appeared on many monitors all around them. " _As you can see, this is where I get most of my dust. Now, I've overheard Ozpin's little mission to you all, and even though I've acquired more dust than I know what to do with, I will have to ask you not to destroy everything in this room."_

"Yeah?" Hector raised an eyebrow at the scientist. "Reggie, go wild down there for a few minutes, Michael, go with him."

"Woo!" Reggie exclaimed as he vaulted over the railing and down onto the rocky ground. Michael did the same thing and watched as Reggie sprinted toward the closest pump, and smashed it to pieces with his weapon.

" _Mature… very mature…"_ Merlot sighed. " _This could be much easier, you know. I would consider letting everyone but you leave Mister Rivers, all you must do is surrender yourself to me. The others can report you dead, or something."_

"Sure."

" _Truly?"_

"Fuck no." Hector snickered. "Even if I wanted too, they wouldn't let me. If you know as much as you claim, you'd know that."

" _Hm. True. I do know that. Which is why it is such a shame that I must do this."_ Merlot's mechanical eye shone brighter as he typed a few commands into his computer. The platform that Hector, Robert, and Ashley were still standing on started coming apart. It came apart so much that they were forced into jumping down themselves. By the time Reggie was done shattering one of the pumps, they were all down there, alone, and soon surrounded. By many glowing red eyes in the darkness around them.

"You could have considered not killing thousands of people you know… or not trying to threaten people, ever thought of that?" Robert asked Merlot.

" _Been there, done that, literally wrote a book about it."_ Merlot snickered. " _Though I doubt my book is still on the shelves. Forcing people to do what I want in the name of science is just so much easier."_

"Wow, you are more petty than I thought… that and really childish." Robert said

" _Ah, the one who keeps interrupting me. Who are you again? Something Urra, something like that. I suppose you are going to be a problem, not a main focus, but a problem. Always second fiddle to those more important, as always."_ Merlot yawned and leaned back in his chair. He twiddled his mustache and smirked at the way Robert just very slightly began to glare at him.

"Really? I sass myself harder than that, you need to up your game." Robert said. " _Second fiddle my ass… well at least he underestimates me."_ he thought to himself internally.

"Okay, enough of this." Hector thrusted his right arm toward the biggest monitor and destroyed it. Merlot laughed as Grimm started to emerge from the darkness, their glowing red eyes staring murderously into their souls as they slowly made their way towards them. While in the Emerald Forest there were a few dozen, in Forever Fall more than that, Glenn hundreds, on Merlot's island and within his lab? There must have been thousands of Grimm. There wasn't a foot of space between each Grimm as they made their way out of the darkness. Beowolves, Ursai, Mutated Grimm, small Deathstalkers, and even clipped Griffons who have lost the use of their wings. They were everywhere, surrounding them. Suddenly, and terrifyingly, they all realized the extent of the ambush they have all just been caught it, from where they were in the middle of this cavern, there was nowhere to escape.

"Oh… wow…" Reggie gulped nervously as he held his weapon out offensively. "That's… a lot of Grimm."

"How many do you think we can handle?" Michael asked next, looking no less nervous than his boyfriend. He was the most tired at the moment, having just used his semblance in a way he has never done so before had him already panting for air. He had both of his Kusarigama's out, and was prepared to go all out.

"Uh… probably half this, less than." Ashley said honestly. "If they all attack at once, we'll be in trouble… but then again, I don't think he wants to kill us right away." It was a disturbing thought, but most likely not untrue. Merlot did say that he wanted to use human and faunus subjects, and he just so happened to have a whole team of them right in front of him. Excluding Hector, that was three humans and one faunus.

"We'll just have to find out." Robert said, " _Just like before… hordes and hordes, you've done this before."_ Robert thought to himself

"Wait…" Hector said before they could attack. "What if I… _he_ … takes care of this?" He offered.

Hell raised an eyebrow, invisible to everyone else but him.

"The minute you let him out, you won't have aura, think he can endure all of that?"

"He endured a train hitting him at full speed."

"You had help and you still ended on the infirmary for a month, can't risk that this time, we'll do this together. We'll watch each other's backs… we should be able to survive something like this." Robert said.

"Hm." Hector nodded his head, clenched his fists and showed the Grimm his guard. His team all lined up beside him, some looking behind the, and others looking ahead. "So, I can take the five hundred on the right, you can take the five hundred on the left."

"I can take five hundred and one." Robert proclaimed.

"Heh, that's the spirit!" Hector exclaimed, and gave an unseen sign to attack. They weren't going to wait there for death or something worse.

Michael and Reggie jumped to first batch of Grimm they saw, Beowolves and mutated Creeps, Reggie took advantage of the mutated Grimm and used dust with his volcanic axe, making elemental shockwaves that made them explode, Michael back him up but using his Kusarigamas in swift motions, at first just slashing nearby Grimm and later in long whirls with his chains, they fought like that making a perimeter around themselves, Reggie making shockwaves and decapitating larger Grimm while Michael used his shields to stop Grim and used his weapons to precisely slice at the necks of other Grimm. Reggie swing twice in the same direction to cut an Ursa at the side and then killed it by chopping its head off, Michael whirled his chains to hit a pack of Beowolves, killing some of them with the impact, he then used his hidden sub-machine guns to make some mutated Creeps explode.

Using those to their advantage seemed to be their saving grace for now, Reggie furiously swung his axe in a berserker like rush, using his semblance again to charge with more than a dozen swings, chopping many a Beowolf in his way, even an Alpha Beowolf and a Gryphon, Michael followed him by quickly shooting the Grimm that he missed and using his chains to finish them off, once they were together again Reggie used his axe, he place the blade on the ground, dragged upwards and from it came an arc of fire and stone… lava basically, the wave incinerated many Grimm and made more explosions, Michael kept shooting Grim and using his chains the best he could, interchanging with Reggie's swings. Reggie swung to the left to bisect an Ursa, Michael used both chains to kill two Beowolves behind him, Reggie swung to the left to cleave three Beowolves, Michael shot and Ursa and stabbed his Kusarigamas through its eyes, Reggie used ice dust with his axe to uppercut a Gryphon, leaving it with ice spikes inside it's head, Michael sliced Beowolves and creeps as they approached.

It was working, for the most part, if they could destroy more mutated Grimm, they could make breathing room for themselves amongst the chaos, it went well, they continued using massive swings, deft precise strikes and dust to keep them Grimm at bay, killing at this point more than a hundred, it worked… until one of the mutated Creeps got close with a mutated Beowolf.

"Watch out!" Reggie shouted, knocking Michael away from a swipe from the massive Beowolf, together they sliced at it, doing their best to dodge its constant attacks, Micahel pulled at the legs of the Beowolf with his chains and Reggie managed to get a powerful downwards swing to it's head, killing it… but they forgot about the Creep, it got near them and exploded, separating them. Reggie fell on his back and was about to be swarmed by Ursas and Beowolves, if it wasn't by a barrage of powerful lightning bolts saving him from them. The Grimm died due to the impact and the lightning.

"Go back to your boyfriend quick!" Robert yelled at him, Reggie thanked him with a nod and went back to Michael.

Robert for his part let himself go, he used everything to kill as many Grimm as he could particularly killing the ones coming from the side, he dashed from one side of the room to the other to encompass the area the best he could, and he let out a storm. He jumped in the air with a lightning dash to fire a torrent of missiles, they exploded and killed many of the mutated Creeps, sending aggressive arcs of lightning between the nearby Grimm, he landed with a shockwave and sliced everything in his path in quick succession, if anyone paid attention at him they would really realize how brutal Robert could be, Robert himself felt like he was back on the tunnels with the hordes of Grimm, he had paused for a moment, but the sheer amount of Grimm made his instinct lash out and take over. Robert wasn't really there, it was just his survival instinct at full go, adrenaline included, and since his semblance generated power out of adrenaline, he had basically gone on overload. He dashed with clear stream of blue lightning following him and shocking Grimm, stunning them and burning them, he dashed between them and cleaved ad sliced limbs and head of, he even disemboweled an Ursa major and left a bunch of lightning grenades inside of it, the top of the Grimm just vanished from existence soon after.

He sliced at the Grimm that came close and chased the Grimm farther away, breaking their legs with slide kicks and roundhouse kicks, he snapped their knees and elbows with quick grabs and faster kicks, he punched and sliced at their necks and jaws. He used his cyclone and killed an Ursa and three Beowolves when he activated, bow and everything, He used his lighting blades in swift motions turning in every direction to kill Grimm. Two Beowolves to the right? Sliced with both blades in a quick dash. A Gryphon and mutated Creeps behind him, a sidekick to the Gryphon's jaw and slices at its neck, finished with lightning palm killing it, making lightning bounce off it into the Creeps, exploding them and other Grimm. Ursa Major and Alpha Beowolf at his left, a dozen lightning speed slashes between the two, using point-blank grenades and lightning missiles to bounce between the two, the Alpha ended cleaved in half and then Robert jumped on the weakened Ursa's head, stabbing through it several times.

More Grimm in front? A barrage of lightning bolts and thunderbolts to kill Beowolves, Creeps and Ursas approaching, he sen lightning arc waves with his blades to kill some stragglers and then he dashed in, drop-kicking an Alpha Bewolf strong enough to break its neck, he then slice the Beowolves next to it, and punched and kicked the Grimm out of pure adrenaline, he went back to slicing them pretty soon, he maintained his posture and skill through all of it. But the energy swimming through him, the danger, what it meant if he gave the Grimm even a chance, he couldn't stop, he had to kill them all as quickly as possible. He had to tear them apart.

"Hyaa!" Robert shouted elbowing and kneeing an Ursa in a swift motion, his cyclone got powered back up again, this lightning shooting aggressively out of him, he stabbed the Ursa through its heart and lightning palmed it away, hard enough to make it fly away slightly, he sliced a dozen Beowolves in on quick dash with several spins and cuts, he jumped up and threw missiles and thunderbolts killing more Grimm and mutated Creeps, he landed on a Gryphon, he stomped on its neck and twisted his feet, killing it. He then slice at multiple Grim near him while throwing grenades and missiles, he kicked a mutated Beowulf straight on the jaw with a sidekick and made it fall back, right into a spiky rock, it impaled the Grimm and Robert took the chance to grab the upper jaw and tear it out. More Grimm came and Robert used earth dust to make solid whips of lightning and rocks, he swung them around in quick flurries around him, killing Grimm and even slashing them, he dissolved the whips with a massive smack on a Gryphon. Just to immediately grab the head of a Beowolf and smash into the ground, he continued to slice, punch, kick, slam, explode and overall rip and tear whatever Grimm came close, he sliced a Beowolf in two and shot lightning bolts at an Ursa, he even drive his hand through the eye socket of a Beowolf, killing it while slicing at another... but he was getting tired and a bit reckless, he suddenly got smack by the paw of an Ursa towards the wall.

Robert growled and clenched his teeth, more Grimm came close, starting with an Alpha Beowolf pouncing at him, he grabbed it mid-air and smash it's head into the wall, going inside it, he then forcefully tore the Grimm out of the wall… without the head. He activated his semblance again and sent a palm to the ground to create an area of effect explosion of lightning around him, he activated his cyclone again, and got ready to fight. He was back against the wall but he continued to brutalize the Grimm with quick slashes, tearing their jaws and limbs out and with quick use of his semblance… he just wondered how long he could hold out.

Ashley felt sweat drip down her face and off of her chin as she slashed a mutated Beowolves arm off, letting it bleed out as she cut a Creep across the side and dashed to the side with this new strange power of hers. She knew that it had to be her semblance, but she has only barely unlocked a portion of it the day before, she has had no training with it whatsoever. Every time she used it on accident, it was when her body sensed that an attack was about to hit her, and she would have to dodge it. Strangely enough, her aura didn't tank that much between each use. Approximately point eight of a percent of her aura was used with each _blink_. But again, she didn't know how to use it knowingly. That cost her dearly as she tripped over herself, and accidentally blinked straight into a wall, feeling her aura take a massive hit as she fell to the ground on her hands and knees.

She looked up just in time to see Ursa charging at her, and blinked when a white fist literally knocked it's head off of its shoulder, saving her and killing the monster. Hector took a stance in front of her, and reached a hand out behind him to help her up. Her partner's aura was flaming all about, and his eyes were red with anger. The Grimm looked like they didn't know what to do with him, and the mutated Grimm looked like they wanted to tear him to pieces. It was a strange contrast, but she trusted her partner enough to where she knew that he would never just abandon her side here. Even after everything.

Without words, they looked at each other and nodded. Together, they would fight as one, as the partners that they were meant to be. Hector took charge and Ashley followed close behind him. He's gotten faster, much faster, but he left a trail of red behind himself that Ashley used to keep track of him. He stopped and took a position, Ashley knew what this meant, and leaped onto his back, planted her foot in the center, and jumped up into the air. As she was off the ground, Hector slammed Ivory into the ground, causing spikes of ice to spire out of the ground, impaling Grimm and knocking others aside, killing them. The shockwave that came with it made the ground uneven, which made things a little harder for them, but also make it harder for the Grimm to traverse along the ground to get to them. It was lose-lose but at the same time also a win.

Ashley landed on top of one of the spikes and held on to it, looking down into her partners face to show him that she was okay, and then jumped off of it and took in a deep breath. She focused on the Alpha Creep ahead of her and blinked her eyes when she opened them again, she was suddenly several meters ahead of herself, with her swords already impaling Creep through the eyes. She ripped them out in her surprise, and looked behind her to see more a Beowolf making a swipe at her, she leaned back and lunged forward, stabbing one of her swords into its belly and causing it to spit out blood. She went through with the attack with a smirk on her face, she finally had an idea on how her semblance worked! And she would need it if she was going to stay in this fight as long as she could.

In the distance, she could see her partner's carnage. The Grimm weren't focused on him, so they were easy targets and he could move freely in the horde however he wished. His gauntlets were covered in black blood, steaming with black, and his eyes were practically glowing at this point. He was making his way toward her, and when she blinked her eyes as she started moving toward him, she found herself caught in one of his arms.

"That semblance of yours is going to need some training," Hector said as he let go of her, and put himself in front of any attacking Grimm. She wanted to reply to him, but a mutated Beowolf, one that was not bound by the laws of regular Grimm, started charging at them, ignorant of the other Grimm around it as he vied for a taste of their blood. Hector charged back, and once more she followed suit. Together, they eviscerated the mutated Grimm in one blow. He went high and slammed his fist into its chest, caving it in, and she went low, cutting off one of its legs with her newly enhanced speed. They were like a mirage of red and white as they cut, smashed, and sliced their way through Grimm. Explosions were made, and Grimm parts were sent everywhere. They could win this, she knew that they could!

That was until her aura suddenly gave out.

She fell to her knees with a pained grunt as her blue aura flashed white and _shattered_. She blinked into a Creep, killing it, but somehow lost all of her aura in the process. Hector saw this happen, and the Ursa that was about to kill her, and pulled her back by the time she could blink a second time.

He pulled her back until her back was literally up against the wall. Her shirt was ripped on the back, a sign that the Ursa did not completely miss. Again, Hector stood in front of her, protecting her with his life against a horde of Grimm. "Can you move?" He asked her with a desperate voice.

"I-I…" Ashley yelped as a shock of pain ran up her legs and body. "No… I can't… I'm sorry."

Hector didn't reply, he didn't have too. There was Grimm ahead of him. But looking around, he could see that everyone else was in a similar position. His other two teammates, Michael and Reggie, were in the middle of the pack with Michael barely keeping his shield up to defend himself and Reggie from being dogpiled while Reggie swung his axe relentlessly and kept up a metal body. Michael was bleeding from his forehead, and Reggie's metal skin was dented in places. Even Robert was in a bad state, also against the wall by himself all the way across the room. His semblance could be seen going off all around the Grimm as they tried to get to him and tear him apart. But even from here, Hector could see the desperation in his friends' eyes as he held back the Grimm on his own.

" _ **I'm sure you know what this means, brother,"**_ Hell said as time began to slow, the only one moving at speed being the other soul living within him. " _ **Your friends will all die, one by one, if you don't let me out to play. It's been quite some time, and I haven't gotten a taste of blood in a while, but perhaps these Grimm can satiate my hunger."**_

"I still haven't gone all out yet," Hector said. "I can still use Kaioken at a higher level."

" _ **Without killing yourself?"**_ Hell countered. " _ **Would they even accept the help if it means you lose the use of your arms? Face it, I am the most logical outcome here. It is time to choose, let me out, and maybe everyone dies, or don't, and everyone else dies while you get tortured again until you give in and let me out so we can escape. It is your choice, make it wisely."**_

Hector gritted his teeth and looked at the desperate scene before them once again. Robert was still pinned down, Michael and Reggie were barely holding on, and there were still hundreds of Grimm left, and Ashley was out of aura due to overexertion. They managed to take out about half of them by the looks of it, but with everyone running low on ammo, stamina, and aura, he had a bad feeling about this, and wasn't entirely confident enough in himself to deal with all of them on his own without pushing his already weakened body too far.

He gave Ashley one more apologetic and sorrowful look as he focused deep within himself, and used the technique Ozpin bestowed him to drop his own aura down.

Ashley knew what was happening the moment his skin started to pale. "Wait!"

It was too late, Hector lurched forward and groaned, not too loudly, and not too painfully. His muscles became more dense and defined, and his hair shifted into a dark shade of grey. But most of all, his red aura changed into a dark black and red aura that had her feeling tingles down her spine. When the transformation was completed, it was Hell that looked back at her. This time standing up straight in the body of her partner, his eyes were red and black, skin pale, and a smirk stretched across his face.

He was gone a moment later, and in a blur of flames, speed, and attacks, all of the Grimm that was surrounding them were slaughtered in a matter of seconds. Hell stood in front of the mutated Grimm that remained.

" **So disgusting,"** Hell said to the green glowing Grimm in a darker, deeper voice. " **Your scent is so distasteful, It makes me want to vomit. Your existence itself is not worthy enough to cling to life."**

The Mutated Creep showed him what it thought of that by latching on to his leg, and exploding. Ashley screamed out in grief, knowing that her partner in this state could not access his aura, but stared with wide eyes as Hell reappeared out of the dust with one a large gash in his leg, which quickly healed and stitched back together. Hell smirked at seeing his own healing factor go to work, and went on to slay even more Grimm, leaving her behind in a puddle of evaporating Grimm blood. There was nothing for her to even worry about her own well being. The Grimm all around her were already dead, what must have been about a hundred of them, all gone.

She simply watched as her partner went on to her other two teammates.

"What the?" Michael said as he saw one of the Grimm pounding on his shield suddenly get pulled back, and ripped in half. Then widened his eyes again when a hand-dug through the Grimm, grabbed a Beowolf by its face, and squeezed until its eyeballs popped out of its head. Looking through the horde of Grimm, he could see the face of what he thought was his leader, but instead was the face of what looked to be a humanoid Grimm.

" **Heh,"** Hell snickered at his face and slammed one of his fists into the ground with Ivory. With his overwhelming strength, and access to the Kaioken semblance, all the Grimm around them were _evaporated_ by the flames that baptized the land around them.

"Woah!" Reggie exclaimed as the flames died down and faded away. "Was that you bos-..." His voice died as he saw what 'Boss' looked like at that moment. Michael, for his part, decided to not let down the shield. He held it up and simply stared back at the man who was once his leader.

Hell leaned in and pressed a hand to the shield. He pushed, and pushed, until Michael couldn't handle it anymore and the shield shattered into pieces. Hell's hand reached out and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, and pulled him in.

Before anything could happen, if it was even going to happen, Hell found himself clutching his head with his other hand and let go of Michael. " **You've gotten weaker physically, but you're still as obnoxious as always mentally. Fine, they'll get to live."** He said as he pushed Michael away into Reggie, and stormed off toward Robert and the Grimm still surrounding him.

"What the… fuck." Reggie said once he left.

"I didn't think he'd be… this powerful." Michael said as he looked over the carnage that Hell left behind, all the evaporating bodies of Grimm, the blood, the chaos. He could see Ashley sitting against the wall, just as shocked as he was. But safe.

"What should we do?" Reggie asked, worried for his leader.

"Just let him be." Michael said, walking toward his downed teammate. "Hector made the decision, we have to trust in his judgment and ability to control that… monster."

He hoped that he was right to do so.

It was a distance to get to the other side of the chamber that they were all in, but Hell would get there quickly enough. He saved the teammates of his body sharer per his request, and even let them live. Though he hasn't seen too much blood as of yet, mostly because he was more focused on using area of effect attacks to rid Remnant of larger chunks of Grimm. It was hardly fun when most of the Grimm wouldn't fight back, and the ones who did were much too weak to do anything worth mentioning. He had a few cuts, scrapes, and acidic wounds here and there, but nothing that his healing factor couldn't handle.

Then it came to Robert, Hell stepped right into the horde of Grimm that was assaulting the older man, the normal Grimm noticed him, and actually made a path for him to walk through, while the green Mutated Grimm tried to attack him. He batted them aside with little strength behind his attacks, because little strength was all he needed. He wasn't like Hector, he didn't _need_ Kaioken to be strong. He simply was. Hell made it through the horde and came out the other side, the path still opened behind him, but now he could hear the thunder and lightning more clearly. In front of him was the last person he was supposed to 'save', there was blue lightning crackling all around like an aura to ward off the attacking Grimm, and some of it even bounced off of Hell's body. Any damage that was done was healed almost instantly. He walked into the aura itself, and caught his attention.

" **Having fun, I assume,"** Hell remarked with a smug smirk on his face, literally standing in a damaging field and healing faster than he was taking damage.

Robert still running on pure adrenaline and instinct, faced Hell and pointed one his blades at him, waiting for him to pounce as if he was any normal Grimm, then after two seconds had passed he realized it was Hector, and later amended that mistake as he noticed the black and red eyes of Hell. Those eyes he'd never forget, especially in the face of his best friend.

"You…" He growled. "He… really let you out?"

" **Believe me, I was quite surprised as well."** Hell snickered, tensing his muscles and stepping deeper into the aura. " **He had me promise a few things, almost broke it a few times, he stopped me. It's a nice relationship really, it gets fun."**

"Goddammit!" Robert yelled, a Beowolf came from his side and he grabbed it by the neck before cleaving it in half by its midsection, he then saw the rest of the Grimm, simply standing still, petrified of something. This something happens to be someone, and that person was Hell. He stood in front of him and the Grimm looked to him as if asking his permission to attack. He didn't look back, but Robert felt like if Hell wanted too, he could tell the Grimm to all attack him at once. If that happened, he didn't know if he could beat them all back fast enough to save his own life.

" **Ah, I see that look in your eyes,"** Hell said with a deep chuckle. " **Those are the eyes of a man who's realized he's** _ **fucked**_ **. An amusing look, it almost makes me feel sorry for what I am about to do."**

Robert looked at the pack, he spotted a mutated Creeps moving through it… among the pack, he quickly shot it with lightning bolt, making part of the pack explode, many Grimm dying, but still not quite enough, his arms were shaking now due to exhaustion. "Less fucked now I guess," he said.

In a flash he found himself pressed up against the wall, held up by his chest. Hell was mere inches away from his face, and yet there was still a smile stretched across his face. Robert glared back, determined to show the monster that he wasn't afraid, he held his lightning blade close, pointing at him from the side.

" **You really want to risk killing your 'best friend'?"** Hell asked cruelly, tilting his head to the side.

"... So that means I could actually kill you?" Robert asked also tilting his head, but with shaky breaths. "Are you done playing around?"

" **Maybe, maybe not."** Hell shrugged. " **Feel free to try though if you want, you have the perfect opening."** He pointed toward his heart. " **Go right ahead, right here. That's where my heart should be."**

Robert was almost tempted to at least poke him, leave him a burn scar, but the smug grin that Hell still had on his face warned him not to. As much as he would have loved to get rid of this monster, Hell was still Hector, and he didn't want to risk killing him. The point of his sword dropped.

Hell's hand on his chest dropped as well.

" **Interesting choice. I can definitely say that not everyone would make the same decision you did."** Hell said as he rattled two fingers against, Roberts's forehead, then turned around to face the Grimm behind him.

"So now we are killing these things?" Robert asked.

" **You can sit tight,"** Hell said as his left fist burned with power. " **RARGH!"** He slammed his fist down words, and unleashed a powerful shockwave ahead of him that exploded with flames with each crack formed in the rocky ground. The explosions blew the Grimm apart, and the ones that still lived were seen limping away and whimpering in fear, trying to get away from Hell. Once the dust cloud settled down, Hell rose from the ground and flexed his fingers.

" **There, my side of the deal is done."** He said, stepping away from Robert and thereby ignoring his entire presence as he made his way in the middle of the room. Hector came back to himself, dropping down onto all fours, losing all of his aura would do that to him, he held his heart momentarily, breathing hard. Some of the Grimm started to look back, but Robert reacted, he shot more mutated Creeps and decapitated a Beowolf that decide that it was a good idea to come back, he promptly drove his blade through its neck. Ashley, Michael and Reggie soon joined him, killing any other Grimm that decided to come back, or a mutated Grimm that didn't listen to Hell, the rest of the Grimm… they ran, before they were close to a thousand, now with all of their kills combined, including the actions of Hell, they were barely about five dozens of them left.

" _Mmm…"_ Merlot hummed, having watched the whole thing. Except now, he looked to be actually concerned for once. The screens that remained blacked out, and his scheming continued.

"Aaagh." Robert grunted as he fell to one knee, he had exerted himself a bit farther than he was used to, another survival scenario. He remembered what he learned back in the tunnels. Deep breaths through the nose, following a rhythm, calming his heart slowly, shakingly getting up. He couldn't give out just yet, he needed to still complete this mission, and there were still some Grimm and robots left. He calmed his breath and promptly helped the rest of HAMR, saying the same thing.

"Breath through your noses, even if this place just smells like shit, just, breathe… get yourself moving, slowly get up, move." He said to them, they listened the best they could, they were exhausted, but they finally got a breather… Michael calmed himself first and helped Reggie and Ashley went to help Hector alongside Robert.

"You… really aren't good at making deals, I mean it worked, but… what did you offer him?" Robert asked Hector between heavy breaths.

"Oh, you know…" Hector smiled grimly at him. "Just the first go at Merlot when we catch him. Nothing too serious."

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 **And that's the chapter. We decided to extend the arc by a chapter, mostly because we once again wrote about 5k more words than we really intended too. But worry not, that just means more content for you all.**

 **Still, this actually helps with a sort of phantom chapter that was going to happen after this, so this way everything gets more tidy up. -CrowSkull**

 **Well said.**

 **Please review and let us know what you think of the story so far!**

 **T w itter . com (slash) genatools**

 **P a treon . com (slash) Genatools**


	45. Chapter 45

**Here we are again, another chapter, another day.**

 **Something that I have recently decided is to no respond to reviews publicly anymore, its nothing against you guys whatsoever, I just feel like the words that I use to respond to you pad the word count and sometimes throws me off. Also, it's much more convenient to respond in a PM because then you can ask me more questions about whatever story of mine you are reading. On top of all of that, it will also save time. However inconsequential that time maybe. I hope you all understand, and I always look forward to reading every single one of your reviews.**

* * *

 **Beta & Co-writer: CrowSkull**

* * *

A Tale of Two Heroes

Chapter 45- The Choice

"Nothing too serious?" Robert chuckled bitterly. "You let Hell out on the off chance that he wasn't going to kill us all under some brittle deal that could have easily gotten out of hand?"

"Wait," Reggie said as he walked over, Michael over his shoulder. He wasn't injured or anything, he was just exhausted having to keep up a shield for so long to protect both himself and Reggie against an unending tide of Grimm. The fact that he was still conscious is an impressive feat in itself. "So does that mean Hector-slash-Hell is going to kill Merlot or something?" He asked, completely missing the major flaw Robert had just pointed out.

" _ **Hopefully you keep your side of the deal…"**_

Hector ignored him. The inner him, that is. "If we don't want him trying to force himself out, then yeah." He said.

"I don't trust him," Robert said, making his thoughts crystal clear. "The way he acted… it was like life and death was just a game to him. If he wanted to he could have killed us all and go kill Merlot anyway. The fact that he hasn't has to mean something."

"I don't know what to tell you," Hector said as he pulled himself back up to his feet. He favored his left arm, which was what Hell used for most of his attacks. It wasn't injured, just incredibly sore. "I won't pretend to know him and say that I know everything that goes through his mind. If there is some ulterior motive, then we'll just have to prepare for it."

"Hey!" Ashley called to them from across the room. When pairs of eyes turned to face her, she was still slumped against the wall, Grimm blood all around her from when Hell first transformed. "Can someone help me over here? I'm kind of out of aura."

"I'll go," Reggie said, realizing that Robert and Hector were about to have one of _those_ talks. "Michaels okay with coming with me, right?"

"Ugh…"

"He's okay with it." Reggie translate for him as he started to make his way to their faunus teammate. Carrying Michael with me.

As soon as he was out of hearing range, Hector looked to Robert. "You didn't try to kill him." He said. "Why not?"

"You were able to see that?" Robert asked.

"Yeah, I'm still conscious when he is in control, and the same goes Vise Versa." He confirmed.

Robert looked down and sighed lightly through his nose. "Even if Raios would have been able to kill him, I couldn't risk killing you too. So I trusted that whatever crazy idea that you had in mind was going to work out… that and just hoped for the best." He explained.

Hector smirked, and even chuckled a bit. He looked toward his teammates and his amusement quickly faded away. He clenched his hand around his left arm a little tighter, and despite being exhausted his aura still flared out of anger. Not toward Robert, but to what could have happened if he was wrong to trust Hell in that moment minutes ago.

"I know it would be hard…" He started, still looking toward his teammates and to the carnage that was what was left behind by Hell's awakening. "I know this is probably stupid to ask of you… but if Hell tries to do anything, like hurt and innocent or any of our friends. Please… Rob… Don't hesitate to stop him."

"Hector-"

He cut him off before Robert could continue. "I know that I might be able to stop him, but he's stronger than me. So much stronger…" Hector coughed. "If I can't stop him, then I would rather die along with him than to wake up hours later with having to live with the guilt of murdering people who don't deserve it. Especially if it happened to any of my friends."

Robert looked to Hector dead in the eyes. He scowled at him when he saw just how serious he was. Though, it wasn't like he couldn't believe the words that he said. He understood where he was coming from. He himself would also want someone to finish him off if he went off the deep end and started hurting innocents… or at least to exorcise Hell somehow. But more than that the thought of being forced to kill Hector, and thereby becoming mostly alone as one of the only people who has been forced here from Earth? He wasn't going to lie to himself, the very prospect scared him.

"... Only if there is no other way to stop you." Robert finally said. "After all other options are exhausted, then I'll… kill you."

"Thanks," Hector said with a sorrowful smile. "I won't make you promise anything, but thank you anyway. If anyone would be able to stand a chance against Hell, it'd be you."

"Hopefully," Robert said underneath his breath.

" _What a touching scene to behold,"_ Merlots taunting voice sounded out over the intercom. " _Truly, seeing you two speak like this nearly brings a tear to my eye."_

Hector growled, Robert was about to make a comment about what else could he bring, but realizing that was asking for a jinx, he said nothing. They simply looked up to see one of the last remaining monitor screens that managed to survive the onslaught just now.

" _I am detecting heavy transfers of data, Merlot may be planning to take what he has and run away."_ Ozpin radioed in. " _Do not let that happen."_

" _Tch, Beacon and their technology. I should have expected something so trivial would be noticed. No matter,"_ The entire facility rumbled, nearly knocking all of the Beacon students to the ground. " _Mister Rivers, I am afraid that it is too little too late for you to become a scientific breakthrough."_

"Oh no…" Hector widened his eyes, figuring out what was going to happen almost immediately when the facility shook again.

"What the hell is happening now!?" Ashley asked as she, Reggie, and Michael all made their way back to them, all on their feet now and using the metal man as support.

" _No need to worry about it dog, let's just say some adjustments are being made… heh heh."_ Merlot's face disappeared from the screen, and the team had to dodge a spike of rock that fell from the cave ceiling above them.

" _I am looking into what Merlot is trying to do now, how is everyone's condition?"_

Hector looked at his scroll to gauge everyone's aura. He had the most so far, but that was because of Hell coming out. Robert had about forty-five percent to his name, Ashley's was nearly empty and at eight percent, Reggie was more or less the same as Robert and was most likely in the second-best condition, and although Michael has little more than half of his left, he was exhausted and took in deep panting breaths. Hector struggled to find a way to explain their mostly perilous condition. Especially when it came to telling the headmaster that he had just let Hell out when he technically isn't supposed to.

"Alive," Robert said out loud, but he clearly meant it like they could be better.

"We're able to fight," Hector clarified, looking to his teammates for confirmation. They all nodded to him.

" _Good. Then you must make haste, we don't know what Merlot may be planning. Over and out."_ His voice clicked out along with their comms.

"So what is really happening?" Michael asked between his pants.

"Don't ask me, I don't know about this part of the story… not fully." Robert said, crossing his arms and gesturing to Hector. Of which the leader of Team HAMR shook his head and sighed as he made himself look to his teammates and friends.

"Merlot may have just set off a timer for this whole place to self-destruct." Eyes went wide all around him. "I don't know how long we have, but my best guess would be around ten minutes."

"Well… we need to find him, we just need to go up." Robert said, making an effort to recover his breath quickly.

"Fuck," Michael cursed, his green aura flowed around him and he groaned. Reggie backed away from him in surprise as his boyfriend literally glowed brightly. When the light faded away, Michael's aura was lower, but he stood a little taller and his breathing was mostly back under control. "I'll explain later, but we need to move, now preferably."

Doing the smart thing, Hector agreed with him. It was yet another mystery to unravel about Michaels's history and just how far his combat experience and knowledge of techniques went, but he was right. There was no time to waste on questions about his teammate's strengths. "Right, let's go then. Did you guys see any way for us to get out of this room?"

"If we get back up on the catwalks, I think so," Ashley said as she looked at her scroll, where a downloaded map of the entire facility was projected upward. "Down here, there is nowhere to go."

"Then let's get up there," Robert said, running toward the nearest wall and jumped and ran up the wall until he was able to grab a ledge. When he climbed up he laid down and extended a hand down to help others up. Michael wasted no time and ran up the wall next, catching his hand and allowing himself to easily be pulled up. Reggie did the same, and was barely able to catch the hand himself, being much heavier and bulkier. Hector was about to go next, but noticed how Ashley favored her right leg. Without wasting time, he leaned forward in front of her while bending his knees.

"Get on." He demanded her.

"What?"

"Just get on!"

Ashely realized what he meant to do and did what he said. Climbing onto his back and wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck in a way where she wouldn't choke him. Hector held onto to her legs, and sprinted toward the wall, letting go of one of her legs to catch Roberts's hand. The weight of two people surprised him at first, but after using his other hand to assist him he was able to get the two up there.

"Are you able to run?" Hector asked Ashley, who still clung to his back.

"Honestly…" Ashley thought about it, and winced as she noticed the small gash across her thigh. "No… Sorry."

"Don't be," Hector pushed her further onto his back. "Let's go guys, Ashley, just keep looking at your scroll and tell us where to go. Everyone else who can run, go ahead of me."

"I'll stick close," Reggie said as the group started to run together, he was in between Hector and Robert who ran with Michael ahead of them. "Just in case, unless you want to fight with extra weight and with only kicks, I'll take care of anything that might attack us."

"Thanks." Hector nodded.

"There's a locked set of doors ahead of us that would lead us into some kind of power supply room," Ashley said, pointing over Hector's shoulder and toward two metal sliding doors closed together with a red light over each of them. "If we go through there we would be able to get to Merlot faster."

"I'll force it open then," Reggie said with an excited smile as he transformed his arms into solid metal, then spat into both of them. "Ragh!" He exerted as he forced his metal fingers in between the doors, and groaned as he pulled as hard as he could to his sides. Slowly but surely, the doors started to come apart.

"We got incoming!" Michael called out as a red robotic hand clasped onto the ledge ahead of them.

"Not the robots…" Hector groaned as he prepared to do what he could with his feet.

"Almost… there…" Reggie said as he opened the doors about a foot wide. "RAGH!" He shouted as he slammed the doors open after a flash of orange aura. He held them open and called for everyone to run through. Hector was the first while he carried Ashley, then Michael and Robert. Reggie forced himself through next and slammed the doors shut, then warped the metal over each other just in case the door decided that now it wanted to open. Thankfully, that was a smart idea, because when he warped the metal the lights on the other side of the door turned green.

"Where to now?" Robert asked Ashley.

"Uh… it's a bit of a maze here. But if you guys want to get loud then you can just break through all the equipment in here to get to the door on the other side of the room."

"Sounds like a plan then," Reggie said as he slapped another set of rock and fire dust types into his great axe. The weapon began to drip lava, and Robert wisely decided to let him take the lead. "Which way?"

"That way." Ashley pointed straight ahead.

Reggie went on to use his lava infused weapon to smash through and literally melt a path for them all to walk through, but as he was doing so sparks began to cut through from the other side of the door he forced closed.

"Uh… You might want to speed up with that." Hector said as he watched the sparks climb their way up the in between's of the metal doors, slowly cutting them open.

"Oh, I'm sorry, do you want to use a lava weapon that splatters lava on you with every strike?" Reggie asked sassily. "Unless you can make your body made out of Tungsten, then please, give me some time."

" _You're destroying years of research!"_ Merlot complained and went ignored.

"Can't you just heat it up really quickly and just… smash it to make the hole we need?" Robert asked.

"Heating it up would only destroy one layer of these things," Reggie explained as he cut through another metal crate. "We don't have time to spare being clean, but unless you can make your hands hotter than lava, go for it."

"... Being clean?" Robert pondered.

Reggie made it about halfway through to the other side of the room before the robots were able to cut through the door. Robert barraged them with missiles of lightning while Michael created a vertical one-way shield to stop any robots that were able to get through his bombardment, and those who did manage to get to the shield were kicked away by Hector, who temporarily put down Ashley so he could focus on keeping the robots away as his partner focused on creating a mental map in her mind so she would be able to direct them quicker and more efficiently. A minute of battle passed when Reggie broke through to the other side, and nearly fell to his hands and knees due to his exhaustion.

"You're clear!" The metal man called out as his body became skin, flesh, and bones once more.

"Go!" Michael hissed to Robert and Hector. "I'll hold them off for now, just take Ashley and go, I'll catch up."

"Not the time to be playing hero Mike!" Hector snapped back as he lifted Ashley onto his back.

"I can still move you idiot," Michael said as he started walking backward, with the shield slowly moving with him.

"At least don't do it alone," Robert said walking backward slowly with him, shooting bolts at a couple of robots.

Michael didn't argue, and ended up deciding that it was better to just let them help him as he slowly made his way through the rubble, carefully making sure that he isn't stepping on superheated patches of metal that were being left behind. When they all made it to the end, after a count to three, Michael dropped the shield and ran through the forced open door last, slamming it close behind him.

"That way!" Ashley said, pointing to another exit point that was thankfully not blocked by machinery.

Instead it was blocked by mutated Grimm.

With Robert, Reggie and Michael ahead of them, they were able to get through the Grimm without too much trouble. They didn't kill them all, but they didn't need to. They were on a time limit as it is, and according to what Hector said, they maybe had about seven minutes left before the entire facility exploded, killing them all.

" _Coming after me hm? I should warn you that the direction you are going in while it does lead to an exit only will make your escape harder for you_." Merlot said, appearing on monitors as the group made their way through the facility.

"Do you ever shut up?" Hector groaned.

" _When you haven't seen another person in the flesh for years, then I am afraid not."_ Merlot chuckled. " _Don't say I didn't warn you~"_

"Prick…" Hector said.

"Ahead of us is a bigger room, on the other side of the doors, there will be a path to an air pad of sorts. That's where we can escape if we have to." Ashley reported.

"Merlot can't get away with this," Robert said with a growl. "I won't let him."

"Me neither," Hector said, agreeing with him. "We can get you all to the air pad, but we'll go after Merlot afterward. Maybe we'll be able to stop the self-destruction while we're at it."

"Are you crazy?" Reggie asked as he wrenched his axe out of a mangled robot. "We're not going to leave you, idiots, behind, we'll go with you."

"Ashley can't," Hector pointed out, shifting the girl on his back higher. "She needs medical attention, and I won't be able to fight properly with her on my back slowing me down. N-not that you're heavy or anything." He added when Ashley coincidentally tightened her grip around his neck.

"Hmph," Ashley snorted, accepting his apparent apology.

"Ugh," Reggie groaned. "Are we really doing this? I swear, every horror movie ever when the group splits up is when shit starts to go down. Like Monday the Fifteenth."

"Monday the what now?" Hector raised an eyebrow.

"This isn't a movie," Robert pointed out, and did his best to ignore the last part of what Reggie just said. "And we aren't actors. We have aura and the strength to use it. We should be able to get him before time runs out."

Ashley tightened her grip around Hector's shoulders, making her concern known non-verbally. When she realized that she did so, she looked back down to her scroll. Hector didn't comment on it.

When the larger room started getting closer to them, the robots started to slow down their assault, and Mutated Grimm, only Mutated Grimm, started to become more plentiful in number. Then suddenly, there was nothing. Hector, his team, and Robert broke free into a large wide-open room that had green puddles of strange acid spotted around. The floor was stone once again, and for a moment they feared that they went in one big circle.

Then Hector remembered something very important.

"Shit…"

"What is it?" Robert asked him. "Another memory you want to share with us?"

"Depends. Is it too late to say that a giant Mutated Deathstalker is supposed to be here?"

The floor started to crumble underneath them, and for once it wasn't because of the impending self-destruction of the facility.

"Yes," Michael answered him. "Yes, it is."

" _Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you my most powerful specimen yet."_ Merlot said as a loud screeching sound was heard. It sounded like someone was dragging dull metal down a chalkboard, and it nearly deafened them. " _I haven't given her a name yet, but I suppose it could be… Minty, Basil, Jade. Jade! Ah-ha! Jade, it shall be."_

A bright green stinger burst out of the ground and slowly the ground around it started to crumble into gravel as the creature started to emerge from the ground. Its screeched became louder and louder as it came closer and closer to the surface. Starting from the tail down.

"Oh look, there's the Deathstalker," Robert said unenthusiastically. "Even if it's stronger than the Grimm we already faced, we should be able to take it out quickly enough."

" _Ah, but that is part of my plan!"_ Merlot claimed. " _While Jade here distracts you from your true goal of hunting me down, I'll be transferring the rest of my data to another one of my hidden bases. Then you'll have a choice, waste the rest of your time trying to hunt me down, or escape with your lives. Tick tock, ladies and gentlemen."_ A timer popped up on the biggest screen in that room. It started ticking down from four minutes. " _Tick tock, make your choice. This is the last you'll be hearing from me for quite some time. Ta ta!"_

"Damn him…" Michael groaned, unsheathing both of his weapons and preparing himself for battle, Reggie standing alongside him already prepared to attack the Mutated Deathstalker the moment it fully revealed itself out of the ground.

"I can chase him… you guys killed a Deathstalker before, this shouldn't be any different." Robert said.

"Even by yourself, you might not make it in time." Hector pointed out as he gently let Ashley hop off of his back. "Once he realizes that you're going after him he's going to send everything he has left to stop you. They might not threaten you, but they'll definitely slow you down. I'll come with you."

"... I can always run past them?" Robert suggested, but he knew it wasn't really an option.

"Not a video game, Rob. But good try."

"Uh… guys. Monday the Fifteenth? Splitting up is dangerous? Hello?" Reggie said loudly.

"So if everything fucking else we have done on this trip!" Robert yelled

"Just let them go," Michael spoke up.

"Eh!?"

"As much as I'd love to say we should just let the fucker go, we can't. We don't know what he would be able to do in the time we are looking for him again. By the time we did find him, he'd have another base fully set up, with stronger Grimm, or worse. We know he is willing to kill innocents to further his research already, hence the Mountain Glenn incident." Michael explained. "He can't be allowed to escape."

Reggie clearly wanted to argue, but he clicked his mouth shut and accepted it with a nod. Their reasoning was sound after all, Merlot was a dangerous man with an even more dangerous mind. He couldn't be allowed to getaway.

"Then it's settled then," Hector said as he cocked his weapons, Ebony and Ivory. "Ashley is still hurt and low on aura, make sure that she doesn't get caught by herself."

"Hector…" Ashley put a hand on his shoulder, making him face her.

Hector turned to look down at her, mostly focusing on making sure his weapons were full-on ammo and ready to be used for a long period of time.

What he didn't expect was for two hands to wrap around his face and to find himself pulled down to find his lips melting together with hers. Reggie whistled at them while Michael rolled his eyes and hid a smile. Robert watched this for a few moments before coughing and looking away, giving them the moment of privacy that they apparently needed.

When Ashley parted away from him, she took in a deep breath and pressed her forehead against his. Hector let her do it, not pulling away for even a second.

"That was for luck," Ashley said, her cheeks burning. "And thanks, for carrying me. Make sure you come back, okay?" She added as she pulled away from him, and limped backward toward her other teammates waiting for her, smiling the entire time.

Hector brought a hand up to touch his lips and swallowed nervously. "Sure… yeah, I can do that."

"Remember, it's a Grimm, it's dumb, bait it," Robert said to them as he started to drag Hector away. "You are so screwed…" Robert said to him once they started running towards Merlot's direction.

"I hate my life," Hector replied.

"Well, this is it guys. Ashley got another smooch on our leader, Michael can make himself feel better by reaching deep inside himself-"

"Don't say it like that ever again."

"-and here I am with my big ass lava axe." Reggie finished with a chuckle. "Another Deathstalker for Team HAMR to slay, let's say we do it properly this time, eh?"

"I can go along with that," Ashley said as she drew both of her weapons. Despite one leg being injured, she would still give it her all. "And this time we don't have that idiot to look out for."

"Funny when you say that now," Michael commented. The Deathstalker managed to get both of its claws out of the ground. "He used to be the weakest, but quickly became the strongest. Then he happened to be a human from another dimension." He laughed. "Funny how the world works, isn't it?"

"Hah, you could say that again," Reggie said.

"Geez… since when did I become the burden of the team? Whatever, the belly and the stinger are the weakest points, right?" Ashley asked, focusing back on the issue at hand.

"Yup, that and the joints between the legs." Michael corrected as he pointed toward the legs that had begun sprouting from the ground.

The Mutated Deathstalker burst from the ground, and screeched in all it's glory so loud and with so much force that the three teens felt themselves being pushed back by its very voice. When it stopped, it turned to face them, and began its mindless charge.

"Let's drop the HAMR on that ass!" Reggie exclaimed as he turned himself into metal and charged straight back, meeting in the middle with a fiery shockwave.

Jade the mutated Deathstalker used her pincers to block the path of Reggie, Reggie himself back away lest he be hit by a flurry of pincer strikes, however then it tried to use its stinger to get him. Michael came in and used one of his shields to block the stinger.

Reggie used the chance to move in and strike Jade with his lava axe, he went for the face and the joints of the forward legs, they were surprisingly well-armored however, he blocked one of the pincers and readied himself to fully absorb the blow from the other in his metal form, the pincer moved him, yet it didn't bat him away. Reggie used that to his advantage to land a big overhead swing to Jade's head, she responded with a screech and responded bathing Reggie away with one pincer and sending projectiles their way, rapid-fire projectiles from her stinger.

"Careful," Michael said, using his shields to protect Reggie, who wasn't really on a condition take too many more heavy hits. Meanwhile, Ashley ran ahead as best she could and cut at the legs of Jade, she slid under them and started to attack the belly, Jade spun around and made a massive jump backward to get away from Ashley, and to not have someone under her, she then burrowed down surprisingly quickly.

"Where is it?" Reggie asked, as of an answer, from under Michael the stone started rumbling, Michael jumped away and saved himself from a rising Deathstalker that pincered away at its surroundings. Together they attacked Jade from every direction, Reggie went in front with his axe, going in and out with massive slashes of his axe to entertain Jade, he avoided the barrage of pincer swipes and bites in the process, clashing with some of them, he served mostly as a big distraction for Jade while getting a couple good hits, meanwhile Ashleys dashed left and right cutting at the joints of the legs and Michael used his Kusarigamas in chain form to quickly slash at the joints from a distance.

Jade wasn't having any of this, she swiped left and right with lightning speed, but her attacks were blocked by Reggie, and whatever wasn't blocked by him, it was blocked by one of Michael's shields just at the right moment, meanwhile Ashley had free reign to slash at the Deathstalker's joints, Jade had enough and with a loud screech she spun around like a tornado and send them all backward, then she made a B-line for Ashley, Ashley widened her eyes as a very fast-moving Deathstalker tried pincer her, she ducked, dodged and bent backward to avoid three different strikes, and jumped backward to avoid a bite, it was, however, forcing her too much on the defensive, and something so massive and fast was going to hit her on her state eventually.

The next pincer would have been it, she sidestepped clumsy due to her limp, but Michael saved her with a shield and Reggie came with a roar and a massive jump in strike of his axe. Jade staggered, and started to swipe aggressively in both direction of Reggie and Ashley, Reggie blocked the strikes and Ashley did a backflip to evade them, Michael used his shields to block some of the attacks too. Jade wasn't hitting them, but she wasn't giving ground, all her attacks made it for the really hard to strike her, she made swift strikes at Reggie, but those got blocked as Reggie guarded himself and spun around, making an opening for three consecutive strikes of his axe, Jade pushed him away with another tornado-like spin, but just as she was about to strike Reggie a green shield popped up and Michael got close and slashed at her left side. She turned to his direction and immediately got slashed by Ashley, it spanned around and slashed with pincers at Ashley, and then at Reggie while trying to sting Michael, that was it mistake however, for even though it managed to attack at all of them at once, Jade got her stinger stuck on the ground once Michael sidestepped. She tried to wiggle the stinger out, but the awkward position gave Ashley, Reggie and Michael and opening, they slashed at the joint and Reggie delivered a roaring swing at the stinger. That hurt her a lot.

Jade shrieked and after dislodging the stinger, she burrowed again.

"That got it, one more of those should do it," Michael said.

"Yeah… it better." Ashley said while gasping for air.

"Uh, guys" Reggie called to them, they looked at him, he was pointing at the other side of the room, specifically at the robots that decided to show themselves.

"I'll take care of them, you two can finish the Deathstalker."

"Are you sure?" Reggie asked

"I trust both of you, so trust in me okay, I won't take long," Michael said, he then threw his chain at the farthest away robot, impacting it and dragging himself to it, he kicked and slashed at its parts, while making two shields around him to protect him from the remaining robots, he used his hidden machine guns to shoot at the other robots, he sliced them after dodging their attacks and used his shields to push them away and towards him so he could finish them off.

Jade decided to make herself present while Michale fought the last of the robots, she appeared and with its stinger and pincers made an energy attack. A wave that spread across the ground.

"Jump!" Ashley told Reggie. They both jumped the energy wave and went closer, Jade pincered at them, rapidly, Reggie blocked the attacks and Ashley evaded, together they made headway into killing it, they struck at its face and joints when they could, but it wasn't quite dead yet.

"Okay… almost there." Ashley said between pants.

"We got this." Reggie said to her, they both nodded to each other, silently making a plan,

"I need to hit the belly again." Ashley said.

"Got it." Reggie said, as he started running towards the Deathstalker, Ashley behind him, suddenly Reggie grabbed Ashley by the arm and threw her, she slid on the ground with momentum, making a big gash under the Deathstalker before it could react. Jade shrieked and left herself open for when Reggie came swinging his axe wildly, hitting the pincers and the head several times, Jade staggered and spun around again to get Reggie away from her, suddenly though she got her back legs cut off, she clumsily put herself upright and saw Ashley standing there, taunting her in a way, she tried to pincer her, but Ashley jumped back and then to reach farther the Deathstalker tried to use its stinger, but just as she a shield popped up, Michael had finished off the last of the robots and made a shield positioned just right to deflect the stinger into the ground and get it stuck again.

"Haha!" Reggie laughed as he jumped up and delivered one final overheard cleave to the stinger, cutting it off, and finishing Jade, who went away and started dissipating while screeching and thrashing around.

"You just got Reggied!" Reggie said triumphantly.

"Okay… hah, how much time do we have?" Michale asked.

"Uh…" Reggie and Ashley didn't know, they all looked back at the screen with the timer, it had barely ten seconds left, they panicked, looked around for an exit, there wasn't one near but when the timer reached five seconds it stopped…

They thought that was it, that they were going to die, and suddenly the timer stopped at five seconds.

They couldn't help but laugh together.

"I guess they made it." Michael laughed, just happy to be alive at the moment.

* * *

Robert and Hector ran together side by side, their aura's mixing together to create an electrical fiery aura as they clashed through robots and mutated Grimm alike. They didn't fight together often, but they have trained enough together to know how the other fights, and were able to use that knowledge to their advantage and work together like a near unstoppable duo.

Since Robert had more ranged attacks and Hector was more straightforward with his punches and kicks, they silently agreed on letting Hector be the one to push through as the front line, while Robert lagged behind a few feet while using his semblance like a damaging aura to keep those that lived or were still operational from attacking them from behind. Hector refrained from using his left gauntlet, however, out of the fear that he would use its strength and accidentally cave in the hallway that they were fighting through.

Merlot didn't speak to them anymore, not since his last message. But with the amount of robots and Grimm after them, they knew that he knew that they were coming for him, and was without a doubt preparing for it. The fact that he was no longer communicating with them told the two heroes that they were getting close, and for once Merlot held some fear within himself and for his well being. Good. He should fear for his life, it was more than he deserved after everything that he has done to the people of Mountain Glenn, to the people who worked in this facility, and for those who have not yet suffered under his cruel illusion of 'research'.

"This way!" Hector said after shoulder charing another white-colored robot into the wall. As they fought their way through to Merlot more types of different kinds of robots started to reveal themselves, but with no time to analyze or even make comments on them, the two of them decided to just keep fighting through them, to keep moving forward to their end goal. What Merlot failed in speaking to them he made up for in giving them a timer that ticked down constantly. At zero, the entire place would light up in flames and explosions. By the time that happened, Robert and Hector needed to get to where Merlot was, and thanks to Ashley's map of the place that she sent to them earlier, they were getting close.

They were in the final hallway that turned into the same separate building that Merlot was hiding out in, and this hallway was filled to the brim with androids and Grimm. The time ticked down to under two minutes, and they had no time to waste.

"Together!" Robert yelled out, charging Raios up with his hands pressed together as a large amount of electrical energy built up between them. Hector to his side threw caution to the wind as the numbers on the timer started to glow red as time ticked below a minute and a half. They timed it together so that their attacks were thrown out at the same time, and in an array of horizontal explosions of fire and lightning, the entire hallway was cleared out.

Hector's fears confirmed themselves as the ceiling began to cave downward. Robert cursed and made to dash forward to the other side, while Hector spun his dial on his right gauntlet and punched that arm into the ground. Creating a large pillar of stone that held the center of the ceiling up. Using that time that they made themselves to get through, they made it to the other end of the hallway at full speed. Smacking against the wall in the process. They recovered quickly and checked each other for any injuries, seeing none.

They turned to the end of the hallway that they were now in and finally made eye to eye contact with the man himself, who was behind very thick glass. Once Merlot realized that he has been found, he slammed his hands to a keyboard and began typing away commands.

Sentry turrets sprouted from the walls and ceilings, and with no room to dodge, Hector and Robert crossed their arms and ran forward, blocking bullets with their respective arm guards as they made their way to the turrets themselves. Hector made it to the two on his left, and destroyed them both with one wide punch as Robert slashed his two in half in one motion. Desperately, Merlot tried to summon down a robot to slow them down and made way to a different part of the room.

Robert easily dispatched the robot and Hector wasted no time and sprinted toward what must have been very thick bulletproof glass, and slammed Ivory into it. The glass fractured all over, but didn't break through at impact. It shattered when a delayed explosion went off, giving them both access to the room with just under a minute to spare.

Merlot was seen trying to escape in some kind of small one man aircraft that would have been able to fly out from an opening in the roof of the facility if Robert didn't cut off the wings in time.

"Merlot!" Hector exclaimed as he stomped his way toward the man, Robert stepped aside and let his friend break through the windshield and grab the old scientist by the collar of his lab coat. Ripping him out of his seatbelts and throwing him toward a nearby computer. "Cancel the self-destruct _now_ or else I will use these last thirty seconds to make sure your last moments of life are filled with _**e**_ _x_ _ **c**_ _r_ _ **u**_ _c_ _ **i**_ _a_ _ **t**_ _i_ _ **n**_ _g_ _ **pain**_ " Hector demanded as his eyes turned red with hatred.

Merlot laughed in his face bitterly, and full of spite. "And how do I know you won't just finish me off anyway?"

"Do you really want to die?" Robert asked him, pointing the tip of Raios into the center of his neck. "I know what you are, you're a coward who fears his own death more than anything. If you stop the countdown, then you might yet live. It's better than going through what we're going to do to you if you don't."

The old man swallowed nervously and tried to call their bluff. But after five more seconds past Hector growled and stepped toward him as his hair started to shift to gray. "I-I'll do it!" Merlot exclaimed as he threw himself toward his computer. He started typing away at the machine, and Hector stepped forward to watch him just in case he was doing something other than shutting down the self-destruct countdown. Robert stood in the corner of the room staring at one of the monitors, watching as the countdown entered under ten seconds.

It was at five when the countdown stopped and shut down.

"There," Merlot said as he hunched over his computer. "Death by fire averted, now, are you going to arrest me?" He asked, holding out his hands in a mocking way as if Hector and Robert had handcuffs.

A fist smashed into his cheek instead.

"All those people you killed!" Hector screamed as he picked the man back up and threw him against the wall, then punched him across the face again, breaking his nose, and then his jaw. "All this chaos and death, have you seen what you've done!? _Hundreds_ of skeletons, some of them _children_. And for what? So you can make _slightly_ stronger Grimm?"

Merlot struggled to speak. "It was for-"

"NO EXCUSES!" Hector cut him off with another punch, this one knocking several teeth out of Merlot's mouth. "You almost killed all of us, treated it like some game. Sent Grimm after us, those damn robots, you're a horrible man. Worse than the Grimm..." Hector's eyes glowed red with anger, his mouth wide lined with white teeth that seemed to get sharper. He was close to transforming, Robert could see that. "I'll treat you like a Grimm… and show you the meaning of **pain**."

On the one hand, Robert agreed, he knew Hector was right about that, he had seen it for fuck's sake, maybe it would have been alright to just let Hell kill Merlot… many people died for less after all… it wouldn't be the worst thing, he was dangerous, Ozpin asked him to finish him off, after all, he has killed before, Hector has killed before, this shouldn't be different… he was dangerous and if he escaped or if he was taken prisoner he could get out and start again, letting him breath might be stupid.

"P-please… s-stop…" Merlot begged, his body limp as blood spilled out of his mouth. His mechanical eye was busted, and his robotic arm was torn off and leaking some kind of oil or hydraulic fluid.

" **Shut up**." Hector's dark voice said, or was it Hells?

Robert wanted him dead too, he wouldn't deny it would have been easy, nobody would blame them even… as he thought of it he felt like powering up Raios and doing it himself, and yet something stopped him… it was what he said to himself a long time ago. To his family.

" _Whatever it takes, but I won't be an executioner."_ Those had been his words, the exception was when it would be really stupid, this was one such scenario right? He was dangerous. He said that to himself and noticed he was fighting back, he was beaten.

" _ **Hah! I never knew there was such darkness within you as well!"**_ Hell told Hector, appearing beside him with a dark grin on his face. " _ **You want to make him suffer for all that he did? Go ahead, watching you kill for me is even more satisfying than doing it myself. Make him scream, brother. I know you want too."**_

"Make him suffer…" Hector groaned loudly with a voice that didn't sound like his.

If they brought him he would run away and get back to maybe other people, they always did… no, that was fiction, that wasn't how it worked in reality, no… Robert looked back at Merlot and Hector. He realized one thing, if they killed him now, they would be killing him out of paranoia, the fear that he would escape…, he would be killing out of fear… no no no, not like that… No! He would be killing someone when he didn't need to… more than that they would be killing him without him facing judgment, Merlot could get the death penalty for all he cared, but… he didn't feel it right to be just his choice, or Hector's, or even Hell's. If he would have been fighting back it would be different, but he had pretty much surrendered at this point. He made his choice.

"Don't kill him!" Robert yelled at Hector. "We are taking him in."

Hector stared back at Robert with wide red eyes, the whites of them being nearly grayed out as well. "After all he's done and after everything he did? Why?"

"Because people need to know what he has done. Because he's already beaten. Because he's not fighting back. Because if we kill him now we'll be killing him out of anger and paranoia, and I won't do that, I won't let you be the one to do it too."

Hector listened to his words and looked back to Merlot, bent over his arm after being punched in the stomach. Blood, spit, and stomach acid leaked out of his mouth and he would have fallen over if it weren't for Hector holding him up. Such a pitiful sight.

" _ **What are you doing? Finish him off**_." Hell's voice echoed through his mind. Hector did nothing.

"He might be sentenced to death for all we care, but it's not gonna be just our choice, not like this. If he fights back now, I would kill him myself, damn it I want to kill him now. But I won't kill people that are beaten just like that… I promised myself I won't do it."

He promptly put his hand Hector's wrist. "Don't get me wrong, he fucking deserves it, but not like this. We are supposed to be smarter, wiser, better… at the very least he'll face justice before he dies. I won't let you kill beaten people to just become what you fear the most, like you said earlier, you want me to stop you if you go too far, right? Well, I am doing that now."

"Let the idiot go, and let's arrest him. Hell's opinion doesn't matter here, he's a parasite for all I care, a parasite that tags along with you, so he better get used to you having different ideas."

Hector's eyes flickered colors, and his grip on Merlots collar slowly subsided until the old man fell to the ground painfully.

"W-what am I doing…?" He asked himself quietly as he looked down at the mangled and beaten Merlot. Laying there at his feet bloodied and bruised. "This isn't me… I'm not a monster, these memories aren't mine. I never did those things." He held onto his head as the memory of a destroyed city went through his mind. "That wasn't me…"

" _ **Tch, I should have known that you wouldn't have been able to go through with it."**_

The pain in his mind grew far greater as deeper memories filled his head. Memories of being created, memories of literally being stitched together, of being blasted away, and the pain. The pain was the worst. Hector screamed and fell down to his knees, his aura flaring and flickering back and forth to black.

"Hector!?" Robert went down to his side. "What's wrong!?"

" _ **If you won't cash in on what we agreed upon, then I will."**_

"N-no… that isn't true." Hector groaned. "That isn't me!"

Robert didn't know what he was listening too, but it didn't take long for him to realize what was happening. Hell was making a move, and he was trying to take over Hector's body again. Forcefully.

"Remember what I said, he's a fucking parasite, nothing more than that!" Robert shouted

"You… can't… control me." Hector fought back, defiant toward his other half. He cracked one eye open and stared up at Hell who was looking down at him. Surprisingly, Hell didn't look like he was enjoying this either. "My aura is still up… you won't turn me… I am not you." Hector forced his aura to flare brighter. "I won't make the same mistakes you did, Hell. So stop trying to force your past on me!"

" _ **Don't pretend that you know who I am, what I am!"**_ Hell growled back. " _ **You have no idea what is really out there. You may share his face, but you are not him! You are weak, I saved us! I was the one who has been keeping us alive this entire time, and all I ask in return is a simple death. The death of a man who deserves it, and yet you deny me that as well?! First my freedom, then my power, and now I am succumbed to be forced to live inside you with my memories locked away."**_

" _ **I may not be able to force myself into control now, Hector Rivers, who is not worthy of such a name. But mark my words, Hell will be unleashed, and when it does…"**_

"It won't." Hector snapped back. "I won't let you."

Hell scowled, but controlled himself and maintained an emotionless face. " _ **We'll see about that…"**_

The pain in Hector's mind subsided suddenly and he found himself almost passing out. He kept his cool, however, and came back to his senses. He looked to his right to Robert, who was still considering drawing his weapon.

"Are you still you?" Robert asked shakenly.

Hector nodded his head, his eyes shifted back to brown. "Yes, it's me." He said, making sure to look into his eyes as he did so.

Robert wasn't convinced at first, but once he saw the brown eyes and the whites as it should be, he let out a sigh of relief and helped Hector stand back up. "Thank God, I thought the worst for a second there."

Hector snickered. "Yeah, me too." He frowned as he looked down at the barely conscious Merlot. "So, do you want to carry him?"

"Me?" Robert pointed to himself. "Here I thought you were the one who liked to carry people, literally."

"That," Hector smacked his shoulder lightly. "Was a one-time thing, and I am tired. C'mon, I doubt that there's any robots that are going to attack their creator, and there shouldn't be many Grimm left. Let's make our way back."

"In that case…" Robert crouched down and flipped Merlot over so that he laid on his back. "Merlot, you are hereby under arrest."

* * *

The Bullhead picked them up at the airpad that Ashley directed them to earlier. With Merlot as their other plus one container with straps and with Reggie keeping a close eye on him. Michael and Ashley fell asleep next to each other on the ship, utterly exhausted, with Hector and Robert barely awake themselves. It was a few hours until they got back to Beacon after all, they were going to fall asleep soon enough.

"So, you guys wanna play chess at all?" Reggie said as he unveiled all of the chess pieces that he had on him. Which was a very surprising amount. It seemed that he had more pieces than he cared to show them.

"Chess is too much work, I'll pass," Robert said, clearly referring to something else, like nothing at all.

"I don't want to think right now," Hector said as he leaned further into his seat. "And tell Ozpin to stop trying to call me, I don't want to talk right now."

" _I'll deal with that_." The pilot announced, accepting the call since no one else will. " _You kids did great down there, I would have liked to become a huntsman myself, but flying became my passion. Just sit back and rest for now, I'll handle the rest."_

Just as he said that, they heard a thud on the side of the ship. Robert jumped at that. "What was that?"

" _Uh-"_ The pilot didn't get to finish before a robot hand appeared, hitting Hector in the back of the head, from the little hole that had appeared, they could see a robot head poking in.

"NO!" Hector shrieked. "Reggie, kill it now. Kill it with your fists."

"Already on it!" Reggie exclaimed as he threw his fist out through the hole in the side of the bullhead. "No more robots, I've had enough of smashing metal for one day. It lost its charm after the power supply room."

"Thanks…" Hector groaned with a smile on his face as he finally shut his eyes and relaxed. Sleep came over him within seconds.

* * *

Hours later, Team HAMR and Robert were wakened up by the pilot. They were just landing at Beacon, and Merlot was going to be secured by Ironwood himself. After looking outside the window, Hector was able to see Ozpin, Miss Goodwitch, and even Qrow and Winter were down there as well, waiting for them. No one else however, it seemed like their return wasn't made public just yet.

"Finally awake?" Merlot asked, apparently recovered enough to speak.

A _light_ smack on the forehead fixed that.

No one even made to comment on that as Hector and Robert carried Merlot in between them, each of them having one hand on one of the old man's biceps. When the Bullhead landed and opened up its main hatch, the team stepped off.

"Welcome back," Ozpin said immediately, all smiles and pride in his voice. "I am glad to see you all well and in one piece."

"Thanks, I guess," Michael said with a yawn. "Don't tell me we have to make a report, you were there to hear everything anyway."

Qrow laughed. "Not now, and you can thank me for that. Jimmy here wanted to leach information out of you the second you landed."

"Quiet Qrow," Winter snapped. "We are here to bring Merlot into custody. As a former scientist of Atlas, he will face the crimes he's committed in Atlas."

"Sure, take him, I don't care," Hector said as he and Robert pushed the old man into Ironwoods grip. Much to Winter's scowling.

"Make sure to publicly curse his name. He deserves every bit of infamy he can get, maybe a bit of humiliation too." Robert said.

"You came to the right guy then, Atlas is the best at dragging people's name through the mud," Qrow smirked.

"You have all done something great today," Ironwood began, ignoring Qrow entirely. "Though, I must ask, Ozpin gave you all a direct order to terminate Merlot. Why didn't you follow that order?"

"We made the decision on the spot," Hector said, looking away.

"... Out of principle, he surrendered, we were able to bring him in without much issue once we caught him."

"He might as well face all his crimes, if you really want to kill him do it yourself."

"Understood," Ironwood said. They didn't know if he was offended or not, but he seemed to understand what they meant. Thankfully, not even Winter sought to condemn them for the way they spoke to the general. "Though I am afraid that there is an issue with containment cells on my flagship."

"While you were gone much has been happening in Vale," Ozpin told them. "During that time many people have been arrested, some of them, worryingly enough, are huntsman gone rogue."

"How so...? Wait, let me guess, the crack-downs are still in effect?" Robert asked.

"Indeed," Ozpin confirmed. "Local crime lords have been falling left and right, guess it must have been no surprise to have some Huntsman be… affiliated with them."

"The wonders of state emergencies, eh?" Qrow commented.

"Is Roman still under control?" Robert asked next.

"He is, though he will be transferred to Atlas immediately to make room for this poor excuse of a man," Ironwood said as he handed off Merlot to Winter, who locked Merlot in a grip so that he couldn't getaway.

"Unless you found it more important to get Merlot transferred immediately, he is still dangerous after all," Glynda said.

"I say send the ginger back," Qrow added his thoughts. "Torchwick is part of something much bigger like the kids have said. This guy doesn't look like he'd be useful at all anymore."

"True enough, I can't believe that I am saying this, but I agree with Qrow." Ironwood looked to Ozpin. "We should send Roman back to Atlas immediately so he could serve his life sentence, if he's part of this supposed attack, he is a danger, Merlot isn't affiliated by the looks of it, like we agreed upon I suggest we transfer him immediately."

"As you wish, they are your prisoners after all," Ozpin said, accepting it. "Though, I must push that with this recent discovery that Merlot was the one responsible for the fall of Mountain Glenn that he is tried for his crimes here, then you may do as you wish to him all you like."

"Done." Ironwood and Ozpin shook hands. "Winter, get Merlot prepped for transfer to my flagship. I shall deal with Roman Torchwick's transfer to Atlas myself." He ordered as the two of them began to move away, their conversation with everyone there being done.

"So, are we good to go now?" Reggie asked after a few moments of silence between the other adults and his team.

"You are," Glynda nodded her head. "But Mister Rivers will have to come speak with us. Nothing bad, I assure you."

Hector sighed loudly, already knowing what this is about. "Can it wait until tomorrow at least? We all just got back from a mission. A bad one."

"I can cover for him," Robert spoke up. "I have to go with you either way, and I was there, I can give a full breakdown."

Ozpin and Glynda looked to each other, and after a silent message passed, they both nodded their heads. "Very well, it helps that tomorrow is a weekend as well. Enjoy your rest tonight Team HAMR, you are going to need it. The Vytal Festival Tournament is less than two weeks away after all."

"Awesome, because I am _starving_!" Reggie's stomach growled right as he said that. "Let's go get something to eat to celebrate our first mission success, eh? Rob can come too if he wants."

"Please," Robert nodded his head. "I could go for anything right now."

"To Vale we go then," Hector said, chuckling as the group started to walk away together. Ozpin let them, there wasn't much that could be gained by making them stay behind with him any longer anyway.

Robert lagged behind a bit however, he looked back at Ozpin for a second, he then turned around when the others were far away enough. "If you must know, he managed to control "him", he even stopped him from taking control," Robert said, then he turned around and ran to catch up with the rest of HAMR

"So, that's the kid huh?" Qrow said, leaning closer to Ozpin. "Or kids, anyway. Y'know with the whole dimension jumping crap you've been yammering about."

"That is them," Ozpin confirmed. "Leave them be, they are on our side, for now at least."

"I'm not my sister, I am not going to stalk a bunch of kids." Qrow laughed. "Though I might hedge the other one to share a drink with me, see if I can learn anything about him like I did with the other one."

"Please don't offer my students alcoholic drinks. Especially the ones underage." Glynda said as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

Qrow simply shrugged his shoulders in response.

Ozpin watched them leave until they were too far for his eyes to see them. All of them, strange people he could have sworn he had never heard of before the start of Beacon. Two of them had excuses, but he had spies everywhere, even within the White Fang itself. Maybe he didn't know as much as he thought… he would have to fix that soon enough.

* * *

 **And here marks the end of the Grimm Eclipse arc, finally. Merlot has been capture, Roman is being sent away, more Hell stuff. Fun times all around. I suppose now we are** _ **officially**_ **in Volume 3. About time, 45 chapters and we just made it there. Because you know, master plans and all that.**

 **Could be worse honestly, it actually could have been so much worse lol. -CrowSkull**

 **Please review and let us know what you think of the story!**


	46. Chapter 46

**Here we are again boys and girls, sorry for the lack of an update for this story last week. There were a few personal life issues that I needed to handle at the time and I couldn't get in touch with CrowSkull for a bit, but we are back. So don't worry, this story shall continue!**

* * *

 **Beta & Co-Writer: CrowSkull**

* * *

A Tale of Two Heroes

Chapter 46- A Stirring Calm Vacationing

The headmaster of Beacon paced back and forth from behind his desk. Idly listening in on what his guests were speaking of. Which was the most recent success of the destruction of Merlots research and facilities. Unbeknownst to the ones who actually went in there and proceeded on with their mission, almost the entire event was recorded through captured footage of the hacked cameras within the facility itself. It was… concerning, to say the least, to look at the footage and see everything that happened to his students and overhear what could have happened on top of that. Thankfully, they all made it out with mostly minor wounds and a small case of exhaustion.

But of course, that was only on the bright side of things. The mission may have been a success, but the recording that they were watching at this moment spoke of a much different story. On the widescreen projected onto his window showed a scene of his student, Hector Rivers, evidently giving into temptation in hopes of saving his teammates and friends. Even when he was forbidden on letting this Hell out when the headmaster or someone powerful was not present, he went against strict orders and let himself transform anyway. The white skin and grey-ish hair, along with a pair of red and black eyes reminded the headmaster of a witch woman he has been holding back for centuries.

"He was able to not only beat back the Grimm, but _control_ them," Ironwood said for the third time, making sure his point was steadily slammed into everyone's heads. "I can only name one other being capable of such a feat, and I know you all know what I mean."

"It is pretty worrying, sure, but at least the kid didn't kill his own friends." Qrow pointed out with a shrug.

"He didn't, but he very well could have. You saw the footage as clear as any of us Qrow," Ironwood rounded on the drunken man. "Mister Rivers made some kind of deal with that… _thing_ sharing a body with him. Only to then break it immediately. He may have been able to control it then, but how long until he _isn't_ able to control it." Ironwood looked to Ozpin, seeking permission with purely his gaze. "I propose that he is put under tight security immediately."

"Proposal denied," Ozpin immediately said, putting his foot down. "You may be a general and a headmaster yourself James, but Mister Rivers is _my_ student. I will not have you incarcerating him for a crime he _could_ commit. He may be dangerous, I admit that. But isn't it much more valuable to have such a boy with powers like that on _our_ side."

"I'm inclined to agree with him," Glynda spoke up. "Mister Rivers has ever been a trainee of mine alongside my apprentice. Even before his first transformation, he has never been someone I would think could have even come close to killing a person. On top of that, you know the story as well as we do," She said, throwing Ironwoods earlier words right back into his face. "Hector was captured, chained to a chair, starved, and tortured for days. When a person is forced into such a position, wouldn't you agree that even the most strong-willed people would have eventually snapped?"

Ironwood hummed quietly to himself and nodded his head reluctantly. Though Ozpin was able to tell that despite that irrefutable fact, the man was not about to give up on his own ideas just yet. Thankfully, the council has seen fit to not give the General full control of Vale's security during the Vytal Festival. They have shared control, and in his concern, he has called back almost all of the huntsman and huntresses under his command. There are more hunters in Vale than there has ever been in the past decade, in preparation for Robert's warning of a potential terrorist attack, this was one of the many precautions he was undertaking.

"Even then," Ironwood looked back up toward the headmaster. "Let's say that Mister Rivers here keeps control over the creature. And manages to do so indefinitely. There is still another matter that we must consider. This… Earth, that he is apparently from, he isn't the only one that has been transported here, correct?"

"Correct." Ozpin nodded his head, automatically thinking of Robert Urra and Aaron Hayes.

"Just as we suspect that this Aaron Hayes is also from such a-"

"Just say dimension Jimmy." Qrow interrupted. "Enough with the Atlas formal speech crap, I have a hard time understanding that woman enough as it is."

"It is not our fault that you grew up in the woods, Qrow." Winter snapped sharply. Earning an impressed chuckle out of the red-eyed man.

"That's the closest you've come to damaging me all week," Qrow remarked, referring to their earlier scuffle earlier in the week while the Merlot operation was undergoing. "Nice one."

"For the sake of keeping things simple, I will humor your request Qrow," Ironwood maturely replied.

"General-"

"Enough, Specialist." Ironwood held out a hand toward the Specialist, beckoning her to calm down and remain silent. Winter held her tongue and nodded her head, then glared dagged toward Qrow, who stuck his tongue out toward Winter as a way to rub his petty victory in. Glynda let out an irritated groan as Ironwood continued. "We know Aaron Hayes is not from this world, we have been dealing with him for years past, and he has ever been a constant threat. Recently, two more have appeared, also not from this world. Next was Hector Rivers, whom we've already discussed, and the other is one such Robert Urra. That's three people from this 'Earth' that has been mysteriously transported to this world, and two of them have shown dark powers similar to Salem herself. My ultimate concern is this; We know of Aaron's dark powers, Ozpin himself has had a life where he had to personally go against it. He is an extremely dangerous man capable of potentially defeating a maiden on his own. Hector Rivers also has similar powers, but in a different form in the name of his 'Kaioken' ability among others we have witnessed. But that leaves one more person, Robert Urra."

"If Aaron's ability is to instill fear and manipulate one's emotions and inner feelings, and Hector's ability is the control of Grimm and super-enhanced strength and speed at the cost of sanity, then what of Urra? What price will he pay? Will he be even more dangerous than the other two combined? Weaker? We won't know until he snaps as well, and unlike Rivers, he has already taken lives without any visible signs of remorse."

"I would like to argue on his behalf," Glynda said suddenly, yanking attention from Ironwood and onto herself. Her green eyes were flaring from behind her glasses as she looked to Ironwood. "Though I admit this may be biased on my part, there are facts about Mister Urra that I feel I should expressly point out. He may not be the most… open of people, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't care about what he does. He is a young man with certain skills who has been dragged into this world, we can't even begin to imagine what that must feel like. Yes, I admit that there is a possibility that he could have a similar power to the other two, but I refuse to believe that he would use that power to cause harm to others."

"How do you know that?" Ironwood asked.

"I don't," Glynda admitted. "None of will know until it happens, and if I may be frank, it _will_ happen. Everyone from Earth so far has displayed supernatural powers, and I myself can say that ever since he has appeared, Robert's powers have been growing, more than any normal semblance. He could snap, he has reasons to, but, we must also take into consideration _how_ these powers are unlocked by these people."

"We don't know how Aaron received his, but it is suspected that Salem has had a hand in that. Hector unlocked his latent power by being forced into a torturous situation for days on end. Robert has been forced into similar situations where he watched allies and friends die and get torn apart by Grimm, he has been brought down to near death a number of times, and must have undergone an incredible amount of pain as well. Yet still, we have not seen any signs of him unlocking his own powers, if he has any at all."

"What are you suggesting?" Winter asked, very interested in Glynda's next words.

"There are two events that could potentially occur; the first is that he doesn't have any powers like the other two do other than his semblance, which is unlikely in my opinion. The second is that these powers may not be unlocked by the negative emotions such as anger, rage, hatred, and suffering. Not for him, anyway. Every person is different in their own way after all." Glynda stood up straighter, proud with herself. "I believe that my apprentice will not be a threat to us unless we force him into a position where he must make that decision."

"An engaging choice of words, Glynda." Ozpin complimented his deputy, who nodded back to him with thanks. "In truth, I have been able to sense some of these things within these two men specifically as well. I also find myself agreeing with Glynda's words when I think of what I've found."

"And that is?" Qrow pried.

"Within Mister Rivers, I sense a great deal of darkness, but within that darkness is a spark of light that shines bright, and unending." Ozpin stopped pacing and looked out his windows to see over the city of Vale. "Within Mister Urra however, I sense the opposite. There is a great deal of light, but within that light is a void of dark. Vast, and bottomless. The two of them mirror each other almost perfectly, and they remind me of two people from long, _long_ ago." He turned around to face his guests.

"I do not believe that either of them will be threats to the security of this world. I am willing to stake my life on it. They are dangerous, and could potentially lead to becoming problems in time, but in this time, they are our allies. James, I hope you are able to see our reasoning."

"I am," Ironwood nodded his head, then sighed. "I can see why you would be biased toward these two young men, and it pains me to say that I will be keeping eyes on them." Ozpin, Glynda, and even Qrow held unamused stares toward the man, who took them on steadfastly. "I cannot in goodwill consider these two as allies until I see it for myself. They may be on our side for now, but I will prepare for the case they become our enemies. Salem has enough allies as it is, and so far Robert and Hector are just barely reaching the tip of their strength. The older they get, the stronger they will become. Such is the law of growth."

"Then I will give you a formal warning," Ozpin said sternly. "Harm either of these two unprovoked, and our alliance will come to a crashing halt."

"Understood," Ironwood nodded his head, easily accepting Ozpin's form of subtle punishment for his rebellion. "Now if you could excuse me, I have the security of Vale to overwatch."

"As do I," Ozpin said before the man could turn around to leave his office. "Do make sure you come to me before you make any great decisions."

"And you the same, Winter. Let's go." Ironwood called.

"Yes sir," Winter said as she started walking with the general, glaring at Qrow as she walked by. The older man winked back at her and she felt a sick feeling in her stomach as she forced herself to look away. The two Atlesian soldiers descended down the elevator seconds later.

"Well, that was a thing," Qrow said right as the elevator doors closed. "Want me to keep an eye on them?"

"Not required," Ozpin replied. "James may be reckless, but he has the best of Remnant in his mind at all times. But do make sure that Mister Rivers and Mister Urra don't find themselves under watch. I'd rather not have their personal lives invaded…" Ozpin winced as he remembered something.

"Yeah?" Qrow asked, a twitching eyebrow on his face. "Something you wanna tell me Oz? Something I should keep an eye on? You know what, I thank you for warning me in advance," Qrow stood up and opened a nearby window. "I'll make sure to repay you later." He said as he jumped out, and turned into a bird. Flying away with loud hawks.

"That man…" Glynda groaned. "What shall we do now, Ozpin?"

"Make sure that Mister Torchwick is firmly prepared for his trip to Atlas," Ozpin said, doing his best to ignore the indignant hawking outside his window. "As for Merlot… question him before he goes on trial. He may have things that we need to know before the festival begins."

"Understood, sir."

Ozpin nodded his head as Glynda prepared to leave herself. He watched over Vale like the protective man that he was. He helped build this city long ago, he was it's king some time ago as well. He would die a hundred times over before he let it fall to the likes of Salem and her forces.

* * *

A day past after Team HAMRR — the second R being Robert, making the team name drag out the 'er' sound about a second longer just for the sake of it — returned from their mission to hunt down Merlot and destroy his facility. Naturally, their friends were less than impressed that they all went down to Vale for something to eat instead of going to the first to reunite. For a time, HAMRR was able to avoid that accursed subject, but not for long. Never for long when Nora of all people were hunting you down.

"How could you!" She fake cried into Ashley's shoulder as the faunus awkwardly patted her ginger hair. "I thought we were friends Ashy poo, why didn't you come say hi to me?"

"I was tired," Ashley weakly replied. "And hungry, I'm sorry Nora."

"No excuses!" Nora maneuvered herself so she sat in the faunus girls' lap. "Give me a back rub as an apology."

"B-but I want to train with my semblance-"

"BACK RUB!"

Ashley sighed in surrender and resigned herself to place her hands on Nora's back and do her best in rubbing the other girl's shoulders. Nearby, Reggie was taking a picture alongside Ren who was barely concealing his amused smirk, and also taking a picture. She received no help from her other two teammates, Michael was talking to Pyrrha about some things, and Hector was on the other side of the room hiding from them all with Robert (who was slowly trying to sneak away) ever since Team RWBY walked in a few seconds ago. Strange, she thought, but considering everything else they have done it wasn't even the weirdest thing she's seen.

"Mikey!" Ruby exclaimed as she jumped onto the blondes back, nearly knocking him over and into the other seat as he tried to keep himself upright. "How was it? Did ya miss me? Huh? Do the voice thing!"

Michael sighed. "You really need to learn how to restrain yourself." He said in a different more girly voice. Ruby giggled and helped the boy stand up. Yang watched with her own set of giggles. She might have been worried that Ruby had a crush on Michael if the boy wasn't confirmed to be more interested in men.

"Where are the other two?" Blake asked with a raised eyebrow as she looked around the scene before her. Jaune began to futilely try and take Nora off of Ashley's lap, Pyrrha was giggling at the sound of Michael speaking in other voices, Reggie and Ren were still taking pictures, and the only other normally sane one, being Weiss, was also searching for the other two boys. Well, at least one of them, anyway.

"Oh, they're hiding over there somewhere," Michael said, immediately throwing the two of them under the bus as he pointed a thumb toward Hector and Robert, who both yelped and dove behind a desk for cover once eleven pairs of eyes turned to look at them.

"Why?" Blake asked, curious.

Michael held up three fingers, then pointed to Yang, Ashley, and then Weiss in that order. It took a moment for Blake to recognize what he meant, but once she did she chuckled and nodded her head in sudden understanding. It was funny to hear how two people as strong as they were terrified of the thought of girls and feelings.

Unfortunately, Hector and Robert would not be able to hide any longer.

"You distract them so I can escape," Hector whispered to Robert desperately.

"Don't throw me under the same bus, it might seem like we are together in this, but we are not, we are doing entirely different things, you sort yourself out, I need to remain professional."

"What do you mean!?" Hector whisper screamed. "You only have one girl with a cute crush on you! I have two girls, one being Ashley, and the other Yang, who are both quite interested mind you!"

"And that girl is a student that is not- well actually maybe she might be eighteen years old already but- it's still… unprofessional."

"Still double your issues." Hector groaned, and slowly looked over the desk, and directly into a pair of silver eyes. He nodded his head in understanding and looked back to Robert. "We have an issue."

"Okay, seems you did the distraction, I'll get out of here quietly-"

"Hey!" Ruby exclaimed as she allowed herself to collapse over the desk, crashing into both of them and effectively knocking them out of their cover and into the open arena. The professor, who was currently preparing an announcement looked at the situation, hummed, then looked away. Offering them no assistance. Something like this was normal nowadays.

"Hi, Rose," Robert said defeatedly as he pushed himself back up.

"You!" Yang and Weiss exclaimed, pointing at them from across the room. One with a wide grin and the other with narrowed eyes.

"Oh gosh," Hector allowed himself to sulk under their gaze. "It's happening again."

"... Hi?" Robert said, what did he do? Why was she angry?

"Why didn't you say hi to us earlier?" Yang asked as their entire group started moving toward them, the entire time, Ashley was forced to carry Nora in front of her like she was some kind of pet. Hector and Robert waved back with nervous smiles on their faces as their friends came down to meet with them.

"It wasn't anything personal," Hector answered, knowing the question was mostly directed toward him. "Just… um… What was it again, Rob?"

"Food, we needed food."

"Mhm," Hector nodded his head in agreement.

"Food," Weiss echoed, completely unimpressed.

"It's the truth, we were exhausted, we all went to IPOP to eat dinner and later well, we just wanted to sleep," Robert said, trying his best to be professional about the whole ordeal… it just talking after all.

"I suppose that is understandable." Weiss accepted, then started to play with her hair for a moment. Robert wondered if it was his turn to speak, and was about to, if it wasn't for one of the other eleven people getting there before him.

"How was the mission," Yang asked as she stepped closer to Hector, much more… _aggressive_ than Weiss as Robert observed as she leaned forward and grabbed one of his hands. His friend smiled goofily and didn't pull away, even when Ashley glared at the scene from over Nora's shoulder.

"You know, nothing we couldn't handle," Hector said bashfully as he did his best to stem the blood within his body from rushing to his face. "Reggie found enough chess pieces to play a whole game."

"I did!" Reggie exclaimed as he dove to his rescue and almost shoving his scroll into Yang's face. "It was great, really. I don't even play chess, but I think maybe fate is trying to tell me I am meant to become a chess master."

"I don't think that is entirely accurate." Michael budded in. "These looked like old relics, as far as we know they could have-"

"Bah!" Reggie stopped his boyfriend from continuing. "Enough of that negativity you foul creature."

"How was Ebony and Ivory?" Ruby asked next, popping up beside her sister as their hands slipped apart from each other during the group conversation. She picked up one of Hector's arms and eyed it up and down and right and left, checking it for any damage. "Did it work?"

"We might have outdone ourselves," Robert said with a wide smile on his face.

"Perfectly," Hector answered for himself, remembering the amount of damage he and Hell were able to cause with it. Ebony and Ivory were really more than worthy of being wielded by him.

"Hehe…" Ruby traced a finger over Ebony. "Please, don't hesitate to ask for any improvements. I would be…" She licked her lips at the thought. "To ask for my assistance…"

"Oookay," Hector pulled his arm back. "I don't know what you're fantasizing about but you can do all you want to it when it's _not_ attached to my arm."

Ruby backed away with a whine and returned to normal a moment later. The reunions weren't done there. Nora hopped out of Ashley's arms and went on to say very similar things to Hector next, who bore it with the patience of someone better than being patient than him. Pyrrha came and was actually normal with her greetings, giving them each a short hug and a welcome back, similar to Ren and Blake who did the same. After that the only one who was left was Jaune, and after clapping Hector on the shoulder and doing some strange handshake that involved wild gestures, he went on to Robert.

"Sooo," He dragged on the word, expecting Robert to know what he means.

"Sooooo?" Robert echoed, not catching what Jaune meant in the slightest.

"You know," Jaune tried, shooting finger guns at the slightly older man.

"...Uh-huh."

"Attention everybody," Glynda started, interrupting Jaune before he could continue with his hints and gestures. "There's an announcement that needs your immediate attention." The professor went on, she was in the middle of the Hall on a podium. "As you all know the Vytal Festival is drawing near, and I do expect all of the teams participating in the tournament and do their best, most of you have also mission experience now, so I hope that it was insightful. That being said for those that want to prepare further for the tournament." She paused and looked around until she spotted Robert. "There you are, Mister Urra, come on stage."

"What?" Robert looked confused

"On stage!" She said again, louder and more firmly this time.

"Oh no," Robert said looking down, he rushed over to the podium greeting Glynda.

"So what's the situation?" Robert asked her, in response, Glynda handed him a piece of paper. "Umm uh…" He then looked as Glynda moved over and made space for him on the podium. Robert eyes widened.

"Uh…" he quickly read the piece of paper, seeing what it was, after a quick rundown he put his own words on his head and spoke.

"Okay, since the festival is in less than two weeks, this time we want everybody to rest and to come with full energy for the tournament, that being said the arenas and training rooms will be open for anybody that wishes to use them, private spars can also be held as long no serious injuries occur or anything that prevents anyone from participating… I do hope that's common sense for all of you." Robert emphasized. "And also there's going to be a special course for people interested… it doesn't specify, but it appears to be a sort private class." Robert looked at the paper again. "And this thing is really vague about it, so I cannot I know what it is-"

"A special set of sparring sessions will be available to anyone interested, be it alone or with a partner, or with a team, again the resident assistant, Robert Urra," Glynda said out loud for everyone to hear.

"Excuse me but when was this decided?" Robert asked.

"Ozpin and I thought this would be a good test for you," Glynda whispered to him.

"Test? A test about wha-"

"Should you be interested in facing him, to get a better grasp on combat he will be available, he will be willing to teach in any area you are lacking or to teach additional applications for each of your semblances."

"I will?!" Robert asked bemused.

"Please come forth or raise your hand if you wish to participate." She said.

"You know they are not many people who will take that offer right?" Robert asked her, this time Glynda elbowed him in the ribs to make him shut up.

Jaune was the first one to raise his hand, and then to his immense surprise, Cardin from Team CRDL as well. After that, the entire team rose their hand. One by one, Robert watched as a few dozen students in the crowd all raised their hands. Then as a joke, Hector raised his hand as well, followed by the rest of their friends. Robert's eye twitched as he watched all of his free time die in front of him.

He then sighed and used his scroll to use a holoprojector, and there it flashed his scroll number.

"Please don't call me in the middle of the night, and please set an hour for this sparring matches, now if you'll excuse me… I need to go and enjoy what I have left of free time, oh and also that, I won't be available after eight pm, that's no response time." Robert finished walking away from the podium.

* * *

Aaron Hayes fumbled with his keys as he walked up to an ordinary-looking home addressed to an 'Eren Viridescent', he whistled an ordinary tone and even waved hello to a neighbor. Acting just as the everyday man would. When he found the correct key, he quickly unlocked the door and shut it behind him gently. On the inside of his home spoke a much different tone as he looked around to see the collection of Mercury, Emerald, a disgruntled Neo, and of course his favorite, Cinder Fall. Around them was a set of gadgets, radios, and signal blockers and boosters to prevent the outside from detecting their signals while bolstering their own so they could make contact with their allies from all the way across the city.

"Neo," He greeted the mute politely, who perked up at his voice. "I am surprised to still see you here, I thought you would have been gone by now."

"I've been keeping an eye on her," Cinder spoke up. "She will not be leaving anytime soon."

"It just surprised me she hasn't tried anything," Aaron amended. "I presume that you all have heard the news?"

"We have," Emerald answered for them. "General Ironwood got custody of Torchwick and announced that he is being transported to Atlas by one of his largest airships. Our plan to have him activate the virus is going to be difficult now."

"Difficult how?" Mercury asked. "Someone's just gotta stick a scroll in there somewhere, and bam, the virus is activated. I don't think we needed him at all."

"We didn't," Aaron said, silencing them all with his deep booming voice. "But his presence made things much easier for us. Now I will have to find someone else to do it, perhaps you would like to infiltrate Ironwood's flagship and fight through hundred of Atlesian specialists on androids by yourself?"

Mercury shrunk down, not enjoying the image that was just set in his mind as a haze of green mist flew over his body.

"No? Then zip it, kin-slayer." Mercury looked like he wanted to curse at him for that, but literally bit his tongue to stop himself when he saw Aaron's green-eyed glare. "Now, back to the topic at hand." He stepped forward to Neo and dropped down to one knee to match her level. Neo was sitting down, and even on one knee he still towered over her by a foot or so. "You could have left here with your semblance the moment the news went out, Cinder would have to look slightly away at some point, you could have taken that chance, so why are you still here?"

Neo just looked at him with narrowed eyes.

"Ah, you do have a brain between your ears I see," Aaron said with a knowing smirk. "You know you wouldn't get far, I have my agents set up throughout the entire city, and your semblance is not so powerful as to be able to transport yourself across continents, at least not yet. Well, it seems we should come to some sort of deal."

Neo tilted her head, as if to ask him what he meant by that.

"Roman is gone, and you were but the brawn to his brains. We don't need you by any means, like him you just made things easier. In truth, I wouldn't mind if you left at all." Neo had the guts to look hopeful with her eyes. "But not just yet," Aaron continued, slamming down on that hopefulness immediately. "I can't let you become a loose end, not unless we get something out of it. So the deal I propose is that you help me one more time, and you'll be free to go and save you little damsel in distress, what do you think?"

Neo crossed her arms.

"I assure you, I wouldn't be so crass as to deny you me keeping my end of the deal. After all, you fought with me on the train, I feel I owe you a certain debt since you were able to get me and these two idiots out of there with our lives." He held up one finger, and Neo's posture became a fraction more relaxed. "One more thing. One more task. That is all I ask of you, then you shall be free. I give you my word."

Neo kept her eyes firmly locked onto Aarons. This time they were white instead of the pink and brown that they usually were. After a few moments of trying to tell if Aaron was lying or not, Neo finally succumbed and sighed silently, nodding her head in agreement to Aaron's proposed deal. The man smiled widely as he watched her extend a small hand toward him for them to solidify this deal. He wrapped his much bigger hand around hers and shook it.

"We already know a lot about our dear friend Hector Rivers, but we need more solid info on one person, Robert Urra, he is not from around here and he has no records, no clear weaknesses beyond what we already have seen. If I'm not mistaken you and him are more or less equal, I say that with your talents, you are ideal to spy on him and gather anything that might be important, I simply ask you spy on him, if you find something important good notify me. But above all, what I want you to do is to make sure this reaches his person." Aaron offering her a scroll. Neo eyed the scroll warily and slowly took it, looking it over again and inspecting it for any abnormalities. When she was sure that it wasn't going to explode in her pocket, she stashed it away.

"Get that to him, and you can call yourself free," Aaron said one more time. "Good luck, Neo, I look forward to eventually crossing paths with you again."

Neo looked to him, and then away toward Emerald, Mercury, and Cinder. The former two received nothing but a look, but the last one, just for old times sake. The middle finger was stuck up in her direction. Cinder scowled at her as she broke away into pieces of glass, leaving the room in practical silence.

"Charming young woman," Aaron chuckled.

"I thought you gave me the task to contact Urra." Cinder said.

"You still have that task, she's just the messenger," Aaron assured her. "After that finding more is all up to you, I do hope you are able." He added in a warning tone.

"I am," Cinder assured him. "I always was."

"Then prove it," Aaron simply said as he stood up and towered over his three main allies for this operation in Vale. "There is a reason our Queen sent me here, so forgive me if I require evidence as to your ability. As for you two," He looked to Emerald and Mercury. "Since Cinder's plan is all but moot at this point, you two will be working with me for the time being. Your tasks are simple, keep in contact with the Huntsman under my command, and inform them of all alterations and make sure they are prepared for anything. Other than that, your earlier mornings and late nights you can choose to do whatever you want with. I don't really care."

"Got it," Mercury nodded his head, content with working for the man. Cinder didn't even bother to argue on their behalf, that went to show just how important they were to her. Emerald looked like she was about to cry, the silly loyal girl that she was. She would let herself be taken by this man anyway, there was no saying no to Aaron Hayes.

"And me?" Cinder asked. "Is there anything else you want me to do?"

Aaron shrugged. "Besides keeping the animals in check, you have little else to worry about. Just remember your role for when the time comes, you must gain the second half of the maiden's powers at all costs."

"Of course," Cinder put on a wicked smile. "I'll end whoever gets in my way."

"Good," Aaron smirked and went on to the kitchen on the other side of the room, opened some of the cabinets, and began to make some food. "Everything is coming together," He said absentmindedly as he shrugged off his trench coat and tossed it on a nearby chair, revealing his undershirt and rippling muscles. "Make sure you all do your role well, we wouldn't want to have any troubles last minute."

"What are you going to be doing?" Mercury asked, Emerald cursed at him to shut up and Cinder glared at him. Aaron stopped what he was doing for a moment to look at the silver-haired teen.

"Don't berate him for being curious," Aaron said as he looked back down to what he was doing. "If you must know, I am going to be going around and… recruiting. Besides that, I am afraid that I won't tell you what else I'll be doing. I'll hope you understand that."

He whistled a tune as he chopped away at some vegetables, his allies all looked at him like he was a different person as he continued to make a meal. But after a few minutes, they all went back to doing their assigned tasks.

The Vytal Festival was right around the corner, and they still had much to do so they could… _participate_ in it.

* * *

 **Wow, almost exactly 6000 words there. That's a new record, we actually managed to stick with a goal.**

 **Yay- CrowSkull.**

 **Please review and let us know what you think of the story.**

 **T w itter . com (slash) genatools**

 **P a treon . com (slash) Genatools**


	47. A Tale of Two Heroes chapter 47

**We have returned! Sorry it took so…** _ **so**_ **long for us to finally update this story. Things happened, I had to fight off an army. You know, the usual stuff. Oh, and school has been a thing in both of our lives as well, so that took up a lot of our time too.**

 **And well personally I've been sick and… well I'm Chilean and if you have seen the news you can guess what's been happening. -CrowSkull**

 **Yeah, that's a thing too. I'm American so I don't really have** _ **that**_ **many problems with riots. But hey, I got a cat, so that's news for you guys.**

 **And yeah don't worry about me, things are not great, but not as bad as they show on the news, well… at least not in my neighborhood. -CrowSkull**

 **Also, one last thing. Sometimes in reviews, I expect some harsh criticism here and there, it's a thing, this is fan fiction . net, it happens. You are entitled to your own opinions and I will not insult you by asking you to change them. But when people message me privately trying to convince me to get rid of a certain character-plot point of this story,** _ **multiple times**_ **, is where I have to step in and let you guys know something. Every character in this story, all of HAMR, Robert, Aaron, etc, that are OC's, are not leaving the story anytime soon. That's final. So you people know who you are, you can say whatever you want in the reviews, I can't control that, but please stop trying to convince me to retcon and rewrite major parts of this story. Thank you.**

* * *

 **Beta & Co-Writer: CrowSkull**

* * *

A Tale of Two Heroes

Chapter 47- A Chaotic Vacationing

A day and a half had gone pretty quickly and in that time Robert assumed his role as a late-term emergency instructor, Glynda hadn't given him any clues as to why this was happening, she just kept answering that she wanted to test him. For what he didn't really know, the consolation prize was that now, interestingly, with less free time he was spending less time fighting on sparring matches against Glynda herself, for once he had time to recover and not push himself constantly.

He didn't know what to think of it, on the one hand, he couldn't afford it with the Vytal festival coming so soon, but on the other… he did feel more at his one hundred percent now that he had a bit of time to rest, well maybe not rest but at least recover properly from each fight. Part of him wondered if this was why she did it, or if maybe he had an issue… no, he knew he had an issue, and the problem was that he wouldn't be able to sleep at night doing nothing, he didn't feel ready for what was coming… but with this.

"Come on, high! Low! High! Low!" Robert shouted at Jaune as he blocked the attacks from Crocea Mors.

With this he felt he was helping someone be slightly more ready, that eased his mind a bit. Jaune panted as he continued to attack as Robert defended himself from each strike, sometimes he would just back peddle, Robert had him going for half an hour now with instructions to attack from as many angles as possible, non-stop, he instructed him in said angles and left Jaune to do his best.

"Hyah!" Jaune cried with his shield in front, pushing against Raios as he did an overhead swing… a bit too committed of a one, Robert didn't block, he sidestepped and let Jaune left himself exposed, he stumbled forward and Robert side kicked him on the back, sending him flat on his stomach.

"What did I say Jaune?" Robert asked.

"You said… hah… you uh." Jaune tried between pants as he got himself up.

"Footwork is everything, firmly on the ground, and always be aware of the opponent, don't commit too hard. The idea is that you do not expose yourself either… at least not unintentionally." Robert said.

"Yeah… I got that." Jaune said taking a deep breath, Robert got close and created a spark near Jaune's face, Jaune instinctively jump and got himself on guard again, looking scared. Robert for his part took a second to look at Jaune's guard.

"We are not done yet, still good that now you put yourself on guard quickly," Robert commented.

"Yeah, Pyrrha has helped with that," Jaune said as he relaxed.

"Guard!" Robert said loudly, telling Jaune immediately that he wasn't allowed to relax. He maintained his guard up this time. "Well good on her, but you should separate your feet a bit, not too much, however." He instructed, putting himself beside Jaune, and placing his feet in the position that he expected out of him. Jaune emulated.

"Good, now let's go at it again… now remember your sword is your main weapon, but the shield is also a weapon, use it." Robert said, Jaune looked like he wanted to comment on something, but a look from Robert stopped him. And so they started again, this time Jaune kept a slightly better pace. Swinging twice or thrice and then trying to ram Robert with his shield to make up the distance in order to start the cycle again.

Jaune struck low and Robert blocked, he trusted forward and Robert bent his back slightly back while backpedaling to completely avoid it, Jaune swung his sword in an arc and Robert deflected the attack, he then tried to hit him with the shield, Robert sidestepped and sidekicked at Jaune again, Jaune was paying attention this time and he blocked the kick with his shield, he still got pushed back though.

Jaune rushed in again, slashing high and low, Robert dodged and blocked each strike and made some pseudo counters to keep Jaune on his toes, keeping things at medium distance. Jaune trusted forward and slashed low as Robert sidestepped, Robert was forced to block the low attack and Jaune saw it as a chance to go in with the shield, but Robert bounced his blade of Jaune's own, using the momentum to deflect the shield in time, Jaune surprised tried to slashed forward again, at a much shorter range, but Robert used his left blade to hold Jaune's sword in place and his right arm to hold the shield, Jaune tried pushing, but Robert wasn't budging, he was a slim guy and he was a bit shorter than Jaune, but he knew how to compensate for it.

"Now what?" Robert asked Jaune, clearly as a small test.

"Uh…" Robert gave Jaune a second, and Jaune did came up with an idea, he figured that if he turned the shield back into a sheath Robert might lose it's held on it and the balance overall would change, he did so and Robert quickly grabbed the scabbard to not lose it, but Jaune got a bit of extra leverage… a bit. Robert reacted quickly and pulled back his back and did a stretch out sidekick that completely unbalanced Jaune's position, from there he grabbed the arm with the sword and Judo threw Jaune to the ground.

"So, what did you learn from that one?" Robert asked.

"Uhh, to never wrestle with you?" Jaune answered, Robert offered him a hand to help him back up.

"Well… that's an option, but I was hoping for 'use your legs', they are meant for kicks." Robert said pulling Jaune back up.

"Yeah, I'm gonna have to remember that…" Jaune hunched over to catch his breath. "How do you know all of this stuff? Like you know so many moves, and you fight many other people that do so much different stuff, you know how to use your semblance, and earlier you were fighting two people from team MLBR at the same time. And they didn't use the swords they used- " He started.

"I've told you Jaune. Years of practice… and years of being on the receiving end of a lot of failure." Robert interrupted.

"Yeah but… still how?" Jaune asked.

"You are awfully talkative about this. I didn't see you asking these things to Goodwitch. Or any other people." Robert said.

"Professor Goodwitch, she uh, scares the crap out of me and… I honestly don't feel like asking a lot of other people helps me too much, I mean I could ask Pyrrha or Yang but-"

"Yang would tell you she just trains or it's how it works for her and isn't Pyrrha a bit too easy on you?" Robert finished for him.

"Y-Yeah, I mean, Yang doesn't use a sword and shield and Pyrrha has helped me a lot, but… when I ask her she tends to, I'll be honest, blunder a bit. She knows what she's doing but it's like she doesn't know how to explain some things… and yeah she goes slowly, she doesn't do things like this. Like make it go really fast and just force me to learn… but you do, and you are not like Miss Goodwitch." Jaune explained.

"Uh-huh." Robert took in the words.

"I feel you actually answer my questions, show me new techniques and well… I feel like you actually teach me." Jaune said, he immediately raised his hands defensively. "I mean Pyrrha does too is just you do it faster… different, I mean uh…" Jaune blundered.

"I experiment." Robert shrugged dismissively.

"Yeah, that. Is that how you know so much stuff?" Jaune asked.

"Well in a way, but I also was pretty lucky," Robert answered.

"Huh?" Jaune looked with curiosity.

"I went to different places because I had different interests, lucky for me, there, I met some people and teachers that also liked multiple ways of fighting, I became kinda friends them, they taught me a couple things, and then… I would start to get ballsy enough to try stuff on my own, even when nobody teach me."

"Like what?"

"Like how to properly dropkick for example," Robert said showing a little demonstration, he landed on his side and used his hand to pretty fluidly save the impact of the fall.

"Huh."

"Yeah… I was lucky enough to train with people that liked to get creative, and encouraged me to do more than just the forms, or to keep getting up after being defeated, the forms are important and you are gonna still be doing them!" Robert making sure that Jaune remembered the fundamentals. "But they helped me try and do my own stuff, after that doing different things becomes… natural, some things you just start doing automatically, others you just adapt and others you must be willing to learn from zero again, and now… well, I'm trying to teach the same thing to you." Robert said tapping Jaune on the shoulder to show his support.

"Wow I uh, thanks I-"

"Don't sweat it, anyways, you wanted an answer well, you have to try different things, see what suits you best, there's still gonna be a lot of failure involved, for some more for some less, but the important thing is that you don't give in, you have to keep going."

"I know, I know, you are not the only one that says that to me." Jaune groaned.

"Are you saying it to yourself?" Robert asked.

"Uh… I guess." Jaune answered.

"That's good enough," Robert said, just as he said so, an alarm went off on his scroll, he looked at it and saw that he needed to start getting ready for his other appointment.

"Okay, we are gonna have to cut this short. I have other things to do today." Robert said pocketing his scroll.

"Really like what?" Jaune asked.

"I have a date." Robert sighed.

"You… don't sound excited." Jaune said looking at him.

"Well, I'll give you a clue on a thing I actually don't know how to do," Robert said, it did take Jaune a couple of seconds to properly catch on.

"Oh…"

"Really?" Another voice came from next to them, it was Pyrrha Nikos herself.

"Pyr?" Jaune seemed surprised.

"I got the feeling I saw someone around, you have been watching for a bit?" Robert asked her.

"Oh, sorry. I was I…" Pyrrha began.

"It's fine I was just curious for how long," Robert said preemptively.

"Oh, not too long, I did saw how exactly you two were training and I gotta say, it definitely was interesting, not what I expected," Pyrrha said, she looked happy, relieved.

"You were worried I was gonna toss him around the ring like a sack of potatoes weren't you?" Robert asked with a small grin.

"You still did," Jaune complained of to the side.

"Umm… well I was worried, it's what I have seen you do, and there are reasons people call you ruthless, and you were doing that earlier with others if I'm not mistaken." Pyrrha said poking her fingers.

"I'm a believer of different lessons, different methods, to be fair some people that came here want me to fight seriously, hell that's also what I ask of Glynda when I spar with her," Robert said. "Like in Glynda's class I try to give some pointers, but is there, there's a limit of time and she makes the rules. Here without some of those normal spar rules, I try to teach a bit differently."

"You try to teach people how to beat you or counter you. Or to work together like you told the partners from MLBR." Pyrrha said.

"So you been here for a long time after all," Robert said.

"I-I I'm sorry, but honestly that's good, that you are teaching in different ways, according to whatever is that people need, it's pretty… nice and effective." She said.

"I try to do my best. You also seem to have instructed him well." Robert complimented.

"Uh… I'm here." Jaune said.

"Oh, well like you said, I try to do my best, hehe." Pyrrha laughed. "But it makes sense now, I was able to hear what you said about learning from a lot of people, at first I thought you were really talented, or that you used your semblance a lot, but no it makes sense, you have been training in with different people for most of your life, and you actually decided to experiment in things beyond basic hand to hand or dust, or how to use your own weapon and semblance."

"...Pretty much, I just like learning these kinds of things." Robert answered. "Glynda was the one that actually taught me how to use my semblance properly, before her… I didn't really use it, and even if I could… it wasn't efficient."

"I see. I'm much the same in a way, I… I didn't want to depend on my semblance, so I focused on trying to use better everything else." Pyrrha said.

"By that logic, you should really also use your semblance in tandem with everything else you got, I know you do subtle tricks, but you can do so much more," Robert said to her.

"I… uh-" Pyrrha seemed conflicted on the subject.

"He's right Pyr, and you know that," Jaune said.

"Umm…" She still didn't seem too okay with it, but Robert for his part understood, he sometimes wondered what would he be able to do without his semblance… or if he had had a different one, his weapons wouldn't work, but he wouldn't be hopeless… he did have to combine Aura to use his semblance effectively and not tire himself out. But it wouldn't be a bad idea to start focusing more on Aura itself, the training for it was so tied to his semblance that controlling both had become one and the same, maybe separating them could be good. Fundamentals.

"Just think of it that's all I ask, I would like to talk more but I do have to go. Oh right, whenever you are training him, make him go faster, he's been he's sequences slowly for a while it seems, I think he knows them by now and it's time he speeds up, if he does the forms well it will become more natural and fluid." Robert said to Pyrrha.

"Oh, okay I will try that. And good luck." Pyrrha said waving him goodbye as Robert began to walk away.

"Uh… good luck." Jaune said doing the same. Robert personally didn't know what to expect.

* * *

"Agh!" Ashley yelped as she tripped over her own foot and faceplanted hard into the ground. Her eyes narrowed indignantly as she looked up at the teammate that she was training with, his blonde hair and glasses as pristine as they always looked.

"Better, I guess," Michael said as he offered a hand to help his teammate up. "It's a wonder how you weren't tripping up this much when you first unlocked it back on Merlots island."

"Ugh," Ashley groaned. "I don't know why this is such a problem now, it's like I only fight well in life or death situations."

"Those are the moments that matter." Michael countered.

Ashley snorted. "Thanks for the cheer up Mike. Alright, so should I just try again?"

Michael held up his shield before him with one hand. "I'm ready when you are."

The whole plan for Ashley's training with her newly unlocked semblance was a simple one, really. All it contained was her basically running up against Michaels shield to either attack it, or dodge when the blonde would send an offensive projection of his shield to attack her. It sounded good on paper, simple and easy enough, and in practice, it was as well. That was to be expected when it came to the leader of Team HAMR, who was currently doing his own training in the form of holding his arms out to the side with a berry red face as he held up the weight of his gauntlets plus some chains that Reggie uses to train with. Lifting them was the easy part, holding it there, however…

"You got this boss!" Reggie cheered on his friend. "The floor is lava for those chains, remember to pretend that they are your son and daughter clinging to you for dear life. You don't want them to burn to death, do you!?"

"That was way too specific," Hector groaned out through grit teeth as he forced his muscles not to commit suicide in order to free themselves of this torture.

"In another dimension, I bet you do have kids!" Reggie exclaimed in his own special way of supporting his friends.

"I hope not," Hector's arms lowered ever so slightly, Reggie smacked him in the back with the flat side of his battle-ax, making his leader raise his arms right back up. "I'm not even eighteen yet."

"That's the spirit!"

"Ugh…" Hector really wanted to let his arms rest, but he knew that this needed to be done. After letting Hell take over at the island, he lost some more muscle mass. Not nearly as much as he did in Mount Glenn, but enough for him to feel like he was a little weaker. Reggie's solution to that was to make him eat an entire bowl of eggs and really work him out to try and get those muscles back. The reasoning was sound enough, if his base strength increased, then the strength he would get from his semblance would be even more rewarding.

Hell has been quiet ever since they let Merlot live and be taken into custody by Ironwood. That was to be expected, but unfortunately, there was no lack of awkwardness as the two reflections were tethered to each other by some unnatural force. The dark reflection himself was sitting off to the side, glaring at him with those black and red eyes of his. Most people would probably be shitting themselves at that point, but for Hector, it was just another daily routine.

"Woah!" Michael yelled out as a blur of white and blue suddenly pierced through and into his guard. The edge of one of her swords was to his neck pressed up against his aura, but there was no ill intent in the wielder. Ashley pulled back and smirked, sheathing that sword in the holster behind her back.

"I'm getting good at this!" She boasted as she used her semblance to blink to a different part of the room, leaving a thin trail of particularized aura behind her. "This is awesome, every time I use my semblance, it's like everyone else is frozen in time while I can move freely."

"Wait, so you don't see yourself moving as fast as you are?" Reggie asked, looking over his shoulder while subtly threatening Hector to not lower his arms.

"So it's not like Ruby's speed semblance," Michael said, thinking hard on it. "While she can use it to gain great bursts of speed and has trained to acclimate to the velocity, yours seems to be more of a decrease in your perception of time."

"Uh… put it in words I can understand." Ashley said, completely lost.

Michael sighed. "Decrease in perception of time means that everyone looks slow to you, in theory you might be creating your own time dilation like Weiss, where everything around you moves at a much slower rate while you can move as fast as you like. In doing so, you leave this little trail of whatever behind you." He explained as he swiped some of the trail away from his face.

"So basically, you guys see me as if I'm using a version of Ruby's semblance, but to me, I just see you all as really slow?" Ashley tilted her head for confirmation.

"Something like that," Michael said. "But the downside to your semblance is that if someone is just naturally fast or someone like Ruby might throw you off when you fight them. Even if you — and we're calling it this for now — slow downtime, and you were up against someone as fast as Ruby, they could still be able to see and keep up with you."

"Hm," Ashley nodded her head in understanding. "That makes sense I guess. I gotta asked Ruby to train with me next time so we can test that theory."

"You're welcome," Michael said as he turned to walk away, taking out a small book out of his pocket and flipping over to where he left off.

"Hey, where are you going? We aren't done yet!" Ashley said as she chased after him, only to suddenly feel much weaker and stumble.

"You're out of aura and exhausted," Michael said. "You have less aura than the average person, so you need to rest more. We've been training for almost two hours, I'm impressed you managed to last this long as it is."

"Damn my insignificant genes," Ashley complained as she collapsed. Michael sighed and turned around. He couldn't just leave her passed out in the middle of the training room like that.

"You're not insignificant," Michael said as he glanced at his scroll, looking at his own aura gauge. It was at twenty percent. "I had to go all out a few times just to keep up with you, and that was when you were not even being serious." He told the unconscious girl as he set her down on a bench, and left a bottle of water by her side for her to drink when she wakes up. "Damn overpowered semblances, Hector can multiply his strength, Pyrrha controls metal, Ashley can literally slow down time, Reggie can make his body nearly indestructible and Urra has a semblance that can act like three other semblances. And what do I get? Shields. Fucking… shields."

"Oh gosh," Hector's muscles finally gave in at the utmost limit of their stamina. He fell to his hands and knees, and when the chain weights struck the ground they cracked the floor with their immense weight. "No more, please…"

"Your kids are dead now!" Reggie shouted at his leader. "They burned alive because you were too weak, that means that next time I have to increase the weight in order to make you stronger faster!"

"Nooo…" Hector whined.

"I think it's time to let him rest," Michael said as he came to his leader's rescue. Hector curled into a ball and rolled over behind him. "He held those weights the entire time we trained, how heavy were those anyway?"

"Oh you know, a hundred fifty pounds for each arm," Reggie said as he picked his nose and flicked a booger off to the side. Michael resisted the urge to gag.

Michael looked up from his book. "You're telling me that you made him stand there like a scarecrow for an hour with an extra three hundred points on his arms?"

"Yup." Reggie shrugged his shoulders, not really seeing a problem with it.

Michael looked back to check on his leader, he was fast asleep. He had all of his aura as well, which meant he used his own natural strength the entire time. Right in the middle of the floor too, which meant he had to move his heavy ass as well. "I feel like we are either really harsh trainers or really good ones if we made both of our 'students' here collapse and pass out like this."

"Eh, probably," Reggie said, pointedly not specifying which he meant. "Wanna head back to the room and reward ourselves?" He propositioned, narrowing his eyes seductively toward Michael.

Michael narrowed his eyes at his boyfriend.

"Okay."

* * *

"Where's Blake and Ruby?" Weiss asked Yang as she stepped into their dorm room and actually did not get tackled into a hug against the wall for once. It was strange, much too strange, but at least the adorable little dog Zwei came to greet her.

"Hm?" Yang pulled her earphones off her head. "I think they went to go do some stuff. Blake needs dust said that around Ruby. The rest is history."

"I see." Weiss believed her without a doubt. Because Ruby was her partner and she knew just how crazy she can be when it comes to dust and weapons. She felt bad for Blake having to deal with it on her how, no matter how endearing she secretly finds it. "I believe I shall study then, or perhaps commit myself to bed early."

"Weiss, it's three in the afternoon." Yang snickered as she swung her legs over her bunk and hopped down to sit on Blake's bed. "How 'bout we chat for a bit? We can paint our nails, try on clothes and talk about cute boys!"

Weiss scoffed at the blonde when she threw her own line back when she first met Ruby and them before they even became a team. It felt so long ago even though it was just a year more or less. "I'm not sure I want to listen to you profess your desire to fornicate with the leader of Team HAMR."

Yang shrugged her shoulders. "Eh, I was more looking forward to hearing what you think about tall, kinda-dark, and handsome. I hear he has a _crackling_ personality."

Weiss froze, and her walls went up immediately. "I have no idea who you could possibly be referring to." She said as she went to her bed and crossed her arms indignantly.

"Woah, _chill_ down there," Yang laughed. "It's no shame you know, having a crush is part of growing up."

"Then you should speak to your sister, it seems she has been getting awfully close to Hector and Jaune and Mister Urra recently."

Yang shrugged, taking her deflection easily. "She's alright, I doubt any of them like her that way anyway. She just sorta adopts people once she realizes that they are nice. You however, are a much different case."

"What is your goal here Xiao Long?"

"To see _Xiao Long_ it takes for you to admit you have the hots for a certain support teacher of ours." Yang wiggled her eyebrows.

"I'm afraid I have no idea what you mean. I have no time for such silly feelings." Weiss deflected.

"Oh c'mon Weissy, you can't try to hide it after what happened in Glenn. Your eyes undress him every time he's been around after that." Yang teased.

"They do not!" Weiss denied immediately.

"So you admit to looking at him then?" Yang countered.

"I-" Weiss' face heated up at the notion of being caught in a bind. She didn't exactly say that she did look at him, but her face gave Yang the answer that she wanted to know. How obnoxious… the blonde was smarter than she looked to be able to catch her like that. "I don't…" She said weakly, feignedly.

"Get it out," Yang said softly, supportively. Her teasing grin was replaced with a warm one. "It'll make you feel better, like how I did with Hex."

"Your version of confessing means to make out with the one you like," Weiss said, Yang shrugged her shoulders. Not denying it. "I… it would be improper for me to act on these feelings… that I do not feel."

"So close, there's still room to grow there," Yang said with a laugh. "But you can't hide it now, you have a thing for the young Professor eh?"

With an explosive sigh, Weiss let her face fall into her hands. More or less confirming it for her partner.

"Nice," Yang said teasingly. "My little Weiss cream, growing up so fast and getting her second crush on a boy. I'm liable to swoon~"

"I did not know you knew such big words." Weiss hissed.

"I read books too sometimes you know. But anyway, why not give it a shot?" Yang asked. "What's the worst that can happen?"

"I am the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. Not only am I still underage, but Mister Urra is old enough to be a fully trained huntsman. It would cause a scandal, the news would be all over the world and I don't want to curse anyone to that fate. It's not as fun as it sounds. Besides, Mister Urra is already dating another person, someone who's actually good at these kinds of things." Weiss explained.

"You don't know that. Can you reliably and correctly predict the future?" Yang asked.

"Well… no."

"We also don't know if Robby and Coco will even get together. One date isn't a contract, they aren't guaranteed to get together after today." Yang winked at her. "And trust me, even if you aren't experienced in relationship stuff I don't think any guy would deny a chance to fu-"

"Do _not_ finish that sentence," Weiss hissed, her face now beet red. "You may be correct, but it does not prevent the possibility of him not feeling the same way in return."

"Again, we don't know that. But let's not go that far just yet. Firstly, what _do_ you like about him in the first place? Other than him saving your life, there's enough fairy tales that start off like that."

Weiss looked away and to the side.

"Well… he _is_ strong."

* * *

It was four in the afternoon as Robert walked the streets of Vale, in direction to the Warehouse, overall the store was very decently located, it was close to a group of other shops and restaurants and other hangout places, it wasn't too far away from the airship transport to Beacon and it was also a place that Coco liked to visit.

Why did he agree to this? Wasn't he supposed to be a teacher, well it was still vastly different, he wasn't really a teacher, he wasn't like ten years older than her, he didn't give her marks for this kind of thing, he actually couldn't to begin with. And he had met people that were in similar positions, one of his sword instructors had a relationship with a person that was a student, there was a big age gap, but they were both adults and everything was cool and professional, he also met people who were friends with their teachers or hang out with college assistant back on Earth. There was nothing wrong with it.

He knew what was happening, he was scared, he was scared of fucking up in any way possible, more out of respect for the other person than anything else, and he was looking at excuses… but yet he had still come to this, he wondered why.

"Hey there handsome." Coca Adel called him over. "You know… part of me wondered if you were going to actually show up, and I see you did, and your clothes really have seen better days, oh this just won't do." She shook her with an exaggerated shrug.

"I told you I would let you help me get that sorted and I take my clothes seriously, almost as much as my ponytail so yeah, I won't back away from that," Robert said.

"You say that, but a look at this thing," Coco exclaimed as she got close. "It's all ripped and teared up, you have some holes in some areas and the colors have faded, you made black fade, just. What. Did. You. Do to it?!" She asked as he circled him over. To be fair after the sewers it was a miracle they had survived.

"Hey hey hey, don't blame me, blame the Grimm, the sewer monsters, the fire and well everything else." Robert defended.

"...Sewer monsters?" Coco asked with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

"... They exist, I've seen them." Robert said, he felt a smile of his own plastering on his face. They both chuckled at that. And Robert remembered why he agreed, he actually liked to banter with Coco. It was fun and somehow he was able to keep up with it.

"So, you seem to have been really busy then darling. You might need something better made." She said.

"I assume you know just the right thing eh?" Robert guessed.

"Well maybe… I think you could use some more blue instead of black," she said still circling him and touching here and there.

"Well I had fun with the highlight style, but yeah, maybe going bi-tone isn't a bad idea," Robert said.

"Mmmhm, well other than that… you want something else added, what are you looking for exactly?"

"Something easy to sleeve, with a fur collar… and the rest I guess I'll decide when I see it eh?" Robert said.

"This place does have a bit of everything, now come on, I want to see you pose." She said with a grin as she grabbed his arm and dragged him inside. Robert guessed he might as well play along, the best thing he could do was play cool and just try to have a decent time. How difficult could that be?

After checking the aisles of the store Robert had been _persuaded_ to try different things on from buttoned shirts to vests, and for the sake of trying them he agreed, but he cut the line at shorts, much to Coco's disappointment, however once Daisy started to actually bring clothes with fur collars. Once Robert looked at the selection he decided a slim coat would do, and so he asked if they could bring him a blue coat, maybe with some black highlights and if possible a bit of protective padding. Daisy seemed to ponder for a second… until her eyes lit up like a lightbulb and said that she would quickly come back. Other than that Robert had already chosen his black combat pants and decided to keep his previous boots, it was one of the few things that was built to last longer than the others, even if it had gone through the sewers, he felt too comfortable in them.

As such he was now in black combat pants with a pouch on his left leg, some more pouches across the belt, a blue belt that in itself was a normal belt only that it ends loose and hanging. He had his calf-length boots and was currently… shirtless. At the moment he was going to put on a slim black henley shirt.

"No, no, no. Let me stare for a bit longer." But Coco was making sure he stayed shirtless a bit longer.

* * *

" _And I do think appreciate him being honest."_

* * *

"So… do I look good?" Robert asked.

"Hey, are fishing for compliments?" She asked with a grin

"Do I look good or not? Don't lie to me I know I do." He said with a smile.

"Heh, okay big guy, you do look good, like you are not super ripped, you are slim but you are toned in just all the right areas," She eyeing him up and down "Not bad at all, and you also have these things." She said running her hand across his upper arm.

"Eh?" Robert got caught off guard as Coco started to feel his skin on his upper arm.

"You have these little bumps here and there across your skin, like what are these things," Coco asked pointing at some tiny bumps that spread across Robert's arm and across his upper back, in Robert's lower back they appeared again only as some small scars, overall it looked like patches slight discoloration, and in a way it was but it was more of number of minuscule even bumps.

"Umm… those are fucking… skin condition." Robert grumbled.

"Really? It's like really subtle, like I gotta get near to notice them and it's kind of adorable." Coco said running her hand across. "They feel so different, it's like rough skin in tiny bumps. Kinda like sandpaper," She said as she looked. "And I meant what I said, I hardly notice them but I have never seen this, like what's the condition called?" She asked.

"Uh I don't remember the real name but I know the nickname it's uh… 'chicken skin'," Robert said, feeling pretty embarrassed about it.

"Pfft. Hah! Okay, that's a new one." She giggled. "Aww look at you face, you are cute when you are embarrassed, don't worry darling, you are still pretty fine looking." She cooed putting a hand on Robert's shoulder, still giggling.

"Yeah, yeah," Robert said putting the shirt on.

"Hey relax, like I said they are hard to see, I've seen faunas scales far more noticeable and far uglier."

"Ouch for the reptiles," Robert said.

"Hey there are good looking ones, but I've seen some that are _hideous_ , like they don't care for their own scales and how they look the poor things, relax you are one of the cute ones." She said smacking his ass.

"Hey, who gave you permission?" Robert asked her with fake offense.

"I don't need permission dear." She said.

"Oh really, can I get one back then?" He asked.

"I mean I could give you another one." She said pondering to herself.

"You know what I mean." He said.

"That's not how this works." Coco laughed

"The fuck do you mean that's not how it works, fair is fair." Robert chuckled

"Oh really? Can you get it then?" She teasing her own behind.

"..." Robert just stared, slightly wide-eyed. "I mean… uh…"

"I found it," Daisy said, saving Robert further embarrassment at just the right moment, she brought along a slim looking blue jacket, it had two patches on torso, one covering the biceps area like a chest plate, and the other doing something similar but for the abdomen, it was mostly just padding, but it looked and felt pretty sturdy and lightweight, the jacket had soft sleeves, it was of a healthy blue color and it had a tailcoat that reached to the back of the knees, it also had black shoulders with leather and fur and a hood.

Robert looked pretty impressed, he didn't waste time and immediately tried it on, he closed the side zipper and overall it looked pretty slim and comfortable, he rolled up the sleeves and looked at himself in the mirror, he liked the look, he liked the side straps that made the coat slim, he like the padding and a bit of extra protection, he liked the fur.

"Perfect!" He said with a big smile on his face.

"Phew, I like it, I really like it. I told more blue would do you good." Coco whistled, overall the outfit held up.

"Are you walking out of her with that on?" Daisy asked.

"Yeah, absolutely," Robert said. Daisy promptly made her way to bring the scroll reader.

"So… why did you ask for the padding?" Coco asked him. "It looks good it adds to it, but not a lot of people decide to use it."

"Well, I guess I like a bit of extra protection," Robert said.

"Hey, I already know something happened, I mean everyone has talked about how Hector was tortured, but there were some rumors that you had your ribs broken," Coco said, a bit more serious.

"Well… it's more like a guy punched my ribs broken." Robert said, Coco widened her eyes slightly.

"I figured it wouldn't hurt to be prepared," Robert said. Coco didn't know what to really say, she already knew he was strong, and he looked and sounded over the fact, but things like that still left little… effect on people.

"Well… it looks good, it protects you, and you got your fur." She said tracing hand on the new jacket.

"Who said you can't get the best of all worlds eh?" Robert said with a chuckle.

"Heh, people that don't look hard enough." Coco laughed.

"You got that right." Robert laughed with her. It really felt nice to be casual with everything going on, but it wasn't avoiding it, it was pushing past it and laughing about it, there weren't many people that could do that like Coco, and Robert really appreciated it.

"So should we pay for this and move on?" Robert asked.

"We? You hope the girl to pay for your clothes." Coco jokingly asked, Robert just nodded his head in the direction of a couple bags that were near some of the racks.

"Oh right," Coco remembered, she also got stuff for herself. "So, we do that, and then what?" She asked teasingly.

"Well I figured, the area around is nice, I figured we could walk in a direction, find a nice place, get something to eat? Then we see how far it goes from there?" Robert said with a small shrug.

"Hmm, something simple, okay I'll play that game," Coco said grabbing her bags, Robert followed and soon they were out of the shop.

* * *

" _He is very smart."_

* * *

"So tell me one thing, why decide to go after the assistant?" Robert asked Coco as they walked down the plaza of shops and restaurants.

"Me? Pfft, if I remember right, it was you the one that got an interest, I was teasing Hector, and then you showed up and decided to steal my show. So teach, how does it feel like to be with a student?" She teased back at him.

"Wrong on many levels, but we are both adults, how does it feel to be with someone older?" He asked back.

"Eh, we are just two years apart, it's practically nothing. I just decided to go for it, try something new." She said… with an odd laugh.

"Really? So like to take your chances? Like to live dangerously?" Robert asked a bit more curious.

"What if I do big guy?" She asked back.

"I'm just asking…" He looked away embarrassed. "But I get the feeling that I'm missing something," Robert said looking directly at her.

"Hmm?" Coco hummed looking somewhere distant, but specifically not at Robert, and he caught on to that.

"Okay, you are not telling me something, come on you can say what it is," Robert said to her.

"Oh it's nothing," Coco said, he didn't believe her, he just looked at her with a raised eyebrow, but fine if she didn't want to say, he won't press, he didn't need to ruin the date over something small.

He thought but then Coco stopped for a second, he looked at her and saw a face that he didn't normally see in Coco Adel, she looked like she was unsure about something… and worse like she about to admit it.

"Coco?" Robert asked her.

"Damn, okay, phew" She breathed in and out. "You better don't say this to anyone but, let's just say that this gal doesn't say no to a challenge." She said, Robert raised an eyebrow at that. "After that time we met on the Warehouse months ago, I started to tease you and people caught on to that, some girls I talked to said there was no way you'll fall for it, then I... bragged that could certainly take it further." She said.

"Oh… so it was like a dare then?" Robert guessed.

"Eh, self-imposed mostly, but look, when I say I'll do something I commit myself to do it," she said, far more serious.

"Well… I certainly noticed it moved a bit fast." Robert commented.

"Hey, life's short, you gotta move faster than it… but that's the thing, I didn't actually expect to get this far." Coco said.

"Eh?" He suddenly go curious.

"Well I did expect maybe a hangout, I just didn't actually expect to actually… look forward to it." She said.

"Ouch," Robert said.

"Not like that, I meant…" She breathed in again. "I meant that normally I would just tease and flirt and hope for the best, but not many people can talk back my smack, and even less have good sense of style, even less are guys, that's in fact why I have dated many girls in the past but you… you have all that, and I know how to read people, and you are an actual nice person behind that serious face you got. People like you… are really hard to find." Coco said looking down.

"..." Robert didn't say a thing, he just let her continue.

"What I'm saying is, that… well, I wouldn't be against this going out a second time, and then like you said, just see how far we go." She finished.

"... Wow, sappy, but… wow." Robert said scratching the back of his head.

"Shut up! You won't get to heat it again! I just wanted to get the… dare part out of my system." Coco said.

"Pfft, I know… for what's it's worth thank you, and, well if talking smack with you keeps being fun I wouldn't mind that either." Robert said.

"Heh, now who's the sappy one eh?" Coco said with a chuckle.

"You started it." Robert laughed. They both laughed for a second, then Coco recovered that sure grin she was known for.

"Well then Sparky, you said we were going somewhere nice, so come on let's find it." She said walking.

"... Sparky, I- I okay I- Ugh, well old Coco is back." Robert said.

"Like I said you won't hear that again, you'll have to work really hard to get that out of me again Sparky." She said with a laugh.

"You- ugh…" Robert looked down, but even he couldn't help but chuckle, he looked back at her and went to follow her, but at the corner of his vision, he saw something. At the corner of an alley, he saw ahead quickly move the moment he looked in that direction. He instinctively assumed the worst, but he wasn't sure yet. He decided he needed to make sure, discreetly.

"I'm right behind you." He said to Coco, not sure if she heard him but either way, if someone was following them, or him, she might know, she could fight too after all.

Eventually they found a nice place that gave out nice little place that made pastas, one of Robert's favorites and Coco didn't seem to mind at all either, they ordered what they wanted, and just chatted, however during the whole walk Robert had been slightly different, his eyes shifted slightly to the side from time to time and he would look behind his back on occasion, Coco noticed though.

"You seem off, what's got you worried?" She said as she sipped the drinks the waiter just brought.

"Well, how do I put this… things go complicated." Robert said.

"How so?" Coco said lowering her glasses, she felt slightly worried.

"I think someone is following us," Robert said, sipping on his own drink and acting natural.

"Is that so?" Coco asked.

"I've seen a silhouette, and it's been following us ever since the Warehouse as far as I can tell." He said.

"Huh, could be a fan, I've certainly had some and might have your own as well," Coco said with a grin.

"Maybe, but I would rather be sure," Robert said.

"Don't worry love, I know how to spot this kind of people, we just gotta-" Coco started.

"Act natural and keep an eye out." Robert ended.

"Yeah, look at you, suddenly I feel like in a spy movie," Coco said while sipping her drink.

"You have the glasses for it," Robert commented, Coco had a grin on her face as she adjusted said glasses, they made a silent toast and waited until their dishes arrived, while eating they chatted, mostly senseless stuff, they asked each other what missions they have done, most of the time they were on the lookout for the mysterious follower, and soon enough Coco spotted a blur that indeed seemed to be spying of them she didn't get a beat on it but it certainly didn't seem like a fan or someone of the sort.

"It's been moving around, fast, you didn't mention you had enemies," Coco said while eating.

"Comes with the job, but I figured it might have been something like that, you were gone during most of it, but I helped the police with a couple raids, while that whole… thing was going on." Robert mentioned.

"Oh yeah, that, people talked about the police doing something, what was it really?"

"It… involved sewer monsters." Robert said, Coco looked at him raising an unamused eyebrow. "I'm not joking I'm serious, there was a cult involved as well."

"Really? Like the White Fang, with hoods, masks and all?" Coco asked.

"Well… yeah, there's also the White Fang, I'm pretty sure I'm on their shit list, same as Hector." Robert said.

"Really? Aren't they the ones that captured him?" She asked.

"They are," Robert said while munching, his eyes were hardened.

"Hmm," Coco said, she hadn't spotted the blur for a while, but suddenly inside the restaurant, she spotted it again, on the hallway to the bathrooms, and she got a better look at it, at her. "She's inside."

"She?" Robert snapped his face back at her, how fast it had moved from outside to inside was worrying, and it was a woman. "Did you get a good look?"

"I think I saw black hair… but she was definitely short." Coco said, finishing the last of her meal.

"How short?"

"Like… really short, not taller than the Schnee." She said.

"Shit. It's Neo." Robert cursed.

"You know her?"

"Fought her, captured what I assume must her only friend, she's the one that tortured Hector the most, she still owes me a fight as well," Robert said clenching his fists.

"Well, maybe it's time to catch her as well." Coco offered.

"Yeah," Robert said, exchanging a silent message, they figured out Neo was there for him, so he would be the bait, he promptly got up and made his way to the bathroom, he certainly felt an eerie presence on the air, he was about to open the door when he felt someone behind him, trying to reach into his pocket.

He turned around and saw a small girl, she looked innocent, but he knew better, the girl made a move to look scared and back away sniffling but Coco appeared in front of her and cut her off. She was now on a hallway cornered at both sides.

"You can drop the act Neo, you are coming with us," Robert said. Neo for her part looked both ways, Coco didn't seem fooled either, she might not know her, but the fact that she sneak in this far was enough to tell her she wasn't normal.

Neo realized she wasn't fooling them, so she struck first, she kicked backward towards Robert while she opened her parasol towards Coco, Coco got pushed back and Robert blocked the kick, he immediately retaliated slashing with his blades, multiple times, causing a commotion, Neo dodged the slices and kicked with counters, none of the landed, and Robert struck back with kicks of his own, Neo back away before a kick could kick her, she backflipped and cartwheeled over Coco as she tried to hit her with her bag and kick her with split kick.

Neo got to safety without getting hit, and towards the main area of the restaurant, now everybody could see that a fight had broken out.

* * *

" _He is very brave for someone usually reserved and quiet."_

* * *

Robert bent backward to avoid a flying lasagna being thrown towards him.

"Nah, Nah, this jacket's new, not happening today bitch!" Robert snarled at Neo while she just sneered at him, Coco had already deployed her minigun and was shooting at Neo, not giving her time to get rest, Neo dodged and as soon as she avoided a barrage she was ambushed by Robert who slashed and try to hit her with flying spinning kick, neo blocked and countered with her parasol and moved backward to avoid the lightning blades, but she suddenly got thrown a couple of dishes, by Coco no less.

Robert threw a thunderbolt, Neo blocked it by quickly opening her parasol and skidded backward, Coco came from the other side at just the right moment and watched as Neo turned to glass as she hit her.

"What the." She muttered.

"Behind you!" Robert warned her, she flipped and rolled just in time to avoid being swept by a parasol and stabbed by a thin blade, she threw her counters as well, with her bag and her own kicks, Robert joined and together they outpaced Neo and kicked her straight (both at the same time) into the kitchen through the main desk.

Robert lightning dash in to go after, passing by one of the clerks, who was absolutely terrified. Coco approached him.

"Hey can you do me a favor and hold onto this, I'll be back for them." She said dropping he storer bags from the Warehouse.

"Please just- take this outside." She tried to say, but it was too late, she already went inside.

And inside Robert and Neo were exchanging blows, no one was hitting the other, they were in a tight corridor as some chefs ran to safety, Robert slashed, kicked, Neo blocked, ducked and tried to hit Robert with the parasol and so it went, eventually they both got tangled up, Neo blocking one of the blades, while holding Robert's other arm, Robert was pushing Neo down, and holding her leg with his own, they were stuck. Until Robert quickly deactivated one of his blades, grabbed a frying pan, and hit Neo across the face with it.

"Hah!" he celebrated, ab it too quickly though as Neo recovered, grabbed a frying pan of her own and returned the favor.

"Shit," Robert said as he recovered, Neo was about to throw the pan at him when Coco came behind her, hitting Neo with another frying pan, sending her towards Robert. Robert nearly was able to slice Neo mid-air, but she flipped perfectly to avoid two slashes, and then she turned to glass.

"Where she go?" Coco asked. Suddenly they heard running footsteps coming from above, they also saw an open door that leads to some stairs.

"You go low I go high," Robert said to Coco as he ran towards the steps. Meanwhile, Coco did what she was told and went for the back door.

* * *

" _He certainly must know his way around a chaotic battle."_

* * *

Robert followed Neo through the rooftops of Vale, throwing bolt of lightning at her, she dodged most of them and blocked with her parasol the ones she chose to, he threw a missile at her and she literally jumped into it and used her parasol to propel herself into the air, with extra momentum, she landed in a distant archway of a bridge, she started to wave, but just as she did a barrage of bullets cut at the archway, exactly where she was, she felt, using her parasol into the highway atop a truck.

Coco got close to the bridge and looked down at the highway, Robert soon joined her in a flash of lightning.

"Shit." Coco cursed.

"She's not getting away, not yet," Robert said as he spotted another decently sized truck on the same lane, together they jumped for it, now they were following Neo across the highway.

* * *

" _I can also sense that never give up mentality from him as well,"_

* * *

Coco and Robert jumped across cars on the highways and Neo did the same, they were chasing her, throwing thunderbolts and shooting bullets, being careful to not shoot the cars themselves, Robert sped up, using his semblance to reach to Neo just as they went into a tunnel, he crashed into her while jumping towards truck, it ended with both of them going into the container, Neo blocked the lightning blades but both of them crashed hard into the inside of the massive container, it was filled with boxes of stuffed animals.

"Neo threw and kicked some of said boxes towards him, Robert cut them in half and dove over them to get to her, while they were clashing and exchanging blows, a rain of bullets came from above, in a circle, from above Coco drop-down, shooting at Neo who evaded the bullets by diving across the boxes.

The truck suddenly turned aggressive, probably from the shitless scared driver inside of the cabin

"Go get the driver!" Robert said. "I can deal with her."

"Don't die handsome," Coco said as she jumped back up.

* * *

" _I suppose he is…"_

" _You can say it."_

" _... Above average."_

* * *

"What do you mean it's busted?" Coco asked the driver of the truck.

"One of the bullets must have got the back wheels… oh no there's a sharp turn." He said

"What?!" Coco yelled.

Inside the container Robert fought Neo relentlessly, they punched kicked and countered each other, not one of them could get a solid amount of hits on the other, Neo got Robert with a couple kicks and hits of her parasol, while Robert got a couple punches, tow kicks and one slash of his blades across her Aura, both were fast, both were flexible, and both weren't giving up, suddenly the container shifted again and they got pressed together against a wall, there Neo tried to hit Robert with her parasol but he caught it and her, using a sweep kick to unbalance her, he was now on top of her trying to jam one of his blades on her face, Neo tried to strike him with the parasol and he grabbed it with his other arm, she tried to kick from underneath and Robert pressed one of his legs against her's.

It was getting bad, Neo unsheathed her blade and Robert using his only remaining limb used a split kick to hold the Blade against some boxes, they both had pinned each other, only Robert had the lightning blade getting closer to Neo's face. But she had one limb remaining, and she used it her remaining leg to knee Robert on the balls.

"Robert opened his mouth to cursed, but nothing came out, he felt Neo get closer and go for his pocket, for what he wasn't sure, but not letting himself be exposed too long he returned the favor with knee, a spinning kick and a slash with both blades that made Neo fly away, her Aura crackling. Robert himself fell to his knees.

"I'll admit… I've done that to a lot of other people… I deserved that one." Robert said standing fully up. Neo did the same, but just then the container separated itself from the truck and started to roll down a street.

Lightning shot in all directions inside the container as Robert tried to hold on to something (and hit Neo) while Neo herself tried to just hold on, they rolled for about twenty eternal seconds until it came to a full stop.

Robert crawled out from a pile of stuffed animals and saw as Neo opened the door of the container, battered and bruised, she looked back at him and flipped him off. Again. Just one last time, because of course. He clenched his teeth and rushed at her with his semblance, but just as he got there, Neo turned to glass and disappeared. Robert looked all around and couldn't get a clue as to where she had gone.

"Fuck that little bitch… just whoa-" Robert crumbled as the dizziness from all the rolling got to him, he fell on his ass and sat next to the container to get his bearings, Coco then appeared, running to the scene, she spotted him and got close.

"I'm fine just. Bwah… shit." Robert said shaking his head.

"Oh good, she- she got away?"

"The little bitch? Unfortunately, yeah." Robert grumbled.

"Damn… Shit." Coco cursed.

"I know. Ugh man." Robert said as he got up, he had been so close, he had her. "Shit," he said as he looked at the scene, they ended pretty far away from the Warehouse… and the restaurant. It might be a good idea to call it a day.

* * *

"And I guess… I just really appreciate his being." Weiss finished off with yet another explosive sigh. Across from her Yang sat with a shit-eating grin on her face, but this time it wasn't because of any teasing intent. It was more of an ' _I knew it'_ or ' _I am so proud of you'_ kind of expression. Possibly both of those at the same time, you'd never know with Yang.

"You should sing him a song."

"I will not!" Weiss exclaimed.

Yang laughed and shook her head playfully. "I'm joking, but this is all actually pretty surprising coming from you, I was sure I was going to hear a few insults laced in there but I didn't catch any."

"He has his fair share of negative traits, like that style of ponytail he wears for instance." Weiss grimaced as she ran her hands through her own ponytail. Yang snickered.

"Yeah, well, he looks like he's protective of that dangling little thing. Must have taken a long time to grow it, I understand him completely and am willing to accept him for who he is. Makes me wonder what Hex would look like with long flowing black hair…" She winced suddenly. "Actually, let's not do that."

"What do you think I should do?" Weiss asked, pointedly not acknowledging the last thing Yang had said.

"Wait 'til he gets back, find out what happened between those two, and the rest is up to you." Yang shrugged. Weiss looked at her like she'd been betrayed. "What? You think I have the answer to everything? I'm friendly with Mister Urra, but I'm not his best friend. All I can tell you is that you should at least try. If it doesn't work out it doesn't work out. Plenty of fish in the sea. But, if it _does_ work out…" Yang's smirk told her that there was going to be enough teasing for twenty Ruby's. Which was a terrifying thought.

"I see…" Weiss hung her head slightly. "Maybe I'll talk to Winter about-"

"NO!" Yang suddenly lurched out of her seat and waved her hand's side to side. "I-I mean, look. I know she's your sister and all, but she doesn't strike me as the… romantic advice type." Somehow Yang managed to find an acceptable way to say it.

Weiss rolled her eyes. "You don't know her like I do, she isn't _always_ like how you've seen her."

"Weiss, look me in the eyes and tell me Winter is who you need to go to right now."

Weiss looked in her in the eyes, opened her mouth, thought about it, almost said something. She shook her head, thought about it again, and then closed her mouth with a grimace.

"Exactly." Yang crossed her arms triumphantly. "If you really want advice, just go talk to him and see what happens."

"That's it?"

"That's it. Unless you want to do it like I did."

"I'm okay." Weiss rolled her eyes. She had more class than that, even if it worked out that way it still wouldn't be the way she would want to be courted. "I suppose I shall trust you in this."

"You will? I-I mean awesome!" Yang threw her fist into her hand, smiling. "I'm glad I was able to help you like that, and of course if you need any more help," Boasting, Yang walked over to Weiss's bed and leaned on it. " I'll always be available for you." She swung her hips to the side and bumped against the bathroom door.

The door swung open, and two bodies fell out of it.

Silver and yellow eyes stared up daily from the ground, nervous grins spread across her face.

Weiss glared back.

"All of you… planned this, didn't you?" she said slowly.

Where Ruby once sat, a pile of rose petals were left behind. Leaving Blake all on her own.

Blake backed away from the snow-white angel of death. "I… fell asleep in there. While standing."

Weiss slowly reached for her weapon. Zwei barked happily as the chaos began to ensue.

* * *

It had been a long day, Robert got new clothes, a date, a fight and more wounds that he thought he would, at least the outfit held up, and it seemed like the padding did its job… and then there was Coco.

The date had been fun until they got jumped, he thought he should apologize for that, they had gotten Coco's bags back and now they were at Beacon's main door, the way back had been pretty quiet, Coco mostly asked who Neo was. Robert gave the important details. But yeah, he figured he should apologize for the whole chase.

"Look I'm sorry the date was… ah, ruined, I didn't expect to get attacked today, so… I'm sorry." Robert said, looking down. Then he looked back at Coco.

"Hm?" She wasn't listening at first. "Sorry, I was just thinking what happened, got lost in thought."

"Like I said, sorry about that…"

"You gotta be kidding," Coco laughed. "I'm a huntress in training, fighting and chasing criminals might as well be a hobby of mine! That was awesome!" She said, all smiles despite her hair being slightly messed up. Her usual beret was missing, but he was sure that she was going to get a new one very soon.

"... Wait really?"

"Dude, go up to any huntsman and they will say that chasing criminals and weird people like her is highly preferable than fighting mindless Grimm. It's just fun for us at this point."

"Fair point." Robert accepted. "So…"

"No, you didn't ruin the date," Coco said as she patted him on the shoulder.

"...So then we just see where it goes?"

"Oh, well it was fun… it really was, we might tell you what, I'm going to be busy with the Vytal Festival, I gotta get my team back in order, and well, win for Vale of course!. But after that… well, we might have a second date, and see where it goes from there." She offered.

"Ah," strangely enough, Robert wasn't at all saddened by her choice, nor did he find himself elated with it either. In all honesty, he was just like her, easy going, they were testing the waters, making sure, getting time to think about.

"Okay… sure." Robert answered.

"I'll see you there handsome, and you better get me gift once my team wins the tournament."

"We'll win it and I might," he said, to be honest this was better, because if they could have a date after the festival… then it might be a future where things don't go too wrong… maybe just maybe.

* * *

 **And there we go, a returning chapter and a decent ending. It's been a while since Rob had a mostly solo chapter. He is a main character after all, so he deserved some more spotlight.**

 **Or at least some more fun and chaos in his life. -CrowSkull**

 **Please review and let us know what you think!**

 **T w itter . com (slash) genatools**

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	48. A Tale of Two Heroes chapter 48

**And we are back. Apologies for the late update. School's been a thing still, breaks are scarce. You guys know the drill. We're back though! And we get to see what our favorite characters of this story are doing. Finally.**

* * *

 **Beta & Co-writer: CrowSkull**

* * *

A Tale of Two Heroes

Chapter 48- Conspiratory Vacationing

"What a day," Robert said to himself as he unzipped his coat and left it on his own private chair inside his room, it had been exhausting, but not the worst he had taken, another solid day of training, a date and as an added bonus another fight with Neo…

 _Could have been worse._ Robert thought to himself as he put all the stuff from his pockets on a nearby drawer, keys, check, wallet, check, earbuds, check, scroll, check, second scroll…

"Wait… since when did I have two scrolls?" He asked himself as he realized felt a second scroll inside one of his pockets, he quickly checked it and realized it wasn't his own, he pondered for a second as try and remember how or why it was there, but suddenly he remembered a little detail, during the fight with Neo, she reached for his pocket inside the container, and even before that on the restaurant…

 _Shit…_ Robert thought, this obviously wasn't good, now what to do? It could potentially be dangerous, maybe he should crush it… but then he wondered what would happen if it was designed as an explosive, he hadn't heard of scroll bombs before, but he also wasn't willing to bet on their unexistence, then again, why wait until now to trigger it? It didn't make any sort of sense. Even with all of that he was willing to bet it maybe was a good idea to just throw it out the window and zap it out of the air, just to be safe.

He made his way to open the window when the scroll opened by itself, Robert reacted, readying his aura just in case the scroll was actually a bomb, but instead an of that or someone appearing through the door or windows it just initiated a call.

" _Hello, Robert."_ Cinder called from the other side of the scroll. " _I do believe this is the first time we've talked."_

Robert stared aimlessly for a second before blinking and responding. His hidden surprise and shock being masked. "Uh-huh, what was your plan? Just talk? What if I decided to just end this little conversation?" He asked her.

" _You won't._ " She said with a confident smile on the screen. " _You are not like that, as far as I'm aware, you are the type to ask questions."_ She said.

Robert for his part hardened his stare, "Well, my question remains the same, what was your plan?" He asked.

" _Oh, pretty simple, I have a task to complete, that task is to gather the most information I can for my plans, I have all I need on Beacon, on the current teams, the teachers, on Ozpin and even on your friend Hector."_ She said with a smirk. " _Dear Rivers left himself as readable as an open book, even if our little helper hadn't done such a fantastic job of gathering information. There's just a little piece of the puzzle missing. You."_

"Am I supposed to believe I'm that important?" Robert asked her.

" _Hmm, I'll give you, you really aren't, our plans will continue regardless, but you have surpassed expectations before, at first I thought you would be an issue, but then you got sent to deal with Cassius's cult I thought for certain you'll die in the tunnels under the city, and apparently you almost did, but then you happened to survive and not only that you managed to kill Cassius and also destroy a Monarch."_ She said a bit more sternly. " _I believe you have become dangerous enough for me to consider a threat."_

"Well, sorry if wanted to find out more, but I'm not in the mood," Robert said as he walked towards the window.

" _Hmm, not even if it means more information on my master?_ " Cinder offered.

"Master?" Robert asked curiously.

" _He's the one that tasked me with finding more about you, personally, I've wondered why…"_ Cinder said.

"He?" Robert said slowly turning his vision to the scroll again, Cinder on her end smiled. "Aaron…"

"It appears you know him." She said.

" _Hayes, Hayes is your master?"_ Robert asked.

" _He is, for most part of my life, he taught me everything I know."_ Cinder said.

"And you just went along with it? He just found you one day and you didn't wonder that maybe this man was bad news? Never thought of the consequences? Never thought about what it would mean to the rest of the world?"

" _The rest of the world turned its back on me, everything I had when I was a little girl it decided to steal, I was nothing but a servant to others, a weakling, and that would have continued if he hadn't appeared, he saved me, while the rest of the world did nothing, why should I care for the rest of the world?"_ Cinder asked him.

"So from one slavery to another then?" Robert asked.

" _Please, he was the first to give me a choice, and from there I learned what I truly wanted, and it is rather simple, I don't want to be someone's blind servant again, I won't be someone for the rest to just mock… I won't be vulnerable again, I want to be powerful, and if I need to battle a kingdom to do it, then I will, it doesn't really matter if the kingdom survives or not."_

"Really? Just like that, doesn't matter if a kingdom full people maybe even in a similar situation to you would be doomed because of it, doesn't matter what will happen to the world after the fact?" Robert asked.

" _They might be in a similar situation, but they aren't me, why should I care directly about them? You know this as well, anyone that has been able to kill to save their own lives knows that sometimes is either you or them, I have a goal that I'm committed to do, it's what I desire, I'm just willing to go after it."_

"The powers of a Maiden? Would you really call that _your_ power? You would be just taking a shortcut, if you really wanted power then maybe you should have mastered a martial art or have done a better job."

" _There are no rules in this game Robert, you know that as well."_ Cinder said, but looked intrigued. " _You raise a point though. Tell me, what would you have done?"_

"For starters, I know the difference between blaming myself and the rest of the world, and I know that power doesn't necessarily come at the expense of thousands, every single time I was defeated on my own life, I got up on my own two feet and worked to get better, if I couldn't stand up to it, it was my fault and no one else's, I'm responsible for my own power, and most of all I know that out there there are people like me, that have been alone, and that can be better, and unlike you I've decide to help them when I can, they might not be me, but I've learned to grow without hurting others." Robert finished his monologue

" _... But it is never enough is it?"_ Cinder asked Robert's face didn't change. " _You can keep working on yourself for eternity, but there always seems to be someone else stronger, faster, or smarter right? Someone like Aaron, or maybe someone who is just more naturally talented. You know what it feels to be defeated, you feel useless, incapable, weak. I know the feeling."_ Cinder looked at him directly at the eyes. " _It's never gonna be enough is it? There's always gonna be something else."_ Cinder said with a curious expression on her face. " _Hah, seems he knew."_

"Knew what...?" Robert didn't get what she was meaning.

" _Aaron must have figured you out rather quickly, I thought he just tasked me to take care of a loose end, but no, it seems you want power as well. Albeit for your own reasons, very different from mine, but it seems we are not that different."_ She said with a smirk.

"We are nothing alike. I can promise you that."

" _We aren't exactly the same, but I understand now, hmm..."_ Cinder pondered. " _You know, I don't have anything against them. The people of Vale or even against you or your impossible friend, not personally, you just happen to be in my way. it would have been easier if you and Rivers hadn't stopped so many of our plans, but now it seems the rules have changed."_ She said.

"Then what will you do?" Robert asked.

"… _I'll be in touch."_ She said before ending the call. Robert felt a bead of sweat drop from his forehead, he realized he had reacted a bit hasty, it seems whatever he had said was enough for Cinder to understand him a bit better, it was true, he also didn't want to be weak or useless… maybe that was why it pissed him off how she decided to go about getting stronger, anyone that followed her example as a matter of fact.

He opened the window and was ready to throw the scroll and zap it, but in all honesty, this was a good opportunity to learn more…

 _Don't be stupid no, chances are you'll put people at risk._ He thought to himself, he still couldn't just throw the scroll, it felt like a lead, evidence… then maybe he should treat it as evidence.

With that he immediately called Ironwood, he had something that maybe they could analyze.

* * *

Hector yawned as he stretched his arms out to his sides as if he'd just finished an intense workout, and in all fairness he pretty much was. After holding those weights out to his sides in a T-pose position for about an hour would devastate anyone's muscles. Though, waking up to a passed out Ashley lead to an awkward moment when he had to carry the girl in his arms back to their room, only for him to find Reggie and Michael having sex in their room _again_.

Needless to say, he gave them a right scolding before he left Ashley on her bed and went off to go to yet another therapy session. Doctor Oobleck helpfully reminded him about it almost the exact moment he woke up, which was strange of course, but considering that Ozpin knows about Hell and the traits that come with the mental demon, it wasn't too strange to have him watched just in case anything bad happened like a forced transformation. The students at Beacon were strong, but Hell was just on another level in terms of raw strength, speed, and aggression. Regular students wouldn't stand much of a chance against him.

Even though at this current moment he couldn't use Kaioken — Well, he _could_ use it, only that with his weakened state he might endanger his life if he did so. He didn't see any reason to test out that theory, so in the case of a future emergency which he _knew_ was going to happen eventually, he wanted to make sure he was in good enough shape to handle the drawbacks of his ability.

He still remembered when he first unlocked it, during a spar against Yang. the heat and power that came from it was so exhilarating that he was barely able to feel the pain coming from his quite literally burning muscles. With Yang as an opponent, she only got stronger as they fought, and he just kept pushing himself in return. To his memory, the match was a draw. But it was exciting to think about the two of them recovering from their injuries from stopping the breach and fighting stronger than ever. Her semblance countered his, but in a way, his countered hers as well. It was a strange paradox that can only be proven by experiments, and with the upcoming tournament, there was a perfect stage just ready to be set up for them.

With the thought of Yang came a not quite uncomfortable yet concerning heat in his face. The two of them shared quite the exciting kiss before his mission, a kiss that he cannot deny he enjoyed. She very openly began to flirt with him as well. Which made it even harder for him to think about entering an official relationship with her when Ashley popped up in his mind again. The two of them being attracted to each other was something that went back to nearly the very start of their partnership. All the teasing, joking, and the subtle flirting throughout those months leading up to the dance would have made for a special night if Cinder and himself hadn't ruined it. For a while after his kidnapping, he thought the despised Ashley for her lying about being part of the White Fang, but his more logical side came through and made him realize that she just burned every bridge there was connected with the White Fang after she told him what she was and what she has been doing. If that wasn't enough, then the clear memory of her fighting alongside him against the White Fang in those tunnels in the damned Mountain Glenn district of Vale was enough to make him forgive her. During the mission, she kissed him as well. Not as heated or as deep as the one he shared with Yang, but with the equivalent effect.

"Never thought I'd be in this situation…" He complained to himself as he walked on through the hall, just around the corner was Ooblecks office. He wondered if Oobleck would be able to help him with these issues of his, if they could even be considered issues when there was Hell lurking about in his mind, Cinder and Aaron going nearly unchecked in Vale, and the entire Vytal Festival starting really soon. Somehow, the issue of choosing between Ashley and Yang was the one that popped up to the fore of his mind.

He made it to Ooblecks office and knocked on the door three times before he could crack his knuckles against the wood a fourth time the professor-doctor opened it and greeted him with a warm happy smile. "Mister Rivers! I've been wondering when you were going to show up. Just in time as well, come in, come in!"

Hector snickered lightly as he stepped into the office and allowed himself to be lead to the same comfortable couch that he sat in during his earlier appointments with the man. Or rather he should say appointment, as in singular. Thankfully, Oobleck wasn't forceful with these sessions and was willing to wait until he was ready to come in to speak to him, but this time around it looked like Ozpin was the one who wanted this to happen. Not that there was anything wrong with that. Hector was going to come in either today or tomorrow anyway.

"Sorry it took a while, how have you been?" Hector asked, opening up with casual conversation.

"As well as a professor of Beacon could be," Oobleck shrugged as he held a tired smile. "And no need to apologize Mister Rivers, these sessions aren't meant to cause you stress. I dare say you have conquered your trauma in Mountain Glenn after your most recent mission."

"If you count frantically pushing a bomb into a bottomless chasm conquering my trauma, then sure." Hector shared a laugh with the doctor. "What happened to me in Glenn is always going to be with me in some way or another. But I won't go crying every time it's mentioned."

"Good, good," Oobleck said as he scribbled down some notes on a very large notepad dedicated all to him. A part of Hector thought that was equally creepy as it was impressive. But it was more of the latter in reality since the green-haired eccentric man before him was a registered doctor. "That is great to know Mister Rivers, if I may ask a question for the purpose of my independent research, what is the ruined city like?"

Hector sighed as he made himself remember what he saw. "It's almost like it's out of a movie, but worse. The buildings are old and look like they are about to collapse any second, and everywhere you look it's like a ghost down. Or it would be that way if there weren't Grimm all over the place…"

"I see. I won't make you answer any more of my questions. Instead, what of this passive ability you've suddenly gained?"

Hector tilted his head in confusion. "Sudden ability?"

"I am speaking of this," Oobleck turned his computer screen so that it faced him. The clip played automatically and showed off a familiar scene. It was when a Grimm snuck up on him during the mission he just went on, the Grimm sniffed him a bit, even rubbing its snout on parts of his body, before moving past him and attacking his friends. "And this," Hector winced as he saw the video of him transforming into Hell, his hair was dark grey and his skin as a snow-white. He never saw what he looked like when he transformed, but he didn't know he looked nearly exactly like Hell. The video went on and showed him controlling the Grimm, making them move away from his friends while killing them mercilessly. The Grimm didn't even try to fight back, and the ones that did met a swift end to their lives. The clip skipped a few frames and cut to him transforming back to normal and being helped back up by Robert, where the video cut off perfectly on frame with his very human-looking face.

"Oh…" Hector didn't know if Oobleck was _allowed_ to know this, and therefore didn't know what to say. "That."

"Yes," Oobleck kept a kind smile on his face, it helped Hector relax as the professor turned his computer back around and leaned forward on his desk. "That. I am not mad at you or anything of the sort, in fact I can well and truly say that I am _fascinated_."

"Fascinated?" Hector found himself well and truly surprised.

"Yes!" Oobleck boomed with joyful laughter. "You've presented a way to control the Grimm, this development is _revolutionary_. With your ability, if it is honed, can open up more opportunities to a number of possibilities. I dare say expansion, even."

Hector widened his eyes slightly. "Wait, I don't control that." He told him. "Do you know of the… _other_ me?"

Oobleck's smile faltered slightly, but he remained as calm and collected as he usually is and nodded his head grimly. "I do, Ozpin has saw fit to inform me. I assume the video of you fighting the Grimm is him?"

Hector sighed through his nose as he nodded his head.

"I figured, though my point still remains. I believe you can do a lot of good in this world, Mister Rivers, you and this 'Hell' character you share a body and mind with. Besides, if this other you was as horrible as you imply, I dare say you would have returned from that mission alone, and in chains with a terrible burden on your shoulders."

"Hell is…" Hector struggled to find the words to describe him. "He is someone I can't really get a bead on. He hasn't been talking or even appearing recently."

"Appearing?" Oobleck asked.

"Sometimes he walks around, but I'm the only one who can see him." Hector quickly explains. "I can't really say if we're friends or not, but I can say that while he is much stronger than I am, I can still manage to control him as long as I am mentally strong enough."

"So he becomes taxing on your mind?" Oobleck asked as he tore out a brand new piece of paper and began to write on it.

"When we are disagreeing on something. Yes." He replied.

"What happens when you agree on something?"

"Stuff like stopping a train with our bare hands," Hector said with a snicker as he rubbed his hands together, the lingering phantom pains flowing around his palms. He hasn't thought about it that often, but holding back and stopping a train, even with help, has to be the greatest feat of strength any human can get to in this world. Even if technically Hell might not be human, it was still a feat to be considered. "I don't know what we are truly capable of, but if we worked together then I am sure we can do even greater things than that."

"I do as well." Oobleck agreed. "The ability to remain invisible to Grimm and even control them must be shocking to you."

"Somewhat," Hector shrugged. "Back in Glenn, I was only invisible to the Grimm. I thought it was weird at first but at the time I wasn't that concerned with it. I thought that I had to stop the White Fang and that was the only thing that I was thinking about."

"Have you ever tried to control them?" Oobleck asked next."

"I… no," Hector answered honestly. "I never tried to control them as I am now. I never tried."

"Interesting, do you think they refuse to attack you because of this link you have with Hell?"

"Maybe, I haven't thought about it too much. On top of the mission, I just went on with my team I've been trying to train my body enough to handle my semblance again. I know I can still activate it, but I don't want to kill myself trying."

"Understandable, very understandable." Oobleck scribbled down some more notes. "And can you still use your semblance?"

"I think so…" Memories of Hell using it against the Grimm back in Merlots laboratory went through his mind. "No, I know I can. If not then I don't know how Hell would be able to use it."

"Nothing is impossible, as they say." Oobleck smiled. "Have you tried using it again? What do you call it… the Kaio-something for certain."

Hector laughed. "Kaioken is just the name I gave it, its something of a reference to one of my favorite shows you can say. But no, I haven't tried using it again ever since the train incident."

"I think you should try again sometime soon, not right now," Oobleck amended quickly. "But with a semblance like yours, you are going to want access to it without having to rely on Hell in the case of an emergency. Perhaps there is more to it then you know." Oobleck scratched his chin in thought. "Perhaps your semblance is more than just a power-up in strength and speed, but also in something else… I will have to do more research on it if you will allow me too."

"Wait, you've done research on me?" Hector asked.

"Of course, I do research on every student's semblance. Yours is especially interesting, I once thought that it was purely a multiplier in your physical stature, but I am suspecting that there is more to it than just what is on the exterior. What I mean is that I would like to watch you train with it active perhaps. In a spar or just to see how far you can really go. Of course, I need your permission before I can invade what may be considered your private time."

"I…" Hector thought for a moment. But other than some minor awkwardness at the knowledge of being watched, there was really no reason to say no. "I suppose so, as long as you don't get too crazy with it."

"Wonderful!" Oobleck exclaimed. Just as he did so, his scroll alarm went off. "And just in time too, I would like to ask you some more questions about Hell and your Kaio-whatever, but I will not keep you here any longer than I should. It is getting late anyway."

"Next time, then," Hector promised as he stood up from the comforts of the chair.

Oobleck gave his goodbyes to him and once again told him that if he needed to contact him soon to do it without hesitation. That he would make time for him just in case it was something urgent. Which was nice, Hector supposed. But right now there was a more pressing concern as he wandered back through the same hallways he used to get to Ooblecks office only to see a very heavily guarded man being Ironwood followed by Winter Schnee and her being followed by another. That other being his friend.

"I feel like there is something more to this than what I see," Hector said as he blinked once or twice. He wondered if he should go join that little parade, but he was tired and sore, and tired in a different way, and then they started walking toward him and all lines of choice he had were thoroughly ripped away from him when Robert noticed him just standing there gawking like an idiot wondering what to do.

"Hey! Hector!" Robert walked towards him. "This is rather good timing, you should know about this as well."

"Know about what now?" Hector pretended to yawn. "I'm a little tired, can we save this for later?"

Robert ignored his obvious attempt to deflect his concerns. "Yesterday I got in a fight, in that fight, someone decided to slip a scroll into my pocket and then after the day is done, I received a call… from good ol' Glassy."

Hector nodded his head and rubbed a hand down half of his face. "Of course you did…" He muttered silently. "Okay, tell me about it."

"She basically called me and is trying to figure me out, maybe I'm the next person they would like to kidnap, point it is they are on the move," Robert said. "And I decided it was a good idea to warn Ironwood and Ozpin about it, maybe we can actually track them down… maybe we can hunt them before the festival starts." He finished.

"Oh," Hector suddenly felt himself grow more awake as he realized what Robert was getting at here.

"Mister Urra has been trying to convince us on the matter," Winter said. "Since you share the same experiences as he, we decided it would be healthy to confirm with you."

"Well... I can't really say no to what he's said so far." Hector said, glancing over to Ironwood who he found staring at him for confirmation. "A lot of things happen, but the disaster begins with Penny."

"I suspected as much," Ironwood said as he ran a hand through his hair. "We found the virus that was implanted that day during the dance, but it has proved much more difficult to crack than we originally thought. Every software and code has another three sets of software and codes to break through before we can even get through the first layer just to _see_ what the virus does. I've seen fit to remove my mechanical soldiers as a result, because whoever made that virus clearly has experience working on Atlas tech, and therefore Penny may be vulnerable as a result."

"I understood some of that," Hector admitted. "Is Penny still here in Beacon? If so we can-"

"I am still here Friend!" Penny answered his questioned as she came up from behind him and squeezed him tight to her metal body. Despite how the android looked on the outside, there was almost nothing that was soft on her body. Which meant that the two mounds pressed into his back was not anything soft, but hard metallic objects. "Thank you for expressing your concern about my well being. Come! All of you!" She said as she carried him like he was a little boy in her powerful arms as she started walking off. "We shall speak in private!"

"As you say," Ironwood said as he followed with a natural smile. His guards minus Winter stayed behind while Robert followed as well. After leaving the building and entering Ozpin's tower, Penny carrying Hector the entire time and crushing his lungs while doing so, they entered not Ozpins office, but the office that was provided for Ironwood during his stay here in Beacon.

Once they all settled in Penny let Hector go and he fell into one of the seats panting. "Penny!" He exclaimed indignantly. "What did I say about doing that?"

"To always do it!

"NO!"

"To get back on topic," Robert interrupted, though couldn't quite hide the amused smirk he had on his face. "Our enemy is on the move, and they really don't seem to care about whatever changes we may have done to their plan or our security, they are moving. They contacted me directly in fact, and if there's a chance we can track them I say we should consider it."

"And we're not doing this already why?" Hector asked Ironwood.

"It is not as simple to track these villains as it may seem," The General said.

"Firstly, we may not know if the scroll Robert handed into us will even lead to an accurate location of where they might be. Keep in mind that this is Aaron Hayes and Cinder Fall we are speaking of," Winter explained for Ironwood. "They will not let themselves be found so easily, unless they _want_ to be found that is."

"Simply put, we do have some engineers working on finding out potential hideouts, but even if we were to find and raid one, who's to say that they'd even be there? If it'd be a trap? It is just not worth the risk, especially when considering the strength of those we are hunting."

"We can't just wait and see what happens," Hector argued. "You know what happens if we sit back and do nothing, bad things happen. Real bad things."

"I am aware, thanks to Roberts forewarned message to us." Ironwood nodded to Robert as he said that. "We aren't doing nothing, I assure you that we are taking every precaution that we can, which involves barring Miss Polendina from entering the Vytal Festival tournament."

"I am not disheartened by this development," Penny said as Robert and Hector looked to her with sympathetic eyes. "If it means that the innocents of Vale are safer, I would gladly not join the tournament."

"That's… good to hear, I suppose." Hector said with a nod. "So if… _that_ is out of the way, then there has to be some other way that it starts. If it even is starting. So many things are different from what Rob and I know that I don't even know if they knew that Penny is an android or not in the first place."

"They don't… they only realized once they tapped into the General's scroll, with a couple warnings this was avoided, but… chaos is really easy to cause, they might get bold and attack Amity Arena directly, if not maybe Vale." Robert said.

"Ozpin and I have already taken that into consideration, and prepared for it." Ironwood began. "There are more huntsman in Vale than there has ever been before, no matter what bulk force the White Fang may bring, they will not be able to beat them back. And that is not even considering the Vale Defense force and my Atlesian Marines.

"So many Huntsmen and other forces and yet we can't find Hayes…" Robert muttered to himself.

"What does Hayes gain from this anyway?" Hector asked, hearing him. "If he's from Earth like us, then what could he gain from making another world suffer?"

"He's been here far longer than either of us, but… Cinder did manage to tell me something about him, apparently he is her master… and yes we are talking of a master and apprentice dynamic." Robert said

"I sort of figured that," Hector said. "While I was fighting him I think he kept referring to Cinder as 'dear'. It was obvious that he was familiar with her at least."

"So we can add surrogate father as well then maybe… Cinder told me that Aaron 'saved her'." Robert held up air quotes as he said that. "So they are obviously close."

"I see, this is good to know," Ironwood said. "Perhaps we can use that against them."

"Unless anyone else knows more about Hayes, I cannot say what he really wants, if he's similar to Cinder, then power, but the exact reason… I don't know." Robert said.

"Aaron is an oddity," Hector continued. "We don't know who he is, we don't know what he might be thinking. Before what happened in Mountain Glenn, we didn't even know he existed. Which worries me… if we don't know what he is planning, then maybe we've been going about it all wrong." He looked at Robert. "What if what we know is only what we _think_ we know. This isn't the same show we watched, this is a reality now. Things have already changed as it is, the Monarch, us being here, Team HAMR, Penny staying in Beacon, Hell, I can count off some more, but I'm sure you get the gist of it."

"Things have changed, and the past and future are different I know that, but they still have tried the same tactics as what we thought, we prevented two opportunities for chaos, problem is… they might adapt."

"If this is true… then the information you've provided us so far may be deemed as unreliable." Penny said. "Not that it is your fault, but a theory is still a theory."

"We work with what we are given," Robert said crossing his arms.

"Time travel is a bitch," Hector agreed.

"I am glad that we had this conversation," Ironwood added. "I will push Ozpin to bulk the security as much as we can, and in the case that a tragedy on stage happens, I shall institute a kill switch to any streaming services that would be transmitting the broadcast."

"... I possibility would be to transfer Amber somewhere else." Robert said.

"I am afraid that we cannot do that," Ironwood shook his head. "The moment the fall maiden is unplugged from those machines, she will die and that power will go straight to the one who nearly killed her. For obvious reasons, we cannot allow that to happen."

"... Her life really turned for the worse, now she's not even capable of choosing her own fate." Robert said, more introspectively than anything else, she had become a chess piece more than anyone else, and even now, even he was looking at her and thinking of ways to make sure people didn't get her powers… even if it cost her life. Why did he look at her as just an object… was he that afraid? He wondered about it.

"Ozpin will be there to protect her if anything happens, he's already stated as such," Ironwood said. "We may very well expect Hayes and Cinder to go after Amber during a potential attack, and if I know Ozpin I know he will do _anything_ to not let that happen."

 _Anything_ was the keyword there, but no one was willing to admit how far Ozpin would actually go.

"What about the tournament?" Robert asked. "Is there a possibility it can be canceled?"

"And anger a large percentage of the world?" Ironwood smiled sadly. "I'm afraid not, the negativity that would produce would be enough to attract Grimm, maybe not as much Grimm, but I will not gamble with the lives of innocents. Though, since we are on that topic." Ironwood looked to Hector. "Mister Urra is relatively safe from such a possibility since he is not a student, but you sir, are. Will you be participating in the tournament?"

"My team wants to, so naturally, I will be," Hector nodded his head.

"I will not stop you, but I implore you to be careful. We know that Aaron Hayes is interested in both you and Robert Urra for some reason, I prefer not to find out what that reason maybe."

"What are you suggesting General?" Penny asked.

"I am suggesting that perhaps, if Aaron is truly the one running all of the nefarious operations down in Vale, that he will try something while you are out in the open on that stage. I don't know what that may be, but watch out for yourself." Ironwood said.

"I will," Hector nodded in understanding and gulped nervously. "I'll have my team with me the whole time, but in the case something happens and they try to do something while I'm on stage, have your men on high alert."

"Will do," Ironwood accepted easily. "The tournament is at the end of this week, so we still have time to plan for the worst-case scenarios. In that time, prepare yourselves as well.

"I'll be around as well, I have friends in the Vale Defense Force as well, so I'll also be calling on some favors, and also generally patrolling," Robert said.

"And I shall help Friend Hector regain his semblance!" Penny exclaimed.

"Wait, since when did I agree to that?"

"Are you disagreeing?"

"Well… no."

"Then it is settled." Winter stood up and nodded her head toward them all. "Thank you for your continued cooperation. There is much to do, and the General has spent enough time as it is." She then stared directly at Robert. "And _you_ have some… affairs, to see to. I'm sure you know what I mean…"

Robert gulped, suddenly nervous. "You… seem invested in that." He said with a shudder.

"I am," Winter replied, completely honest. "She is my sister, after all."

Not even Ironwood thought it was a good idea to confront her on that front.

Robert sighed with his head downwards. "What do you expect?"

"From you, I don't know. I'm half tempted to see if what kind of influence you are on her. You are supposed to be an assistant and a friend after all, however this goes it should help her grow right?."

"Uh…"

"But I'm also half tempted to strangle you."

"... I uh…"

Robert hung his head.

Hector made a whipping sound with his mouth through his sudden spike of fear, and everything went downhill from there.

* * *

 **And there we go, a shorter chapter but not one any less important. There is a lot of information packed into this one, and if you guys and girls read into it you might be able to figure out what we are planning. Most of you probably won't figure it out, but it would be a fun experience either way.**

 **Please review and let me know what you think of the story so far!**

 **T w itter . com (slash) genatools**

 **P a treon . com (slash) Genatools**


	49. Chapter 49

**Don't panic, don't panic, we are still alive. Sorry for the unprecedented break CrowSkull and I totally planned to take, but life has called and made things difficult for both of us. Tests, work, and me being a supervisor also makes things a little hard for us to find a good time for us to write this story together. But don't worry, we got this. Part of my master plan was to give us some time to think about the rest of this volume.**

 **Exams, exams… and more exams… -CrowSkull.**

* * *

 **Beta & Co-writer: CrowSkull**

* * *

A Tale of Two Heroes

Chapter 49- A Beginning to Remember

Hector groaned as he stretched his arm out to one side and held it up with the other. Feeling the muscles creak and the sores in his fibers was slightly painful, but it wasn't anything close to the pain he felt when he stopped the train headed for Vale. Across from him was Reggie, in full metal form and cracking his knuckles with a smug grin on his face. Being the strongest physically on their team without Hector using his own team, there were hopes that he would somehow be able to force an activation of the Kaioken in order to return Hector to his former strength so that he didn't have to rely on Hell in dire situations like he did back on Merlots island.

Of course, there was still the lingering concern on if Hector was even healthy enough to use Kaioken without simply harming himself even further, but with the Vytal festival tournament just a handful of hours away at this point, there was simply no more time to spare. Hector didn't know what would happen tomorrow, or the day after, but he knew that in the worst-case scenario that Beacon is attacked, he would need to be at a hundred percent, not less than half like he has been ever since he was rescued from Mountain Glenn.

After letting out a deep breath, the leader of Team HAMR let his teammate know that he was ready to begin by entering a boxing-like stance. Upon catching the hint, Reggie drew his large battle-ax with one hand and with a squeeze on one of the many triggers on the handle of the weapon activated a lava dust crystal. Making the weapon drip with liquid flames.

Michael, who was acting as the referee had a whistle in his mouth and looked to each of the combatants. Behind him were the mostly empty seats of the very large set of bleachers that would usually be reserved for Miss Goodwitch's combat class. The fact that there were ten people consisting of teams RWBY and JNPR plus Penny and the dark-skinned girl that was supposed to be her partner excluding Ashley hardly made the bleachers look full at all. They were told of and invited to come watch Hector's desperate struggle, and of course Nora took it to the next level and not only accepted the invite, but even had Ren stitch together a whole banner to stretch out across themselves that has the simple words "YOU CAN DO IT" in all red capital letters.

Among the quite large list of friends that Hector was able to boast of, Robert was among the many that were absent. Though that was to be expected, since two of his friends, Seth and Miara, were supposedly coming to Beacon that day. That wasn't going to put a dent on Hector's goal here, however, there was no holding back here, and when Michael blew the whistle and flipped out of the arena, Hector grit his teeth and stepped forward and twisted his body to the side and used both of his gauntlets to block and deflect the edge of Reggies hot battle-ax.

The fire effect didn't stop there, and despite his weight and size, Reggie proved to be much faster than one would expect. With each step and with each swing, his sheer weight cracked the tiled floor of the arena as he did battle with his leader. Hector used his natural dodging skills to avoid the attacks as they came one after the other, trying to counter each time there was an opening caught by his eye but each of his punches did little more than bounce off Reggie's metal skin or simply push the other man away. He didn't have the required strength to actually be able to do any damage to the sheer cold metal. At the same time, his eyes were still brown and he was still just as strong as he was at the beginning of the fight.

The metal man showed him his mistake as the fight went on, moving with the ax in one fluid and constant motion and building more speed and momentum behind his attacks, wide and fluid strikes one after the other in different directions, both vertically and horizontally, Hector couldn't disengage without possible consequences. Reggie continued his relentless assault against his leader, not giving him a single moment to try and use the abilities that Ebony and Ivory were capable of, beads of sweat started to run down Hector's brow as they continued to spar, but it was clear to everyone that he was slowly running out of gas.

Eventually, instead of dodging he had to start blocking the attacks. Which drained him off even more of his stamina. Reggie started moving like a blur, and his patience was tested. Having enough of being forced on the defensive, Hector suddenly stepped into Reggie's attack, blocking him from having enough wind up to cause relevant damage to his aura and then grabbed the staff of the battle-ax. If Reggie was ready for it, he might have been able to stop him from twisting his own weapon out of his hands and temporarily using it as his own to slash away at the metal man.

Reggie smirked as he caught the edge of his own ax, his metal skin proving more than durable enough to block the attack with little to no damage to his aura. Hector sighed through his nose and prepared himself for the punch that came and pelted him in the temple. Not staying on the ground longer than what was forced into his head during his training, he rolled through the forced and maneuvered himself back onto his feet using the momentum that Reggie was so very kind to give to him.

"Break!" Michael called out before Reggie could continue his assault. He stopped and let out a deep breath and walked out to the side of the arena. Despite being most dominant in the fight, maintaining his semblance took a lot out of him in terms of stamina. He thirstily inhaled the water down into his stomach as a bottle was thrown to him. "You aren't even trying to activate it, Hector," Michael said, disappointed. "How are we going to know if you can still use it if you don't even bother to activate it?"

Hector spat to the side and crossed his arms indignantly as a response to the scolding.

"It's not as simple as simply shouting 'Kaioken' and bursting into flames. There's more to it, I just don't think I'm confident enough to activate it right now." He defended.

"Then you're going to be at a harsh disadvantage come tomorrow." Michael pointed out.

"Is there a way that confidence can be restored if Friend Hector battles someone who can make him feel the necessary excitement that is required to use such an ability?" Penny asked. Beside her, Ciel, her partner, patiently sat in her seat with her arms crossed, not once saying any words besides greeting others and introducing herself. Eventually, everyone else just decided to give her the space that she so obviously desired.

"Hey, I was winning there!" Reggie exclaimed.

"Sure you were," Michael said with a roll of his eyes. "That's why you're currently guzzling water down faster than Ruby can run across the room and back, hm?"

Reggie pouted and crossed his arms with an indignant moan.

"You were winning at first, but all he has to do is wait you out until you run out of stamina," Michael explained.

"So what, I need is a new sparring partner?" Hector asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Ooo, ooo. I know someone who can help!" Ruby exclaimed as she waved her hand like she was in class.

Michael, like the faux teacher he was, went on to point at her and nod his head.

"Let's have someone really strong fight against him, like Pyrrha!"

"Huh?" Pyrrha perked up from her daydream.

"An understandable choice," Michael said. "But perhaps not the correct one. I know Pyrrha would be able to make Hector go all out, but the only reason he was able to keep up with her at first was because of his semblance. Without it, I'm pretty sure she'd wipe the floor with him pretty easily."

"H-hey now." Pyrrha laughed nervously. "Let's not get make assumptions now-"

"No, I totally agree with him," Hector called out. "Without it, I don't think I'd stand a chance against you, especially when you could literally pick me up by my arms with your semblance and throw me around like a ragdoll."

"I wouldn't do that!"

" _Please_ do that!" Nora exclaimed. "I have to see that now!"

"Nora, down," Ren said as he grabbed Nora by the top of her head and pulled her back down from where she stood.

"What about me?" Ashley asked next, ignoring the wrestling match Nora was trying to start with Ren behind her. "I've been training with my semblance a lot recently, I feel like I'd be able to push him."

"Close, but we need someone more aggressive and can take more than a few hits before going down," Michael said as he gave an apologetic nod toward his teammate. "Sorry Ashley, but in the case Hector does unlock his semblance again by fighting you, if he lands a hit on you and your aura breaks, no one wants to know what you'd look like after that."

Understanding, Ashley's dog ears flopped down to the side of her head as she opted to remain silent from there on out.

"Which only leads out just one more person…" Michael looked up to the head of blonde hair just taunting him with her stare. "One blonde person who has remained suspiciously silent throughout this whole thing… Jaune-"

"Nope, I'm good." Jaune immediately said with a shake of his head.

"I think you meant Yang," Weiss said with a soft snicker.

"I might have…" Michael sighed. "Though I don't want my leader to get _too_ excited-"

"No, no, that's cool." Yang suddenly said as she stood up, not giving Michael the chance to tease her like he was just about to do. "Sure, I'd be willing to knock some of those screws back in place. I've always wanted to have that rematch with you Hex!"

"And I _really_ look forward to it," Hector said, lacking any of the enthusiasm one would usually have when being picked out to fight Yang. Besides him, in class when anyone except Pyrrha being put up against Yang usually ended in the blonde girls' very fast victory. And it was very well known that his and Yang's semblances were similar to each other, one getting stronger as they get hit and the other getting stronger as the fight goes on. After their first explosive battle, there was no telling what it would look like now that the two of them were mostly fully recovered and healthy enough to spar again and at the peak of their strengths at their current age.

Ashley hid her disappointment in the seemingly unanimous decision to let Yang have a go at Hector within her smile. Sure, they weren't _together_ , but she was still a teenage girl and could still feel a little jealous. After finding out from Ruby of all people that Yang had a little moment with her partner before the Merlot mission, she… couldn't and still can't be mad at Yang for that. As far as she knew at the time, Hector despised her for the lies she told. Though that thought was dead and gone now. Her partner needed this and she wouldn't get in his way, even if it feels like she's letting another girl take what she feels is hers to begin with.

Again, Hector found himself stretching his arms and chest while across from him, Yang warmed herself up by taking a few practice swings in the air as she shadow-boxed a mental image. He hasn't fought Yang in a long time, though he always knew that her semblance would always be able to keep up with his. She was one of the few people he was able to be confident in fighting against his darker self, Hell, and might be able to stand a chance considering just how much strength and power she would gain from Hell attacking her. While safely assuming that she'd be able to tank them in the first place, of course.

"Alright…" Hector said as he took on a stance again, though this one was much more aggressive than the one he took against Reggie. Against an opponent like Yang, defense was not going to work, which also made it difficult because you _had_ to attack her in some way if you wanted a hope of winning the battle, combine that with his semblance if he hypothetically had it and they really wanted to hurt the other, then there really was no telling what would happen.

"Don't hold back on me," Yang warned him as she clicked Ember Celica into its assault form. "Because it's for your own good that I go all out too." She added with a smirk.

"Dunno if you could handle it," He teased, more than knowing that his attacks wouldn't be nearly as strong without his semblance at the moment.

"Oh, well see." Yang teased back as she took a stance of her own just a few feet away from him. She inched her way toward him while he stood his ground as bravely as one could. They stayed at a fingers length away from each other for many seconds, staring into each other's eyes as well as the other arm muscles for any telegraphed attacks.

The moment that Michael blew the whistle, the fight was on.

Immediately, Hector was re-introduced to the aggressive fighting style that Yang has adopted over many years of training she has undergone. Their first punches met in the middle, and fist clashed against fist, creating a small invisible shockwave that blew away their hair. Already, Hector could feel the slight increase in Yang's strength as her aura and semblance absorbed the force and added it into her power reserves.

Right after that, Hector backpedaled as Yang pushed forward, fists moving so fast that his eyes were barely able to keep up with them. Every hook was followed by a jab and every jab was followed by a flurry, and sometimes even a low kick, his initial response was to stay out of reach, but he reminded himself that he needed to attack her, and so he met her halfway blocking and countering where he could. His gauntlets took blow after blow as he made to defend himself, and each counter he threw back was surprisingly met with not even an attempt to block or deflect. Yang smirked as his gauntlet smashed against her cheek, and smirked again when he slammed his fist into her stomach. Taking damage, but at the same time getting stronger because of it at the same time.

It was very back and forth at first. Yang and Hector were pretty much equal to each other at this point, and their strength matched the others. But clearly, Yang held the distinct advantage in hand to hand combat, not stopping and pushing harder every time, and her semblance also gave her the edge as well the more she let Hector clash against her body.

Eventually, Yang's strength became more than what Hector could handle, and the next time their fists clashed, Hector winced as he felt his elbow become forcibly bent as Yang overpowered him. He stepped back as the attacks became faster, and again when some of them grazed or connected with him. After another opening was made, fire formed around Hector's gauntlet as he felt his heartbeat hard and hotly all the way up into his ears. He roared as his flaming fist connected against Yang's, not increasing the strength of the attack, but increasing the damage it caused.

Yang winced as she felt the heat scald through her gloves, and her aura rush to go heal the burn marks. His other fist, imbued with an ice dust crystal, rushed up and palmed her in the stomach. Pushing her away, while also slowing her down in the process as many small ice crystals formed from the sheen of sweat she had on her belly. Confused, Yang bolstered the effects of her semblance, increasing her body heat and beginning to melt off the crystals faster.

Two punches were connected to her chin and collarbone next, and suddenly Yang found herself on the back foot as electricity and even more ice slowed down her movements. She wondered for a moment why she didn't think of adding more than one dust effect to her own gauntlets as Hectors crackled with lightning and had a mist of blue on each arm respectively. The utility of Ebony and Ivory stretched out far, and while it was good that Hector was adapting, his eyes were still brown. Which meant that he just found a way to get around from using his semblance.

Yang's eyes became red at the realization, whether he was doing it on purpose or not, he was practically just wasting both of their time as they sparred against each other now. Something in that made Yang angry, and her eyes turned red as a result of her semblance being amplified even further.

The next lightning infused punch that was thrown at her, Yang growled and caught it with one hand, squeezing it as she _glared_ into Hector's still brown eyes.

"Oh…" Hector realized his mistake.

"What's wrong?" Yang teased as she continued to hold his fist stuck where it was. "I thought you were stronger than this!" She screamed as she reeled back her other fist, and firmly planted it in his stomach.

He felt the air from his lungs burst out from his mouth as the force of Yang's punch lifted him off his feet and threw him across the ring. He landed hard and couldn't roll through the force this time. Just barely keeping himself in bounds by digging his gauntlets into the floor to slow himself down. He coughed a few times as he held his stomach in pain, but taking his eyes off his opponent proved to be yet another mistake.

Along with strength, Yang became faster as well. Closing the distance between her and Hector quickly, she grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and threw him over her shoulder. He landed in front of her and on his back, another pained yelp escaping from his lips as he did so.

Michael narrowed his eyes from the sideline, Yang was being more brutal than she usually is, and against Hector whom he knew she was quite fond of, he prepared himself to use his semblance to break the two apart just in case.

"Come on!" Yang screamed out in a frustrated tone as she stomped down next to right where Hector's head used to be. She stomped down four more times with each foot, almost catching him with each one as he rolled away. Quickly, he shot himself up to his feet and snarled at her as he grew more angry. Taking her early assault as an offense to his inner ego and blocking her next punch with both hands. He felt his arms shake and muscles clench as he held off Yang's strength with two hands. Being distracted just long enough for Yang to clench her other fist, and throw it against his face.

Her increased strength sent him back down to one knee with a grunt, a blood leaking out of his nose.

Yang noticed the blood and widened her eyes, afraid that she went too far.

Red fire burst from Hector's body and engulfed his aura, the sudden shine of light surprised Yang and had her crossing her arms across her face and backing up as a result. When her eyes got used to the shine, she cracked them open and stared forward.

Right into another pair of red eyes. Hector did it, he managed to activate his semblance again.

Unfortunately, he was also not in a good mood.

Unafraid, Yang snickered and charged right back in. roaring as she threw another punch from over her shoulder. However, this time she was the one who had her fist caught in a hand as Hector raised one hand to block her attack.

He smirked as she struggled to pull her hand back.

"Kaioken," He whispered.

"Kaio what?" Yang echoed.

Hector reeled back one fist and _smashed_ it into Yang's cheek, she twisted through the air and landed on her side, a bruise forming on her cheek. Rushing to her own defense, she crossed her arms and prepared for more pain.

Instead of pain, what she saw through her arms was Hector looking down at his own body, the flames of his semblance didn't hurt as much this time around, and all the recovery training he has done since his injuries yielded quite the reward.

"This…" Hector laughed as he clenched and unclenched his fists experimentally. "This is amazing! Haha! I've never felt this strong before."

"Congratulations…" Yang said with a wince as she let her own semblance turn off. Feeling the fatigue and rush of pain that soreness that came with it.

A sudden round of applause was heard from the side, more specifically at the door, Hector looked back and saw Robert there alongside two people he could only guess were Seth and Miara, they also started clapping and then the rest of his friends started clapping as well, Ruby and Nora started to cheer.

"I see you finally got it back!" Robert called out, he was idly looking at the screen with the aura meters, glad he was keeping his aura more or less stable.

"About damn time," Hector agreed as he continued to let his strength grow. The red flames had a tint of purple to it, a reminder that there was a darker presence within the ability, but the achievement couldn't be brushed over. It was feared that he wouldn't have been able to use it again at all because of his injuries, and look at him now. "This feels amazing…" He muttered to himself almost unconsciously.

"I'll take your word for it as I doubt anyone else has your semblance." Robert with a quiet snicker.

"So… that's your friend Sparky?" Miara asked as she came around the corner, putting an arm on Robert's shoulder causing him to immediately sulk, he never liked the nickname Sparky.

"Taller than I thought I'll give you that, you didn't mention the weird flames either Sparky," Seth said next to him, joining in on the fun.

"I'm never ever going to live past that aren't I?" Robert asked both of them.

"Oh," Hector blinked his eyes and just like that, his semblance winked out as his focus was directed elsewhere. "So you're the two that's been keeping that fucker alive, eh?"

"You know what?" Seth pointed to Hector lazily. "Yes. For a matter of fact we are, and you my friend, are my brand new friend."

"Excuse me what?! It was a team effort last time I checked." Robert said, raising his voice slightly in offense.

"Nah, that guy with the thick Windpath accent definitely carried us all to victory," Seth said with a chuckle.

Robert looked back at him in a mix of offense, disgust, and shock, he thought back at the upsidedown tower, the water Grimm and the Dust Wraith, who fuking killed the Monarch and the leader of the Chorus of Dawn, who had done all of that? _Oh right, nobody knows, it's supposed to be classified._ Robert thought to himself. Still with his face of disgust at Seth.

"Fuck you very much." He said to him.

"Nah, I'll pass on that," Seth said with a chuckle. "So, is it normal for kids to catch on fire these days? Because I just saw two fight each other while on fire without dying."

"I mean she does practically the same, only her fire is Neon," Robert said pointing at Miara, she just shrugged in response.

"You get used to it after a while!" Hector called out as he made his way back to his team and friends, celebrating with each other on an important victory in regaining his semblance once again.

"Man, what happened to the simple times?" Seth groaned. "Back in the days when it was just a good ol' targeting semblance and _I_ was the special one. Man, I'm suddenly more glad I decided not to become a huntsman."

"Exactly, you went to the place where you were the only one considered 'special'," Robert said to him as he held up air quotes.

"Ouch, much ouch Urra, that was just the lowest I've seen you go," Seth said back at him.

"Well, he might be actually higher rank pretty soon," Miara said, running a finger up Seth's arm, Robert had figured this out for a while, but it became clear that both have gotten high on a bit of romance of their own. They stared a bit too much into each other's eyes too.

"Just how much fucking have you two been doing?" Robert asked both of them. They separated slightly, looking slightly embarrassed.

"Uh… well." Seth started, but immediately Miara elbowed him on the side.

"A lot it seems," Robert concluded.

"Hey, it just-" Seth started.

"Happened, I know, you told me like more than five times now," Robert said, for once in Seth's (public) life, he was unable to know what to say. Miara for her part grinned a little.

"Well look, it's going pretty good, I you ask me personally," Seth said, however he didn't feel like saying as much things were good, it was still just starting.

"I know, I'm just glad you guys seem to be doing okay," Robert said.

"Hey we did worry about you too, we didn't exactly saw you much after the funerals," Miara said, Robert idly thought back to the funerals of all the ones that died at sewers, it had been when Hector was still asleep, he still remembered it. "It was kind of a surprise when you decided to invite us drinks along with that guy."

"Qrow," Robert said.

"Yeah him," Miara said, glossing over the fact that neither of them remembered that night completely.

"Well, I've been really busy," Robert said pointing back at Hector and the group of people around him.

"So those are the kids you train?" Seth asked.

"Help to train." Robert clarified.

"Huh, I was about to say, I would have Glynda would let someone else to combat class," Miara said.

"She does not." A voice said next to them, all of them widened their eyes in surprise as they turned around and saw Glynda herself next to them.

"Oh… hey Goodwitch, I hope you are doing fine." Miara tried to start a conversation.

"You are not a huntress in training Miss Lilac, you can relax," Goodwitch said, Miara was from Mistral, but Glynda had been universally feared by most students that met her even once during their four years.

"Uh Huh… I'll take your word for it." Miara said a bit more relaxed.

"I'm also glad to know that both of you are still active after… that mission." Glynda said.

"The city never rests, although it has been awfully quiet the last couple of weeks, crime has just dropped to be honest. Which beyond strange for this town, I should know, I have been patrols for more than a couple years, and things are just too..." Seth began.

"Quiet?" Robert said.

"Exactly," Seth said.

"Are both of you going to be present for the festival?" Robert asked.

"Well… not really, we are hoping on going to Mistral." Miara said, Robert thought on that for a second, and then he widened his eyes.

"You see, right now it's the best time to get cheap airships out of Vale unto other Kingdoms, there's no wait and pretty much no one is leaving, but there are always airships available, so we thought this was a good chance to get a quick decent ride to mIstral itself," Seth said.

"My family is there, and after the sewers, we… both decided on a vacation wouldn't be half bad, I wanted to go back home, and Seth decided he could come with me."

"I… I thought you had some sort of promotion waiting for you?" Robert asked at Seth

"Oh we are coming back cowboy, it's just a vacation just to try and… relax from that adventure." Seth said, Robert kept thinking about what it meant for both of them to go to Mistral, as far as he knew things could have changed and Lionhart might not be a traitor… but chances are… he actually didn't know, he looked at both of them, slightly worried, he then looked at Glynda who was staring back at him, she noticed his look of worry and figured out that it was related to both of them going to Mistral.

"Is… everything alright there cowboy, did you forget to turn off the stove or something?" Seth asked.

"I… I… How do I explain this. I…" Robert couldn't find the words to properly explain the situation, if there was even a chance that both Seth and Miara were in danger by going to Mistral, he just had to tell them, but he didn't know how to make them believe him, or if they would, Ozpin discarded the idea of Huntsman and Huntresses in danger in Mistral, mostly because Robert mentioned it offhandedly and how they had happened after the Fall, he didn't even got to Lionhart before he got worried over other matters… such as Hayes. To be honest he realized now that he had forgotten about it, and even now he didn't know what would be the right approach, Penny had said it herself, both him and Hector were going on not entirely accurate information, not anymore.

"I…" Robert stammered.

"Robert, is this related to your warnings, about Mistral," Glynda asked.

"What?" Mistral looked surprised.

"Yeah…" Robert said he was honestly surprised that Glynda remembered. She also said as if she remembered this pretty well.

"What are both of you talking about?" Seth asked them. Glynda took one long stare at Robert, she was asking a silent question, Robert looked back, he wondered if telling them would be a good idea… but in good faith he couldn't just let something happen to them, he also thought if this was him getting ahead of things, as the fall hadn't really happened yet, and he also wondered if this was going back on his word with Hector on deciding things together. But Miara and Seth were also his friends, and he just couldn't let something happen to them. And so he nodded to Glynda.

"Mr Maverick, Miss Lilac, I believe both of you should sit down for a bit, we have a fairly long explanation to get through. Which reminds me," Glynda went to address the other people in the room.

"Children, I know you are celebrating, but please go and have some lunch before the hour for lunch finishes." She said, both as a suggestion and as an order, they didn't really argued with the idea, Nora, Ruby and Yang were starving by their own words and decide to quickly drag the rest of their teams with them. Team HAMR also joined and rather quickly they were beginning to go in the direction of the cafeteria.

Hector took a glance at Robert, he gave back at two-finger salute at Hector, with a rather serious face, as it was Hector figured out Robert was in the middle of a serious talk. As the teenagers left, Glynda turned back to Seth and Miara and Robert.

"Do any of you know where my apprentice is actually from?" Glynda asked them.

"Ah no… is that what the fuss is all about?" Seth asked, rather weirded out about Robert's home town being something related to them going to Mistral.

"Well, I ask you to bear with me for a bit, because… both of us have something important to tell you."

* * *

 _30 Minutes later._

"You really aren't joking about this," Seth said.

"No… Mr Urra and Mr Rivers may not have predicted everything correctly, or not even the Chorus of Dawn for that matter, but they have consistently shown that they know about the future with enough precision, and they know what will happen if Amity gets attacked," Glynda said.

"And all of this, even the cult, that guy Hayes and someone else that…" Miara started.

"Salem," Glynda said, much to Robert's surprise, he thought she would explain Aaron and in fact together both of them they did, but he didn't expect her to talk about Salem, and yet she did. "I will not explain what she is, or try to, but she's just as dangerous as Hayes, I don't know if you'll believe me, I don't know if you'll believe what both of us have told you, but yeah Amity is at risk right now, and this dangerous criminal is on the loose, I don't how the chain of command of the Hunter and Huntresses and the VDF are transmitting this, but anyone looking out should be on high alert during the festival."

"They aren't being specific, they told us that we should be prepared, but in reality no expects that someone would be able to take down Amity, or that they would want to," Seth said somberly.

"Even beyond that, well like we said after that happens… if it happens Huntsman and Huntresses from Mistral would start disappearing, slowly but surely, many Huntsmen that aren't being employed by the Council or even regardless of that would start… disappearing and if that happens when you are there." Robert explained.

"No one would know, with the towers down, it would be very hard to get messages across to anywhere," Miara said. "If someone wanted us all dead, then that would be the time… no, it can't it… it can't be Lionheart, it doesn't make sense I know him why would he-." Miara started… again, the moment Robert explained that Lionheart was a traitor Miara had called bullshit, loudly and multiple times, but with Robert and Glynda both telling her that, both some of the most serious people she had ever met, she wasn't sure anymore.

"Fear… Look I don't know if I would be right anymore, but regardless, both Hayes and Salem benefit from that, if not Lionheart, then the crime families of Mistral, I don't know… but whatever is the case, even if Amity and Beacon don't fall, things are going to be hectic, and what I know- Fuck- I mean that I knew of the future of Mistral was that multiple Huntsmen were dying." Robert said, "I'm sorry, I… I don't know a lot of things anymore, and I even didn't know about the Chorus or about Venom Fang or the Sewers or… anything about Hayes but… I couldn't just sit after hearing both of you going to Mistral if there's even a small chance you were in danger." After that, there was silence, an awkward one. Seth put his face into his palms and Miara was shaking her head.

"And Ozpin knows about this? Hasn't he contacted Lionheart himself?" Miara herself asked.

"He doesn't know about Lionheart, and chances are he wouldn't believe it," Glynda said, everyone stared at her. "But I did call him once, I didn't know at the time that he could be traitor, but as soo and Mr Urra said Mistral would suffer if Amity fell I personally called him… and he was evasive, to say the least."

"Did you confront ask him directly about possible dangers," Robert asked.

"I didn't, but as I prodded he seemed to get, fearful, as he usually is, but differently, he seemed to try and shift topics, especially when I talked about those students that were going to infiltrate beacon, I mentioned it offhand but he seemed to get nervous."

"Then there's a chance he is actually a traitor? The shouldn't you confront him?" Seth asked.

"I recently discovered that possibility, right here in fact," Glynda said, eyeing Robert, who hung his head in shame. "But there's so much happening as it is that I barely got time for two other calls… and he didn't respond."

"Then… then, if we try to do something…" Miara said.

"He would know, and prepare," Robert said.

"Shit," Seth grunted to himself.

"Look, I don't know what's the right thing to do is but, with the festival in two days, we do need a lot of people here, should nothing happen, maybe we can be discreet and send warnings to the Huntsman in Mistral," Robert said.

"That wouldn't work, you cannot hide in Mistral, the only way you can survive is you prepare beforehand, otherwise the smuggles, brokers and crime families will catch up to you before you notice."

"And we send an alarm for people to leave Mistral, Lionheart will know, he would find out, he's very paranoid as is," Glynda added. They sat in silence as it was, not able to come up with a solution. Until Robert spoke up.

"Miara, is there any way you could send someone there a message to prepare, just in case, to discreetly war?." Robert asked.

"I… I could," She thought for a second, she looked at Robert and then at Seth. "But it wouldn't work unless I go there." She finally said.

"Hold on, no, no no no, there must be an alternative." Seth sat up and quickly held Miara's shoulders.

"There isn't, how do you think I know that you can't hide in Mistral? I was told that by a friend, a powerful friend, she told me that when I got in a bind, unlike others she's more… rational in a way."

"She's in one of the criminal families." Robert guessed.

"She is, she is not known, and she doesn't hold any significant power, but she owes her life to me, if I go to Mistral…"

"You can call that favor, warn the other Huntsman ad disappear before something happens, and without drawing the attention of anyone," Robert said, and immediately felt guilty, Seth looked like he didn't know what to do, as of right now Robert wondered if this had been a good idea.

"I'll go with you," Seth said.

"What?" Miara asked.

"As far as I know, I'm supposed to help with something like this, as your boyfriend, I cannot let you do this something so dangerous and-"

"Seth you need to stay here," Miara said.

"What, Fuck that, fuck no, I won't let you-" Seth began, raising his voice.

"You heard them, this all happens if Amity and Beacon fall, if the chaos becomes so much that thing fall out of control for the entire world, you are part of the VDF, they need you here," Miara said, also raising her voice.

"But-" Seth didn't get far as Miara planted a kiss on his lips. "Don't do that… not now." Seth said slowly and pleading when she pulled away gently.

"I'll be fine, but they need you here, you know Vale through and through more than anyone."

"How can I make a difference?" Seth asked, completely lost. "I'm just one Lieutenant, not even a huntsman..."

"Someone has to spread the word that Amity is at risk, actual risk, you know most of the people that worked with on the squads on the tunnels, you know people on the VDF, you can start to spread the word, put them on alert," Robert said, Seth looked at him, and he thought, and he thought.

"Say… how dangerous was this Hayes guy again?" He asked. Robert looked at the ground for a moment, and then he looked back with a solid answer.

"He was dangerous enough to possibly beat us all at Cobra Squad, even when we were Venom Fang," Robert said coldly. Seth stared back at him and saw that Robert believed what he had just said.

"Then… we do need to be more alert." Seth said more resolved.

"Miara, I'm sorry I've put this on you, but you are our best chance of saving the Huntsman of Mistral, and making sure things don't get worse, if the fall is averted, at the very least they could come out of hiding very quickly, but… if something happens, you seem to be the best-suited one for it."

"Right, are we going to tell Ozpin?" Miara asked.

"No." Glynda of all people said.

"Ah… we are not?" Robert asked, quite shocked

"They are occupied as it is and besides, this mission should be covert, the less people know…" She began.

"The better the chances are of Miara surviving and of the other Huntsman as well." Robert finished, seeing the logic. "Okay, but if something doesn't happen, find the best way to warn them discreetly, in fact even if still happens it should be discreet, a message saying them to not trust any of the mission boards and to watch their back is the best you can do, tell them to bunker down and make sure the families aren't going to hunt them, or anyone else," Robert said.

"And after that?" Miara asked.

"... We will go there." Robert said.

"Really?" Miara asked a but incredulous.

"Regardless of how things go, I would probably have to go to Mistral to deal with Lionheart… as soon as things in Vale are… stable, I and I can already see also Seth, we'll go personally, and help you all… don't count on us, if things are bad and you just need to run, do so… but I personally one way or another I'm going to go to Mistral and make sure that the Huntsman over there survive, and that includes you."

"Count me on that bus as well," Seth said.

"Huh… okay, then I'll go." Miara said, she looked towards Seth, they both looked unsure of the future, but determined to see it through.

"As is the fewer people that know about this conversation the better, we need to make sure Lionheart doesn' get a hint on this. So we can only trust in ourselves and other close allies that aren't likely to send a message or confront Lionheart." Glynda said. "Even if he's not guilty, the less our enemies know of our plans."

"The more easily we can fool theirs." Robert finished. "I'm very sorry for all of this, again I know I maybe should have-"

"Don't be," Seth said.

"Huh?"

"You didn't know everything, and we know you, you are not the kind of person that would want to send us to our deaths cowboy, fucking hell, in fact, you just proved it."

"You decided to warn us, and with us you made a plan, to try and protect us… and others." Miara said

"I… I…" Robert was lost for words, he felt like he should say something, and thought about it. But there was simply nothing to say anymore. They knew, and that was as much as he could do for them at the moment. At the very least, if shit really did hit the fan, they would be able to live through it and help pick up the pieces after it's all over.

"Thank you, really thank you," Robert finally replied.

"Well… we gotta try our best Mr Alien dude." Seth smirked as he clapped him on the shoulder. "Still getting used to that, but I've seen weirder things. Don't even get me started on that time I caught two kids fucking in a-

"That's enough of that," Miara stopped him by slapping his mouth shut. "He talks too much when he's nervous, I'm going to go before he somehow talks me into not going at all."

"Mmm." Seth groaned, opting to keep silent at the very high cost of his dignity. "Well, we'll talk soon Alien, make sure Miara doesn't have to come back to a crater and we'll be straight. I certainly hope you and that other kid know what you're doing…"

"Honestly, we've just sorta been skimming boy and hoping that we do the right things." Robert held back a chuckle that revealed that he was just teasing. For the most part, anyway. "Also, we don't, that's why I'm asking for your guy's help."

"Well, you got it," Seth confirmed as he tipped his hat.

"Thanks, I'll let you know if anything new happens," Robert replied, and soon both Miara and Seth were out of the room. After finding themselves alone, he looked to Glynda. "Why did you decide to help me on that, and to not help Ozpin?" Robert asked, honestly curious. Glynda stared for a few seconds before saying something.

"Ever since you revealed your and River's origin, I've been thinking about how we on our inner circle hide the truth from the world, the fact you decide to tell us the truth up front, it made me think how secluded we are from the rest of the world how we hide the truth itself, and also ever since you appeared, I have found myself doing more and more business behind Ozpin's back…" She looked away, almost as if she was contemplating something. "He has his downfalls, but I know he means good for the world, I believe it, I know you don't trust him, but in all honesty, it's like we said, the less people can tell Lionheart, one way or the other about your plan, it would be better."

"Thanks too, for everything," Robert said.

"It would be foolish to let you make risky moves in territory such as this. I'm just making sure you don't do something stupid and kill yourself in the process." Glynda said to him as she began to walk away.

"That's not a funny joke," Robert said.

"Because it isn't a joke," Glynda said, and Robert didn't know whether to let it go or feel offended, he might not be the most… careful or wise with some decisions, but he wasn't the worst either.

"I'll take your word for it." He settled on letting it go.

"Now go to the cafeteria and have some lunch, I've heard that its Dog of the Heat day," Glynda said as she exited the room.

"... Dog of the heat day?" Robert asked, confused.

"Yes, dog of the heat, its what the kids are calling it in order to celebrate his recovery," Glynda explained. "It's something about placing a piece of meat in a bun, I've never tried it, but I've heard that it is very delicious."

"Is that piece of meat a sausage?"

"Well in fact it is-"

He was out of the room before she could even finish.

"Hm, maybe I _should_ try it one of these days…"

* * *

"Oh gosh," Hector said as he drooled from his mouth, staring with starry eyes into a delicacy that he hasn't seen in a very long time and feared that it did not exist in this world. "Is this… a hot dog?"

"A hot what?" Nora asked as one of the weiners hung from her lips. "You mean the dog of the heat? Yeah, it's _really_ good." She said as she swallowed the rest of the dog of the heat. Which really was just a hot dog in earth terms. "So good…"

"At least now we can eat them, the line was massive!" Yang complained as she also had her own 'dog of the heat'.

Hector stared down at his own hot dog- dog of the heat. And inspected it with his mouth. After chewing and moaning in his pleasure he, in fact, happened to agree that yes, this was indeed a dog of the- No, it's a hot dog, he wouldn't let himself call it anything but that.

"It's just how I remember it!" He said out of pure ecstasy.

"Did Earth also have dogs of the-"

"It is called a HOT DOG!" Hector corrected Michael sternly.

"Hm?" Ashley perked up.

"Not you!"

Ashley's ears drooped down sadly.

"No wait-" Hector suddenly felt bad. "No, you're good."

Ashley's ears perked up happily as she enjoyed her own hot dog.

"What about me?" Yang asked as she brushed her shoulder up against his. "Does the one who helped you unlock your semblance again get a compliment too?"

He could hear Ashley growling behind him.

"Er…" Hector didn't know what to say. If he complied with Yang, then Ashley would not be happy about it. But if he _didn't_ comply with Yang, then _she_ would not have been happy about it.

Women… he'd never understand them nor ever learn how to deal with them.

"Stop teasing him," Ruby thankfully came to his rescue and pushed herself in between her sister and him. "And gimme one!"

As soon as that happened a flash of blue lightning flew past them, in a second Robert had made his way to the end of the line and directly to the cooking stuff, people were about to complain to him, that being an assistant didn't give him any line privileges. But all of that just stopped suddenly, Robert started asking stuff to the cooking stuff, who looked at each other, looking at Robert as if had become insane, or at least crazy, he asking for something that was for sure, he was making big hand motions, and even the students close to him looked at him strangely.

Eventually one of the people of the cooking staff answered Robert, he facepalmed, and then he started asking about more stuff… soon enough he was let inside the kitchen.

"I've never seen him look so excited before…" Weiss mentioned.

"Disappointed he doesn't look at you the same way he does a dog of the-" Hector glared at her. "I mean, a hot dog?" Blake amended as she teased her teammate.

"W-what?! No, no, of course not!" Weiss exclaimed.

Even _Ruby_ rolled her eyes at that.

Soon Robert came out with a big tray with different pots, a lot of knives and spoons, and particularly a big amount of dogs of the heat, avocados and tomatoes, and also two big packets of mayonnaise and ketchup. He was carefully baling all of that and looking for a table where to put all of it.

"What the hell is that!?" Reggie asked as his eyes bulged out of his skull in surprise.

"What?" Hector said as he looked toward his friend, even being from Earth as well, he did not know what Rob was doing. He was just as lost as everyone else was, though that didn't stop them from asking him like he would know how to explain. "Don't look at me! I'm American!"

"What does that mean?" Michael asked, even more confused than ever.

"Oh hey uh… Robert!" Jaune finally called him over.

"Oh hey!" Robert finally noticed them and promptly went over and set all the stuff he had on the closest table to the group, and that he started to drag to join the tables. "How's it going?" Rober asked as he slowly dragged the table to them.

"Dude, not even I know what you're doing with all that," Hector said as he gestured to all of the assortments of sauces and toppings he had stockpiled for his hot dog. "Mind explaining?

"Oh this, well you wouldn't know, you are American and I'm Chilean so…" Robert began, as he started to very quickly cut the tomatoes in little pieces.

"What does that even mean?" Nora cried out.

"Oh, well back in our planet, Hector is from one country, the equivalent of a kingdom but maybe a… a lot larger, and I am from another one, mine's called Chile, and in there we don't call these things dogs of the heat." Robert said moving to peel the avocados.

"Exactly."

"We called them Completos."

"Oh come on!"

"So what we do in my country is that we add tomatoes and avocados to it," Robert explained, fishing most of the avocado's inner part and putting in one of the pots… with a spoon.

"Why?" Weiss asked, with one eyebrow raised at the whole display.

"Well, I don't know who started it, but whoever it was they realized it was pretty delicious," Robert said as he mashed all the avocado collected in the pot with a fork, until it all looks like a green paste, and later he added salt to it, a lot of salt.

"I've never seen something like this I'll admit," Ren admitted.

"Everyone shut up, we are literally seeing an Alien making alien food," Reggie said, Robert pretty soon had two pots, one filled tomatoes in little cubes and one filled with a green avocado paste, he promptly got one of the spoons and spread the tomatoes on top of one of the hot dogs, then the green paste, then a streak of mayonnaise and for his personal preference one of ketchup. He took no time in taking a bite out of it. One full clean bite with all of the ingredients, some people expected eating something like that would be slightly messy, but Robert apparently knew how to make them and eat them so it wouldn't happen.

"I've missed this so much," Robert said with a bit of stars in his eyes that in reality none of them had ever seen before.

"I missed _this_ ," Hector said as he let his left fist catch aflame from his semblance. "All in all, today was a productive day…" His eyes froze for a moment and he took a chance glance toward Pyrrha. "Hopefully it stays that way…" He muttered absentmindedly as he continued eating his hot dog.

"Yeah… well, we have a tournament to deal with. Among other things."

"Yeah speaking of other things, how did that date go for you?" Yang asked.

"That date..." Robert asked, he noticed what was going on, but didn't comment on it. "Well… we'll see if that continues after the tournament, but for now nothing." He said, at that, a very quick and quiet exchange began on team RWBY's side of the table, whatever the quick interaction was Weiss decided to not listen to her teammates and look in another direction, face red.

"Huh… speaking off, you wouldn't mind giving someone last minute classes?" Yang asked, looking precisely at Weiss. Robert didn't look in any particular direction, he didn't want to look at the table that was for sure, still, he gave an answer.

"Sure, I'll be glad." He said after that, he didn't look back at the table but Yang was winking at Weiss, and Weiss herself was glaring back, still red in the face, Robert finished his 'Chilean completo', and got ready to make another one.

"So, does anyone want to try Alien food?" He asked the rest of the table.

* * *

Amity Colosseum was as beautiful as he expected it to be.

The massive flying building was a good several hundred meters off of the ground, and getting here required taking flight in a Bullhead, and while that was no issue for any normal citizen, it was for a man like him. However, it seemed he wasn't as infamous as he previously thought he was. No one recognized him, and Aaron thought himself a fool for thinking otherwise.

No one knew who he was, and so getting to Amity was a very easy feat in itself. For Cinder, it was most likely much more difficult given the fact that her face was known. He had faith in her abilities anyhow, as well as the abilities of Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai. Young as they were, they certainly knew how to listen to their betters.

And everything was right on schedule as well. Nothing could be going better and he found that so very satisfying. He walked through the crowd amongst them, and even conversed with a few of them politely. He molded with them perfectly, and even went as far as to buy some ice cream for himself. It reminded him of Neo, the girl who made her escape from Vale just as soon as her task was completed. Her role was done and she was no longer needed and there was no point in killing her and making more enemies. If she wanted to go chase after Roman in Atlas, she very well can.

"Ah," He sighed with a pleased smile as he sat in one of the seats looking out over the vast arena in which huntsman and huntresses in training from around the world were going to spar. On international television as well, it was almost like they wanted something to go wrong. "How very quaint, it couldn't be easier, truly." He said to himself as he leaned back in the cushions comfortable.

Of course, the tournament didn't start until two days from now, so it was rather pointless being here so early. Or so as Cinder complained. It would have been more annoying to get into Amity while the crowds were thick and the Bullheads were full and not very plentiful. Which was why he wanted to get in here so early on. There was plenty of food and drink being sold around the colosseum and there were even some places where one could rent a night or two in. Being himself in such a state of power and having the smartest hacker known to humanity he could have rented some room for him, Cinder and her two ankle biters, but that would have been far too in their face, just to be safe, they would need simply a quick way to get in and out. And that was what he was here to do.

Just in case, as a symptom of some minor paranoia, he checked his scroll. A list of names popped up and he scrolled through them, seeing a check marked box next to the word 'ACTIVE' next to each and every one of them. Smiling, he turned the scroll back off and stuck it back in his pocket. Across the way, he was able to see the flash of a scroll camera. Nodding his head and standing up, he started making his way to the maintenance area. The ultimate culmination of what he has in store for the people of the world was about to come to an exciting reveal, and he couldn't wait to see it.

* * *

 **And there is the chapter. It took a while, but we finally got it out! Sorry for the wait, hopefully next time won't take as long. If anything, I can say with confidence that at least one more chapter will come out by the time 2020 comes around and… wow, that reminds me of the time where I said that AUH would be over in 2019, heh, look how far we've come.**

 **Please review and of course let us know what you think of the chapter!**

 **T w itter . com (slash) genatools**

 **P a treon . com (slash) Genatools**


	50. A Tale of Two Heroes chapter 50

**Told you we'd get another chapter out by the end of 2019. It was a promise I was able to keep for once, look at that. Here we are again and let's get this going, the Vytal Festival is finally here, and as a result, some other things are required to… occur, if you know what I mean. It's time to get moving along folks. Let's do this!**

* * *

 **Beta & Co-Writer- CrowSkull**

 **A Tale of Two Heroes**

 **Chapter 50- Superstar Trouble**

* * *

Pyrrha wondered why she was called into the headmaster's office so abruptly. It couldn't have been because of anything she did, all she was doing before was training with the rest of her team as practice for the Vytal festival tournament. They had their schedule already, and their first match was tomorrow. Nora and Ren were in the best shapes of their lives and while Jaune was quickly getting better and better he still needed that last push in order to truly be ready for a tournament like this. And she was more than sure that she hadn't caused any trouble before or throughout the entire semester. She wondered what she could have possibly done to be summoned to his office.

Miss Goodwitch was the one who came to collect her as well, and the aura that she gave off did not appear to be the one that she reserved for troublemakers. That relaxed her as she escorted her out of the training arena and on the path toward Beacon's tower and into the elevator that lead straight up into Ozpin's office. The elevator ride itself was mostly silent except for a simple tune that Pyrrha knew she was going to get sick of if she had to listen to it for any longer than the few minutes that it took to get up to Ozpin's office.

Seeing her friend Hector and Mister Urra alongside Ozpin was a surprise when the doors opened up finally into the headmaster's office. The two younger men smiled and waved at her, Hector sat in the seat adjacent to where she would sit and Mister Urra was leaning against the wall behind the headmaster. The combat professor urged her on with a gentle push and she entered the office.

"Hello, you've called for me?"

"I did." The headmaster gestured for her to sit down, and she did without question. Glynda stayed behind next to the elevator with her hands intertwined behind her back. "Do not worry, you are not in any sort of trouble. Neither is Mister Rivers over here."

"I see," Pyrrha internally felt relieved, getting in trouble right before the tournament would have been bad news. "If I may ask then, what need do you have of me?"

"We all have something that we need to tell you," Robert spoke up. "We were aware that you are pretty comfortable with Hector, and so we decided that it would be easiest for you to listen to what we are about to tell you with a friend to rely on."

Pyrrha's head tilted to the side in confusion toward Hector.

"It's uh… going to be a bit of a trip." Hector admitted. "I don't know how much help I'd be able to provide afterward, but I can at least promise to be a friend."

"I'm sure that whatever it is I will be able to handle it," Pyrrha assured them all. "Though, you have successfully stricken my curiosity. What exactly is it that I apparently need to be informed about?"

"Eager. Good," Ozpin chuckled softly. "Very well, we shall get this over with. Tell me, Pyrrha, what is your favorite fairy tale?"

"Huh?" Pyrrha recoiled, that was the last thing that she expected to come out of the headmaster's mouth, she wondered if this was some kind of prank at first, but both Hector and Mister Urra did not look like they were joking, and she doubted that the headmaster would be the kind either. "W-well… I don't particularly have a favorite, but I do remember a few that come to mind, assuming that is a serious question. I remember the ' _Tale of the Two Brothers'_ , ' _The Lady in the Tower'_ , ' _The Man With Two Souls',_ ' _The Grimm Reaper and the apprentice,'_ and-"

"What about _The Story of the Seasons_?" Ozpin cut her off politely.

Pyrrha's eyes widened slightly as a flood of memories invaded her thoughts. "Ah yes! I remember that one."

It was a decently long story of an old wizard who has given up on life being helped by four young women, each named after one of the four seasons. As thanks for making him enjoy life once again, the old wizard split his powers into the four women, granting them unimaginable powers with the intent to send them out to help others. It was a beautiful story that she remembered her mother telling her one time back when she was a child.

"And that is the story as far as I know," Pyrrha said once she finished retelling the fairy tale from her own memory.

"Indeed it is, now, let me ask you another question, Miss Nikos." Ozpin suddenly gained a much more serious expression as he leaned forward on his desk, his hands intertwining with each other as he stared down the champion. "Do you know where Mister Rivers and Urra come from?"

Pyrrha didn't know what to say. The question came out of nowhere, and when she turned to face Hector his face was just as serious as the headmasters, as well as Mister Urra. She never really thought about where they were from, which could come from an infinite number of places across the entire world of Remnant and its four kingdoms. She knew that apparently Team RWBY and HAMR both knew some kind of secret regarding the two, but it was their business and none of Team JNPR thought to pry on it.

"What do you mean?" Pyrrha asked, not knowing what else to say.

"Rob and I aren't from around here," Hector told her. "And it's not in the way you think. Neither of us is from Vale, Mistral, Atlas, Vacuo, or anywhere on Remnant really. We're from… somewhere else."

"I don't understand." Pyrrha looked down and scrunched up her brows, nothing was making sense. "You both are human, where else could you possibly be from?"

"We still don't know how we got here," Robert continued from where Hector left off. "To put it frankly, we are from a different planet or dimension. A place called Earth. And someway, somehow, we were taken from our lives and put on this world…"

"I ended up in the Emerald Forest right during Initiation," Hector continued, adding even more for Pyrrha to try and process. "And he ended up in Forever Fall, an old huntsman found him and helped train him, and I was found by my teammates and taken into Beacon."

"I, of course, knew that there was something off with them from the start," Ozpin explained. "They appeared human, spoke like us, walked like us, but I sensed something within them that I sensed nowhere else. Fear not for they are most certainly our friends and allies, but I can personally attest to them telling the truth here. By some… magical means you could say, Mister Rivers and Mister Urra were taken from their world and were placed here."

"This doesn't make any sense," Pyrrha muttered as she gripped her head and tried her very best to understand even a little bit of what she has heard so far. "What you are telling me… different worlds, dimensions, magic… are you telling me that it's all real?"

"Legends and fairy tales all start somewhere, Miss Nikos. In this case, many of those legends and tales are in fact true. I imagine that in the future hundreds of years from today, these two will give birth to yet another legend if they're true heritage was revealed to the public. But their tale isn't what is most important here," Ozpin cleared his throat to speak as clearly as possible.

"Every tale you've spoken of is true. Including the story of the seasons. There are four women in this world today with powers unimaginable, and for the first time in history, one of them was attacked and part of her power was stolen. The reason I brought you here today is not to simply tell you what is true and what isn't, and I am sorry for pushing this onto you while you are still so young and in development. You are needed, Miss Nikos. You were chosen to become the next fall maiden."

"Fall maiden…" Pyrrha remained silent for the next several minutes, processing everything that she has been told so far. Beside her, her friend who has just been revealed to be some kind of alien to her hesitantly placed a hand on her shoulder. His weapons were gone and holstered somewhere, so she felt his calloused and scarred hand rub her shoulder gently. He was still her friend, she told herself. He wasn't her enemy and even risked his life to save others multiple times. But his power was so strange, even to her. It didn't seem real. Honestly, he seemed really weak when she first met him, weaker than Jaune perhaps, and he didn't know how to fight. But rapidly he grew, and grew, and became stronger, and got better, and unlocked his semblance. The Kaio-something, he called it. It multiplied his strength, and from there, his rate of growth skyrocketed even further to the point where he might have been able to best her today. She's trained for years and years to get as good as she is now, and he was able to catch up to him in mere months. Which should have been impossible for any normal human...

The same went for Mister Urra, she didn't know him personally and only spoke to him on occasion and enjoyed his presence when he was helping train her partner. But he was also an anomaly, only he appeared suddenly and was already stronger than a lot of students, or at the very least more skilled and experienced. He also seemed strangely close to Hector, and now she knew that it wasn't because they were cousins like it was officially told around the school. They were the only two humans from their world that were placed on this world, and so they were the only ones in all of Remnant who could possibly understand each other. Shockingly enough, she believed them and the headmaster, they weren't from Remnant, but they were their allies regardless.

And if what they told her really was true, then that meant that the fairy tales that she was told as a child… how many of them weren't just fairy tales? Magic was real? Was it true that the fall maiden was real as well? A big part of her told her not to believe them, that this all was just some really well thought out prank that they would all laugh about tomorrow, but another stronger part of her told her; What if? What if they were telling the truth, and here she was having an existential crisis not doing anything to help their situation.

She became a huntress for a reason, she gripped her skirt tightly and hardened her resolve. Looking up at the headmaster and her two friends with newfound determination.

"I believe you."

"I am glad that you do, Miss Nikos." The relieved smile on the headmaster's face and the sighs of relief that came from Hector and Robert reaffirmed her decision. They really were banking on her persuasion.

"I wish this is where it ended though…" Hector sighed again. "Pyrrha, as much as I am glad that you believe us, but that was just the easiest part. Come on," He stood up and held out a hand to help her up, she accepted it and let him help her stand.

"The little conversation is not over quite yet," Robert said as he walked out from behind the desk and moved toward the elevator. Lastly came the headmaster, who stood up with his cane in hand and followed them all into the elevator. She was given more than enough space in the center of the surprisingly roomy space and watched as Glynda turned on her scroll and pulled up an app that was in the shape of a clockwork key. After waving it over the control panel for the elevator, the machine started descending, and then continued to descend even after they passed the ground floor, and then proceeded to descend deep underground.

"What is this…" Pyrrha asked the boy next to her, but Hector looked just as surprised as he did.

"This place is a lot bigger in person, huh," He said, matching her awe as he looked around the massive and wide room before them with an even longer hallway before them.

"You can simply refer to this part of Beacon as the basement," Ozpin told them. "This is where I keep a majority of the secrets of the world hidden from the people, and this is where the current fall maiden is being treated."

"Treated…?"

"Kept alive might be a more accurate description," Glynda uttered in a quiet voice.

"Remember what he told you before?" Robert began. "The last fall maiden was attacked by the same woman who kidnapped Hector. She stole part of her power and is now using that power to cause harm to others. Amber, I believe her name is, or was… is being kept alive down here."

"Hm," Ozpin didn't know that they knew that much, but he wasn't surprised that they did. He's been surprised enough times by those two and after learning about their interesting past he expected them to know a lot more than any normal person of Remnant would. "We are almost to the bottom."

When the ride finally ended the room Pyrrha found herself in was massive. Larger than any room she has ever seen or been in before. It was almost as if she was outside and breathing in fresh air, she didn't know what kind of technology was required to build such an addition to the school, or was it not technology at all? Was this room here created by what Ozpin revealed to her as magic? She might never know, but either way, it blew her away.

"About time you guys got down here," A deep gruff voice caught her attention, she looked to the right and saw a tall man with a scruffy beard and graying hair leaning against the wall near the elevator itself. His piercing red eyes stared right at her. "So, you're the one huh?"

"Who are you?"

"No one bothered to tell you about me?" Qrow chuckled fakely. "Name's Qrow, remember it because you're probably going to be seeing me a whole lot more depending on what decision you make tonight."

"I see…" Pyrrha felt uncomfortable, she's never met that man in her life but would apparently have to get used to him some way or another.

"Stop making our maiden candidate uncomfortable, Qrow." The General of the Atlesian military berated the red-eyed man. Pyrrha almost felt compelled to bow toward the man with well-earned respect, but the other headmaster simply smiled warmly at her and nodded.

"I am glad you have decided to come, I for one didn't have as much faith in Ozpin's last-minute plan offered to him by… the younger generation. But I am proud to admit that I was wrong, Miss Nikos, I certainly hope that you are ready to face what comes ahead after this."

"I am," Pyrrha assured the general. "They filled me in on this fall maiden, and about what happened to her."

"Good," Ironwood spared a nod toward Ozpin, Hector, and Robert, each of whom nodded back in kind. Accepting the minor praise from the general. "Then, if you would continue to follow us this way, please. It's not much farther than it seems."

Pyrrha nodded and continued to follow the older men and her combat professor. Hector and Mister Urra stayed at her sides, the latter on her left and the former on her right. She felt herself wrap her arms around her own body in some vain attempt to calm herself down. As calm as she was behaving, she was still freaking out within her mind. Just less than an hour ago training with her teammates to get ready for the tournament, and suddenly her entire world shattered and put itself back together piece by piece. Magic was real, Hector and Mister Urra were somehow dimensional travelers, maidens, and countless others that could actually be real if she really thought about it.

"Are you okay?" Hector's voice made her jump lightly. "I'm guessing that I might not be the most trustworthy right now…"

"No, no… it's not that." Pyrrha said as politely as ever. "This is just… very sudden. I'm still processing everything, I mean, are you really not from this world?"

Hector smiled sadly. "No, I'm not. I wish I knew how to explain how I got here but I can't. But just in case, I want you to know that our friendship is real, and everything I did here was of my own choice, and for what it's worth, I'd like to think I am the same kind of human as you and the others are."

"I would as well," Pyrrha smiled back, feeling just a little more calm now that she had someone to speak to. "How long did you know about all this?"

"Well… that's another bombshell I'm not sure you're ready to hear just yet."

"I was just told that most fairy tales are real, the existence of magic, and of seasonal maidens. I am sure I will be able to handle anything at this point.

From her other side, the young professor sighed. "Since the beginning…" He began. "We know about a lot of things that have happened, and that are about to happen, at least we did," Robert said, forcing himself to say it, he didn't want to, but he vowed to try and hide less, and so he did.

"In the most frank way, I guess you can say that we know the future… or at least _a_ future." Hector continued.

"A future that concerns you, well everyone but specifically a lot about you," Robert emphasized.

"What do you mean by that?" Pyrrha felt chills flow up and down her spine. The worst thing about it was that she believed them without question. She felt like she could believe anything she was told right now. Hector and Robert looked at each other for a moment and then they nodded.

"You… I don't even know how to tell you this." Hector looked down with sad eyes, they flashed different colors as his emotions sparked, but they remained predominantly brown as he forced himself to pick his head back up and look at her. "I'll leave it at this for now; the choice you make tonight may or may not cause something devastating. I mean, either way, Vale is in danger, but-"

"In danger?" Pyrrha said a little too loudly, stopping and turning to face her peer with shocked wide eyes. Hector cursed to himself for revealing too much too soon. Everyone looked at them from the corner of their eyes, ready to intervene whenever necessary.

"Yes it's in danger, remember the people that took Hector, they are in Vale somewhere, and could very well be in Amity now. They will do whatever it takes to get to her," Robert said pointing at the injured fall maiden that was just mere meters away from them all now. "And I mean _anything_."

"This is why I said I was sorry for putting this on you so soon, Miss Nikos," Ozpin said, turning around to face the young champion. "Thanks to Mister Rivers and Mister Urra we have been warned of a potential attack, which is why I have decided to put things ahead of schedule. If you would come this way, this is what I wanted to show you."

Glynda, Ironwood and Qrow scattered about to make way for Pyrrha to move forward. Ozpin gently placed a hand on her back and pushed her forward toward the highly technologically advanced pod full of some kind of blue liquid, within this pod was a woman. Scarred in the face with short brown hair, she might have been beautiful if she wasn't so injured. There was a soft heartbeat monitor to the right of the machine, and Pyrrha walked forward and placed a hand on the glass. She felt so sorry for the poor woman, she didn't know if she was even technically alive, just her heart was being kept beating. Technically alive, sure, but what kind of life was this? Being held up in some pod full of some kind of liquid that just kept her heart beating.

"How long has she been in this state?"

"A year and six months, give or take," Ozpin answered. "This is Amber, the current fall maiden. As you can see, she is in a sorry state."

"Why won't you wake her up?" Pyrrha aggressively asked.

"Because if we do, she'd die." Ironwood piped in. "Believe me, I have tried everything I could. The damage Amber has sustained is more than just physical. She has lost aura, she isn't regenerating it, and we don't know what happens to the host once their power is stolen. It's never happened before, you see. I fear that if it weren't for this life support system, Amber would have died days after Qrow brought her back from where he saved her. This is the _only_ way she stays alive."

"You forgot to tell her one thing Jimmy," Qrow interrupted, the general glared at him, but didn't say the nasty things that came to mind right away. "It also doubles as a sort of transfer machine. You see that empty pod over there?" The old huntsman pointed to a pod identical to Amber's. "You get in there, we push a few buttons, and we can transfer what's left of Amber's power and aura into your body. Making you the new fall maiden, or well, half of one anyway."

"It's true, I'm afraid," Ozpin said with a sigh when Pyrrha looked to him for confirmation. "It was a desperate time, and we had to look for a potential candidate right away. Which was why you are here, Miss Nikos. You have the individual skill that can be improved even further to defend yourself, and with our support, we can help keep you safe until the most immediate threats are dealt with."

"What he _means,_ " Hector spoke up before the headmaster can continue. "Is that he is offering you the choice to become the new fall maiden and that after we get through whatever happens during the tournament, we can look forward to a more pleasant future for you."

"We are leaving it to you," Ozpin said at last. "However, a choice has to made tonight. After what we've been told by these two…" He eyed Robert and Hector. "We can't risk waiting for you to come to a decision for any longer than a few hours. I'm sorry."

"I need to make a choice now?" Pyrrha asked with a shaky voice. Sadly, Ozpin nodded his head toward her. She started breathing harder, and looked toward Hector for support, he tried to open his mouth and say something, but his sad eyes told her something else. He didn't know what to say and even though that wasn't his fault Pyrrha did not like it.

"Why? I don't understand," She felt tears sting her eyes. "How… I'm still trying to process… I went to Beacon instead of Haven so I could avoid being put in the spotlight so often… I just wanted a fun life for years to come until I graduated… and yet…" She shut her eyes in anguish as she felt the tears break free and roll down her face. "Hector, you say you know the future. Be honest with me, what happens if I say no?"

"..."

"TELL ME!"

"Beacon is attacked," Hector said softly. "You make the choice anyway in the end, but it's too late. Cinder kills you, Ozpin, and plenty of people, and takes the rest of the power."

Pyrrha slumped her forehead against the glass and sobbed.

"So I don't have a choice either way, hm?" She said with a bitter chuckle.

"You do, it's just that decision must be made now, because later… there will be no time."

"Just in case we already have other candidates," Ironwood said. "Yang Xiao Long for one, she is powerful and is loyal to her peers. Coco Adel is experienced and has a loyal team more than willing to protect her. Perhaps Ashley Cain," Hector stepped up and glared at the general, but he quickly calmed down, he knew that if it had to be done, it had to be done. "She has _very_ powerful teammates and friends with a strong relationship with Mister Rivers here, she is the second choice to you."

Pyrrha felt herself shaking as she thought. As much as she wanted a normal life, as much as she wanted friends and to become a normal huntress with normal goals, all of that would come with the price of damning some other girl to this fate. She couldn't do that, she just couldn't force another person to become this maiden just because of her own selfish and personal desires.

"Okay…" She breathed and wiped the tears from her face. "Okay… I'll do it, I'll become your fall maiden."

"This is your last chance, we could give you half an hour, but no more…" Robert tried to offer, he didn't like this in the slightest, his arms were crossed and he was secretly clenching his fists. "I'm sorry, but I don't think we have any more time…"

"I know," Pyrrha said flatly. She turned around and faced them all, her tear-stained cheeks made them all feel a pit in their stomachs, and for once Qrow had nothing to say to even attempt to lighten up the mood. "I'll do it, if I am going to die anyway, I'd rather have the power to at least stand a chance to beat Cinder a-and… save everyone… Hector."

He perked up at his name being called. He stepped forward when she beckoned him too, it was the least that he could do to offer his support when she placed her hands on his shoulders and rested her forehead against his. "You are my friend, right?"

"I am," Hector confirmed.

"Tell Jaune… and everyone else… I love them all. Just in case I go in there and come out a different person. I want them to know how I feel."

Hector wrapped one hand around her and squeezed, offering what support he could. He wished that he wasn't the only person that she could rely on right now. They weren't even that close. She sobbed again and they shared a minute-long hug that did little to calm her nerves. "I promise." He whispered back as they let each other go. Pyrrha smiled at him as he walked backward and away from her.

"Just so you know Pyrrha, the future has changed a lot, this is just another chance to change it again. From here on out, both me and Hector won't know what will happen, your life and your fate are your own, now more than ever." Robert said. "If that makes you feel any better…"

"If I make it through the festival, it will." Pyrrha smiled at him, Robert smiled back and continued to remain silent.

Ozpin stepped forward, Glynda, Ironwood, and Qrow all moved away. Leaving just the two of them alone together. "I am sorry for making you do this."

"You aren't making me do anything. I am doing this of my own choice."

Ozpin looked at her sadly, they both knew it wasn't true.

He directed her to enter the pod and closed the door to it. Leaving her locked in the same kind of pod that was keeping Amber alive. He proceeded to push the necessary buttons and functions until there was only one more step to officially begin the transfer process. His finger shook before he could press the final button and he balled that hand into a fist. To do this to such a young girl… even for a man as old as he, it was still so difficult.

"Are you ready?"

Pyrrha nodded her head.

"Say… say the word please."

"...Yes."

He steeled himself and pushed the button, the process began and he slowly watched as Amber's life, power, and remaining aura drained away and began to enter Pyrrha. The young girl screamed in pain, feeling something that had to be beyond human comprehension. It took several minutes of listening to her scream for the process to finally be complete.

When Amber finally died.

* * *

Ruby skipped happily and was practically shaking with excitement. Not only because of Team RWBY's first victory in a tournament like setting but because of all the awesome amazing super cool huntsman and huntresses around! She's never seen this many of them in one spot before. Everywhere she looked there was a hunter, and behind her Yang, Weiss, and Blake were equally as excited but were just better at hiding it. Psh, as if she'd pretend she wasn't happy to see them. All those weapons… she wanted to touch them.

"Oh my god oh my god ohmygoshicalYAAASS!"

"I think Ruby is broken," Blake whispered to her partner, Yang snickered back in agreement.

"Ruby, calm down!" Weiss exclaimed as she chased after her speeding partner and caught her by the hood. Ruby's legs kept kicking for a second before she realized she couldn't run anymore and pouted. "We may have won our first round but that is no excuse for you to be so obnoxious."

"But Weiss, you're all smiley and giggly too." Ruby pointed out.

"W-well," Weiss went red and dropped her partner. "I know how to not look like a fool while doing it!"

"Don't worry Weiss-cream, we'll keep it a secret from the others." Yang teased with a wink. The heiress humphed and looked away from her foolish teammates, because how dare they try and wrangle her in with the likes of them.

Their first round in the Vytal Festival went by without much issue. Team BRNZ proved to be challenging opponents individually, but their teamwork was their weakness. Team RWBY practiced fighting together constantly and even had experience in fighting some stronger opponents such as the White Fang and Roman Torchwick, not to mention the extra training they were able to work on with Teams HAMR and JNPR, even professor Urra had some things to show them. They won the battle as soon as one of the members of Team BRNZ were eliminated and were allowed into the second round. Where they would decide the duos at a later hour.

After that was Team JNPR's fight, they seemed to be able to handle their own enemies fairly well. Especially Pyrrha, who was fighting harder than Ruby has ever seen before. Single-Handedly, she took down half of the team by herself, and Nora the two others in one big lightning enhanced attack. Jaune too, seemed to be fighting back more aggressively and his growth is compared to when he first entered Beacon was impressive to watch. Even Weiss was impressed, and she was usually cold to him because of his constant pining after her. Once the battle was won, the next one was announced. Team HAMR would be next, and no one could wait to see how they were going to do in their battle against some team from Atlas called BRVO. With Hector regaining his new semblance, everyone from Beacon expected them to win.

Ruby stopped suddenly and Weiss clashed against her back, wincing, she asked what her teammate was doing stopping without warning like that. However, Ruby did not respond, her mouth was agape, her eyes were dilating with pure joy, and a low squeak started to rise in tempo the longer she stared at a woman none of them knew standing off to the side speaking to some other huntsman.

Yang peeked over her shoulder and immediately understood why her sister was so excited. "Oh no," She said, facepalming. "It's Ruby's idol."

"SCARLET TARKUS!" Ruby squealed as she sped ahead of her entire team. Leaving them desperately trying to catch up to her as she suddenly appeared in front of the red-haired woman.

"Woah!" The huntress leaned back as the much younger girl gripped her hand and started shaking it before she even realized what was happening.

"The legendary sniper huntress who has thousands of confirmed Grimm kills! I've watched all of the videos and read all of the articles about you, I even watched your own documentary on how to shoot and take aim! If it weren't for you I would have never gotten as good as I am now! EEEEEEEE-"

"Calm down, girl," Scarlet said with a chuckle as she calmly shook Ruby's hand. "I'm not what the media made me out to be," She leaned down and smirked, her yellow eyes winked at her. "I'm better."

"EEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Ruby squealed even louder.

"I am so sorry for that!" Yang exclaimed as she and the rest of their team caught up. "She took one look at you and bolted, her semblance is speed so you can imagine how annoying she can be when she gets excited like this."

"Ruby!" Weiss berated, Ruby winced and comically hid behind the huntress to get away from her. "Why would you do such a thing? You're the leader of a team of huntresses!"

"Team leader eh?" Scarlet asked, looking through the corner of her eye to the purple-haired man snickering at the scene before him.

"Oh no, don't be giving me that look right now." The man said, holstering his engraved weapon behind his back. "This is way too amusing."

"What Razz is _trying_ and very much failing at is saying that he is also a leader," Scarlet said. "And unfortunately my partner."

"Razz Razzmatazz, at your service." The man said as he bowed over-dramatically, causing the girls to giggle at his antics. "I'll leave my wonderful and sociable partner here to talk to her fans, for I have been ordered to provide some protection to the rest of the people around us."

"Wait!" Ruby wailed as she sped in front of the man. "You're Razz? The Razz? Razzmatazz?"

"Say that three times fast and I'll answer any question you want."

To his surprise, Ruby actually managed it without getting herself tongue-tied. She did have a speed semblance after all.

"How'd you manage to keep your streak for so long? Where are your other teammates? How are you so good at everything? What's Scarlet's favorite food?"

"That's four questions, but I guess I can oblige you," Razz laughed. "Tell you what, since you're such a big fan of ours, why don't you and your teammates follow us around until the next round starts. We're on our break-"

"I thought you said you had things to do?" Blake asked.

Razz ignored her. "-and I am sure Scarlet would _love_ to boast all about her shooting skills to the next generation."

"Tch, remember that I was the one to end that streak of yours Razz." Scarlet pointed out, irritated.

"Yeah, and remember it took you ten tries before you actually beat me," Razz fired back, winking at the fuming woman before turning back around and taking all the other girls except Ruby under his wing.

The young girl rocked back and forth on her heels as a wave of nervousness suddenly washed over her. Scarlet Tarkus was and still is a very popular Valean Huntress who graduated from Beacon eight years before Ruby even entered the school. Even as a child, due to her upbringing Ruby was obsessed with weapons and huntsman, and Scarlet was at the top of her list right beside her uncle. Scarlet was unlike any other huntress, who specifically only used a very high impact sniper rifle that fired powerful hollow point dust rounds that exploded anything that it was fired against. Even Goliaths and full-grown Nevermore. Her accuracy was so on point that she was regarded as one of the top huntresses of her time and still today. Beautiful, tall, with her hair a color that Ruby adored and yellow piercing eyes that intimidated her in a great way. She was everything that Ruby wanted to grow into. With the training and inspiration from Qrow, she combined her two idol's weapons into the sniper-scythe that she calls Crescent Rose.

Scarlet looked down at her and chuckled, beckoning her to follow as she walked off in a different direction from her partner and the rest of her team. "C'mon little one, it's been a while since a fan came up to me and I am sure you would like to get some tips and tricks from me… wanna go to the range?"

Ruby silver eyes widened with joy, all her nervousness suddenly gone.

"Yes!"

* * *

Hector took a deep breath as he walked out with his team to the center of the arena. In front of so many people, he found himself nervous. But after what happened with Pyrrha, he was much too preoccupied to even worry about that. Ashley noticed right away of course, and after being pushed he told them about what happened. Not _everything_ , but enough to know that something deeper was happening around Vale. Somewhere in the crowd, he was reassured that Robert was making sure that nothing was going to happen, and if something did, he would be the first one in the arena to help him just in case they were attacked earlier. Along with many other dozens of huntsman confirmed to be under Ozpin's employment.

"Ready to go Boss?" Reggie asked him as he patted him on the back.

"Ready as I'll ever be I guess." Hector looked at the Atlesian team ahead of him, Team BRVO, or Bravo. He never looked up anything about them and didn't know how they fought, but he'd learn soon enough. They were a different sort of people that he expected from a place like Atlas, one of them even having a fork-like weapon that was very heavily enlarged and with countless modifications to it. The others were more generic with weapons like swords, guns, and both.

He looked down at his own hands and clenched his fists as he thought about everything that has happened leading up to this point. He was so weak when he first arrived here on Remnant, he had nothing to work with in terms of fighting, and look at him now… This rate of growth should have been impossible, but he was beginning to understand why. These memories, Hell, they both came from somewhere, and along with that was power and understanding of the styles of combat. It wasn't natural. He wasn't natural. The fact that he wasn't surprised about that should have concerned him more.

"Look alive," Michael said as he brought out one of his Kusarigama's. "The stage is about to shift."

Ashley gripped his forearm as he continued to think to himself. He looked toward his faunus teammate and smiled before getting ready to fight. This was the hardest part of the plan, just having to wait for Aaron or Cinder to make the first move.

" _-Now that our contestants have arrived,"_ professor Port announced. " _We can now see what stage awaits them! Spin the dial Bart!"_

The _dial_ was a very large TV screen that had a variety of elements and symbols glowing on them. Soon, the first one stopped. It was a symbol in the shape of a snowflake. Then the second one stopped, and it was the same one.

" _Ah, two snowflakes! You know what that means folks, it's time for an icy tundra!"_

Hector nearly fell as snow suddenly fell and grew from the floor. Ice formed paths and caves were carved out. Snow-covered it all, and he immediately felt himself and the rest of his teammates shivering. The ones from Atlas, who were already used to the snow for obvious reasons, shook it off with ease.

Already, they were at a disadvantage, but not only that. All this snow sparked even more memories from within his shared mind. Memories of battle, death, blood, and countless Grimm. He didn't know who it was, but someone important to him- no, the person before him, died.

The memories made him angry. His eyes turned a blood-red and his aura began to spike. His aura becoming hot enough to melt away the snow around him.

" _And Begin!"_

* * *

 **And that was a chapter and a half for us to write. Damn, if you guys knew what we knew… Anyway, see you in 2020 if we're not able to write another chapter of this story again!**

 **Realistically unless Gen decided to do a surprise chapter right tomorrow, or well… before New year, it won't be happening, but hey, we'll be right back in January. -CrowSkull**

 **See you next week, next month, next year and next decade!**

 **Please review and let us know what you think!**

 **T w itter . com (slash) genatools**

 **P a treon . com (slash) Genatools**


	51. Chapter 51

**Here we are for the first chapter of 2020, slowly but surely. This is actually going to be the first story that actually does the Vytal Festival and the tournament and… well, what comes after. It should be a learning experience, and I know it isn't going to be the first time nor probably the last time I wrote this particular arc.**

 **BH coming up eventually! -CrowSkull**

 **That, Destiny Fated Black, Detective Grimm, and possibly another future story if I get the lifetime to do it.**

* * *

 **Beta & Co-Writer- CrowSkull**

 **A Tale of Two Heroes**

 **Chapter 51- Round 1**

* * *

" _And Begin!"_ Oobleck yelled through the speakers.

Team BRVO moved immediately, the guy with the trident-like weapon and another with a saber, similar but slightly shorter than what Winter would use, remained in the middle while their other two teammates ran out to the sides, most likely they were planning an ambush of sorts.

"Mike, Ash!" Hector called out while pointing at the members that spread out, without hesitation in a second both Michael and Ashley ran to intercept them, all the while Hector and Reggie prepared themselves and walked toward their two other adversaries while Michael and Ashley engaged the two attempting to surround them.

"Ready?" Hector asked Reggie, he had a hard tone, but with more of a daring spirit.

"Do you even need to ask?" Reggie replied, smirking with excitement as he held his volcanic axe over his shoulder. Another second passed, and both of them began to sprint. After just a few seconds they were clashing with them. Hector had zoomed by at ridiculous speeds trying to directly superman punch his first opponent in the face, using his semblance at a low level just in case his body wasn't truly ready for its effects once again. The guy with the oversized trident noticed and backstepped, aimed at him, and from it fired three lasers that converged into one laser. Hector blocked the laser with Ivory and surged through with Ebony, both of his opponents had to work together to deflect the punch with brother their weapons. They were surprised at his strength, and they were forced apart as Hector broke through their guards and separated them. He landed far and slid against the ground, staring at them as they turned their attention to him now being several meters apart.

The guy with the trident recovered and regained his posture and was immediately attacked.

"What's up man!?" Reggie screamed as he descended on him with a powerful overhead strike. Trident boy gritted his teeth as he held the staff of his weapon above his head, barely blocking it and struggling under the metal-mans weight. The one with the saber also appeared to strike Reggie from behind with a slash, but just before the impact Reggie's back turned into metal, making the blade bounce off his skin just in time for him to leap away right as his leader came back swinging, melting the snow he stepped on and giving out a fiery aura around him. Hector forced the saber wielder away from his friend while Reggie battled the guy with the trident. He went for a couple of swings with his axe and prepared a molten downwards strike. The trident user stabbed the ground and from below came an ice formation, the axe collided with it and the resulting explosion separated both of them, along with a small explosion of steam, the guy with trident skidded back while Reggie stood atop the crater they created, he took the chance and sent a wave of fire at Mr. Trident, who appropriately dodged and fired a giant laser at him. Reggie himself blocked the laser with his axe and held it.

He blocked for a couple of seconds before the Trident guy had to stop, either do to ammo or overheating.

"You got some tricks eh?" Reggie challenged. The guy simply smirked and beckoned him with his hand as he twirled his weapon in his hand. Reggie dashed forwards and kept up his assault with wide continuous swings, moving with his own momentum and never stopping for a second, both attacking and deflecting the trusts that his opponent tried to use, he was trying to take advantage of the trident's reach and it was working. Well, as much as it would have if Reggie hadn't been able to attack and defend with his swings, but it gave him the desired breathing room.

They continued their fast-paced battle while on the other side of the middle of the arena, Hector was swinging quick punches and uppercuts and hooks to catch the guy with saber with great speed and head. He had blocked him twice, but even then the saber shook and winced with each punch blocked and by the third his weapon almost flew out of its owner's hand, the movement and opening it created was enough for Hector to slam his fist into his stomach. After feeling the air being forced out of his lungs, his opponent got pushed back and had to roll off the ground to recover. Though as soon as he stood up and cracked open one eye, Hector was already on him again. Forcing himself through the pain, he dove to the side to avoid a punch that would have made a human-sized hole in the ground with his body. He tried to counter at that moment, but Hector proved too quick. He had a second to breathe, but that second passed quickly.

From there he stopped to try to block and just deflected when necessary and dodged whatever he could. It was almost too much, all the attacks, with precise footing and good side maneuvers and dodges, Hector realized he was fighting a fencer, similar to Weiss' way of fighting. He's seen the style in action before, but wasn't an expert on its movements and wasn't going to pretend that he knew everything about every style of weaponized combat. However, he had someone that he could compare his opponent too. Robert Urra. It was much more stylish and slow, but it was something he could take reference too. One major difference was that he couldn't really keep up with his enhanced speed and strength, he didn't really have the same reflexes and even more, Hector had learned, and now he knew how to fight people like that. He wasn't the helpless boy he was at the beginning of this new adventure, not anymore.

In a flash Hector rushed him, but only reached halfway, feinting his punch with Ebony and shooting a projectile of flaming energy from it instead as he reeled it back, his opponent didn't expect it but to his credit he deflected the shot the best he could with his saber but ultimately he got caught by the follow-up liver punch that caught him hard. The saber guy rolled with the punches and kept himself in the fight as he started to take action instead of waiting for Hector to move and continue his relentless assault. He would move or jump back or to the side, avoiding Hector's punches. But despite his adaptation, Hector developed his own unpredictable way of fighting which would abuse his own speed to circle around him, always moving and always flanking him with a punch and a shockwave or dust attack from either Ebony or Ivory, the saber user became frustrated, and thus became more aggressive and tried to get at Hector with multiple fast slashes in a desperate attempt to halt his opponents momentum.

Hector blocked or backstepped himself and in one exchange he rushed past his opponent and spun around with heel kick that swept his legs out from underneath him. Tripping him into the air and sending him prone on the ground with another punch, he was about to take advantage of it but the saber rolled with a slash and caught Hector by surprise with a slash to his Aura. The first direct hit. Still, Hector wasn't that phased by it and continued to move up, he exchanged a few clashes until his opponent tried to step back, but then he grabbed him by the arm and pulled him towards him using his other arm for an elbow to the gut, continuing with a back fist and spinning around pulling him even closer for a new move, his used his Kaio Ken and the energy it had differently, he moved his palms together, heat and flame forming within them as his gauntlets enhanced his next attack

"Kaio..." He whispered as he spiraled, finishing the pull and stretching his hands into the guy's center mass, it would be a devastating hit. If it had landed.

"Ken!" He yelled, but just at that moment his opponent turned to mist and appeared several meters back. Hector widened his eyes as he took in the information. A dodging semblance, more far-reaching than Blake's it seemed though similar to Ashley's. However, the guy looked exhausted, not for using his semblance, but for all the punishment he had taken before that. A mistake, a semblance like this would have given him trouble if he was at full strength and stamina still. Hector looked over to his teammate as they both had a silent agreement to take a breather for a few seconds and soon realized that trident guy was also trying to hold Reggie back the best he could, and the initial confident sure-faced that saber guy had was replaced by a fast breathing concerned look as he realized.

' _Stallers'_ Hector thought to himself, they were just waiting for the rest of their team to pull up the rest of the plan they initially had, but they must have underestimated team HAMR by a very big longshot. They weren't in the top three of the first years for no reason after all. As much as the stallers were good, they couldn't compete with Reggie or Hector and wouldn't last much longer. Even if they were straightforward they were more skilled than some people might think, and the same came for the rest of the team if they thought that team HAMR was straightforward and would just do their own thing with how fast they moved… well, to be fair they would be right, but they knew how to work off each other now, how to turn things around and be creative when needed, and generally how to make things work. An unpredictable way of fighting, with perfectly described their leader.

"I think you underestimated us a bit too much, buddy," Hector said with a confident smile as the fiery red aura around him became fully visible. "This may sound cliche, but I'm not even going all out right now."

He couldn't hear it, but he swore he saw the lips of his opponents move along with the term 'Shit' in his voice. He hoped that his teammates would come through, because he didn't know how much longer he could hold this guy back.

Quickly he would find out, Hector was on him once again in a second after all.

' _This was a terrible idea,'_ He thought as his body shook as he blocked a punch. They were at a serious disadvantage now.

* * *

Michael had found soon enough the opponent that he was up against, he had tried to set himself up on a small snowy hill with his weapon, a curved greatsword combined with a battle rifle, it was modified and it had space for a grenade launcher, it was a good distance weapon with deadly possibilities.

' _They were going to probably try to bombard us from different angles'_ Michael thought. He used his Kusarigama and chained himself to the ground next to his opponent and pulled, almost like a grappling hook he dashed immediately towards his enemy in one swift leap. He entered with his chains spinning around at medium range just to hit the gun and prevent it from shooting in his direction, the member of Team BRVO shifted his weapon into sword form and engaged Michael, parrying and blocking the chains and blades. He moved to attack but Michael's barrage of chains kept him from making headway. Michael used only one chain to whip his defense and used the other in a wide swing, tripping him and making him fall to one knee, he rushed him in that instance, using his chains at short range in a couple of quick loops, hitting him a couple times with light attacks and then getting in close with the sickle part of his weapons, doing some quick slashes and making his opponent flip over him to gain some distance. He tried to counter but his sword couldn't really maneuver on the short-range that Michael had locked him into.

He did have one trick, however, as he landed hard on the ground he shifted his weapon and turned it back into a rifle and fired the grenade launcher directly at Michael, the explosion making him separate from him. He assumed that it was a direct hit and patted himself on the back, but quickly cursed and prepared himself to continue as the dust dissipated Michael had formed a green shield around himself. He didn't suffer any sort of damage other than a very small amount of aura being drained due to his semblance activation. To make things worse, Michael smirked at him through the shield and beckoned him to continue with his free hand. His opponent gritted his teeth and fired at him again after shifting his weapon back into its battle rifle form, the bullets bounced off the shield and after realizing it was useless he once again shifted his weapon and shot the grenade launcher. Explosions were made and dust was kicked up, and as it was going down Michael dashed right through it. His opponent firing at him and him blocking with one small shield and swing one of his Kusarigamas at the same time, blocking and attacking from his long reach.

He could tell that his fame was recognized as his opponents struggled with his chains. If it wasn't for Pyrrha's very handy semblance to control the magnetism of metal, he might have been taken a little more seriously at the beginning. With a couple of quick attacks, he struck his adversary across the thigh, chest, his arm and then wrapped his chain across his midsection, with a quick pull the member of team BRVO was pulled and swung into the air, but recovered mid-air and descended down at Michael with a downwards swing.

Michael jumped back and dodged and blocked the attacks even as his opponent became more aggressive. He ducked one attack and took it as his opportunity, he slid under him and with his chain pulled his leg, pulling him, then sickled him at short distance and made the distance again with two wide swings of his chains, his opponent barely blocked them, but got caught by a surprise third across his face. Michael closed the distance and after two quick slashes, he wrapped a chain around him, pulling him towards him, blindsided him with one of his sickles and then a combination of a pull and kick threw him into the air.

The member of team BRVO was taking a beating, but he still had his grenade launcher, but Michael stopped him with a quick tiny bubble shield, that pushed him more into the air, just to be smacked down to the floor with a heavy swing of his chain.

' _Oooh,'_ The crowd... cheered? Michael didn't particularly care about what others thought but they seemed entertained, he also didn't go too overboard. Just completely out skilled and overwhelmed his opponent. He looked at the center of the arena, a lot of snow starting to get carried and obscuring his vision, but he could see Reggie and Hector handling things well enough, and as expected Reggie was laughing as he fought. But he didn't see Ashley, but he guessed she must have been farther away with all the mounds of snow blocking his vision. There hadn't been a major plan beyond 'intercept'. But he guessed he might as well make a team regroup, and so he wrapped his chains on his still barely with Aura opponent's legs and flung him to the center of the colosseum, himself jumping right after him. His aura would be drained enough for him to be disqualified in the next attack, but if the crowd wanted to see a show, he'd give them a show he supposed.

* * *

Ashley followed her opponent across a field of white, and occasionally had to duck when they fired their guns at her. A gauss rifle with a shotgun function. This person didn't have a melee weapon like so many others she knew had, it was just a gun with multiple functions. Ashley cursed herself for deciding to go after this one, it was really not up her alley considering the fact that she had lower than average levels of aura. Also, she wasn't the best equipped for a range fight and the guy was a good shot, anytime she got close she had to jump away, lest she be blasted by a shotgun.

' _Honestly, Mike should have been the one to face this bastard…'_ Ashley thought as she took cover behind a mound of snow she hoped was dense enough to block shots, she had to think of something to make the distance, she peeked carefully, wondered how her opponent didn't see her, he was in the middle of the field looking for her. Ashley thought as she saw her hair mix in with the snow… and saw how her skin almost did the same.

" _Hm…"_ Ashley smirked as she realized he always spotted her the moment she jumped out of hiding, and now she had an idea.

Her opponent checked his gun for a second and wondered where the dog faunus had gone, but seeing as she wasn't coming out to play he decided he might as well snipe the people at the center of the stage. But just then he saw it, her blue hoodie once again going high into the sky, he instinctively shot at it. Trained reflexes made him bring his rifle up to his face and take aim, the bullet fired and pierced straight through his opponent, at first he feared that he had pierced her aura, but was confused when the hoodie flopped around by the shot and waved along with the wind until it landed gently on the ground.

"Oh, fuck." The member of team BRVO cursed right on cue, out of the field of white a nearby mound of snow exploded as Ashley barreled through it, masking her movements with the snow and finally getting a good hit with her dual blades, several in fact. She started by sliding and kicking his leg, making him fall and be a momentary victim of several slashes of her swords, he aimed his gun and shot a shotgun blast to get her away from him but she backflipped to avoid the shot, almost fading in with the snow if it wasn't for her darker colored pants, it was enough for her to loop back around into the mist of white and attack him from another direction.

He once again got faked out as Ashley kicked up more snow, faking a run in, and then jumping from the other side, striking his back and doing a flying roundhouse to the side of his head. It knocked him down but the guy quickly recovered and started to shoot his shotgun in all directions in desperate hope of landing a single shot on her, all to no avail, he just ended up wasting ammo. Ashley moved closer as she dodged the hail fire of pellets and this time her opponent didn't have time to notice and turn his weapon to shoot at her, but he hid did have precious seconds to respond, he blocked her blades with his forearms and tried to force her back, but Ashley disengaged one her blades and used it to slash at his midsection, the guy winced tried to hit her back and to restrain her hands, Ashley kicked him twice on the side before he got a hold of her wrist. But Ashley used her own weight. Dropping down and flipping the guy over her and freeing her other blade.

She used with a couple of quick strikes and got her opponent across the head, he was dizzy and losing the grip on her wrist, she freed herself and slashed with both blades, striking his legs, then sides and once downwards across the chest, her foe attacked using the weapon he had as a club instead of a firearm and swinging wildly, it was clear that he didn't train how to fight without his weapon. Ashley ducked and blocked the attack, once she restrained the gun, she did one more barrage of quick slashes and finished it with a kick to his knee and flying flipping kick to his head. It knocked him away and separated them, he was almost in the red percentage of aura, but he was still kicking. Ashley was definitely better than him at the close-up and personal game, but she still didn't want to find out what a shotgun or gauss shot would do to her if he got a good shot on her body.

His opponent got way faster than she thought, he, in fact, rolled with her kick and immediately shot at her, in that time, in that fracture of time she felt it would be all or nothing. So she used her semblance for the first time this fight. She used it sparingly just to get out of the line of fire and close to him again, appearing as a streak of white and blue as she dodged the bullets easily as if they were stuck in slow motion. Her opponent looked almost panicked when he barely saw the moving blur move almost in an instant behind him, closing the distance once more in less than a second. Ashley felt like Ruby would have been proud of her, or jealous. She slashed at his legs, and feinted an attack his side, only to have a blade instead thrust into his face. His Aura protected him but that meant that his aura was all about done. She took a glance at the gauges, only to see that he still had a few percent left to play around with.

She kneed him on the stomach, and with four quick slashes and three kicks to his side and stomach made go closer to the middle of the arena, he managed to get separated from her enough for one final gauss rifle shot, an all or nothing attack. But once again she became a White-blue trace and moved behind him, he didn't understand how she was so fast, she looked exhausted before, but now enough she was kicking his ass. He never seen a semblance like hers before, no matter what he did or how fast his shots were, and he _knew_ they were fast, he was the one to design them himself, it just wasn't fast enough for her. With a heel kick to the side of his knee and then a one scissor slash to push him into the center of the arena, the slam to it knocked his aura beyond the red.

" _Oooh there goes Mister Orion, and now only two members of team BRVO are still standing, think they'll pull through Bart?"_ Port said through the speakers.

" _Well if they want to they better stand up fast, they are looking sluggish at the moment and if they don't do something quickly they will face complete annihilation!"_ Oobleck replied.

Ashley then looked to the center of the arena and saw how Michael was already there, his opponent defeated and only Hector's and Reggie's remaining. She felt a drop sweat running by the side of her head due to her semblance. She probably could use it one or two more times, but she was still strong enough to join them in the middle. They still had their entire team together, and they seemed to outmatch their opponents by a decently sized margin. Honestly, if it were allowed she was sure just Hector and Michael could have done well enough on their own. But she wouldn't tell them that, they could figure it out themselves and she got to boast about how she beat her guy before her leader did.

* * *

Hector pushed his opponent back with a shockwave to the ground and got him closer to the oversized trident guy, which he assumed to be the leader of the opposing team. Now they were fighting a more proper two versus two. They both looked out of breath, but their auras still held, they were very good stallers, but even that wasn't enough. Their plan fell apart very soon when Hector saw another member of Team BRVO arrive, slamming down into the center of the arena, his aura dropping into the red and nearly to zero. He was followed by Michael, who rolled his shoulders and nodded to him as Oobleck went on to announce his opponent's defeat. Then almost right after that, the other member of Team BRVO came from a different direction, already unconscious. Soon enough, Ashley joined them, she looked tired but as far as her aura went, she still had about half left, if not a little less.

Now their opponents looked both defeated and scared, they still maintained their fighting stance, there would be no forfeits.

"Oh, you guys are here, awesome. Now, are we ending this with the team HAMR special?" Reggie asked all of them.

"We have a team HAMR special?" Ashley asked.

"I actually think we don't," Michael said. Hector thought for a couple of seconds, and then an idea came to his head.

"Well guys, I think we are about to make one, we launch, and then we toss," Hector said, with hand gestures going to the directions of their opponents, and then back at them. They discussed Launch and Toss before, but they never actually have done them.

"Just that?" Michael asked.

"Okay, golf ball too,"

"Oh, we are going hard, I love this!" Reggie shouted, they got information and in a second they were executing their maneuver. What remained of Team BRVO tried to stop them, but they were only two people. The one who has been mentally dubbed 'trident guy' used his semblance and launched what could be called a sonic bomb in their direction and the one dubbed 'saber guy' tried to rush them. Michael made a shield around all of them, protecting them from the booming explosive sound.

Using that as their cue, they began the launch phase. Hector grabbed Ashley by the forearm and Reggie jumped in a tiny bubble shield made by Michael. The next second passed and Hector threw Ashley and Michael propelled Reggie towards their opponents.

"Yeeehaw!" Reggie yelled at the top of his lungs. He was launched at the saber guy while Ashley was sent towards the trident guy, the saber user vanished in a cloud of mist and Reggie flew past him, the saber guy thought he avoided everything but the Michael rushed him and pushed him back towards the trident guy.

While this was happening, Hector hung back and focused, charging up his power as he prepared to finish the fight. Right when he felt as if he was about ready, something itched in the back of his mind. He knew this feeling, the cold of the snow, the burning cold at the tips of his limbs, it made him remember something. Though he clearly remembered that he was never in a snowy area as vast as this before, he still remembered. It may not have been his, but it still affected him. He couldn't tell who it was, a dark-haired person, was bleeding out on the ground in the arms of one of their allies. He remembered being sad, feeling helpless, with all the power he had he still wasn't able to save her…

His eyes opened and they were a crimson red. His flames burned hot and his aura melted away the snow around him to such an extent that he felt his feet touch the actual floor of the arena itself.

As this went on, Ashley worked her best, she locked the trident with her swords and kicked her opponent in the face while flying, he didn't go down but Ashley flipped over him, and sliced his back, making him turn. While he was staggering, Michael used his chains to hold the saber of his enemy in place, he used his sickle to cut at him twice and used his chain in an uppercut swing, letting go of the saber and pushing him to Reggie, who batted him with his axe towards the guy with the trident. Ashley used her sword to lock the trident again, and then a wild idea formed in her head and before she knew it she was running up and proceeded to drop-kick the guy in the chest, strongly enough to disarm him, and make him fly and collide mid-air with his teammate.

They didn't fall, after a brief moment of confusion they realized they were both in a bubble shield made by Michael, the shield held them up and Reggie moved closer to them, they realized they were about to be batted again inside this ball they were in, saber guy tried to use his semblance to escape but he couldn't get out, his semblance wasn't teleportation exactly, there were limits to it. He was trapped. Reggie moved in and with a massive swing and sent the ball towards Hector, who had been all this time readying up his semblance.

As soon as the shield came close, flames erupted from Hector, purely red flames. He forced his palm into the ground and an explosion came from below him, it partially shattered the ground and push the shield ball into the air in a sea of flames, Hector then flew out of the flames in jump and lined himself above the ball to punch it straight down.

"Kaio Ken!" Hector yelled with just the right amount of rage.

"Kaio- wha-" The saber guy tried to say before Hector punched the ball into the wall of the arena, the ball itself flew by in the blink of an eye, it smashed himself on the wall and disappeared, it protected the people inside, but they still were out of the arena and completely dizzy and out of aura. Like the rest of their team they were defeated, and all without taking out a single member of the opposing team.

' _And with that explosive finish, Team HAMR moves to the doubles round!'_ Oobleck said while the crowd cheered. It was quite the show after all.

Hector huffed and shut his eyes, making himself calmer so that it could be easier to shut down his semblance. He heard the crowd gasp as Reggie proceeded to round up Michael and dip him, then kissed him. The blonde boy pushed his boyfriend away with a furious red blush, but it was clear that he wasn't angry about it. After chuckling a little bit, Ashley walked up to him, still tired and flushed from all the fighting, and nodded to her.

He gave her the high five she offered, but couldn't help but feel like something was off. They won the fight, his team and friends were happy and cheering, but the fact that _nothing went wrong_ was oddly nerve-wracking for him. It may have just been him being paranoid, but it was for good reason.

Whatever it was, and whenever it happened. He and Robert played their parts. Ozpin and Ironwood were much more prepared than they were in the original time. They knew what was going to happen, so that meant that everything should be okay. Or at least he that was what he told himself.

Ashley grabbed his arm and snapped him out of it before he could think about it any further, they were already congratulated and they had to get off the stage now. Right, Hector let her pull him away. He still had the rest of the tournament to worry about, and while he was down here, he knew the ones he trusted were going to keep this kingdom safe.

* * *

Pyrrha felt… odd, she didn't know how to describe or explain it. Thankfully, after the transfer process was completed, she didn't become a different person as she feared. Instead, it was more like feelings, emotions, the things that made up a person mentally. She was still herself and she still had all of her memories but she felt older. Like she's seen things and knew what they were as if she lived with them her whole life.

She felt fear when she first walked out, then she felt the odd sense of satisfaction of feeling alive, she soon realized those must have been Amber's emotions after Ozpin brought up the theory. After that certain things spiked certain emotions, at first her teammates made her feel a bit of caution, but very quickly it turned into a nice warm feeling as she- _her?_ Grew fond of them, certain food spiked some interest, and fights… fights both made her feel more powerful, and also scared and reserved.

She had been told how Amber had been ambushed, and she assumed part of Amber still felt afraid of something happening to her, she could also tell her to remain calm, her own emotions seemed to calm Amber's emotions when these things happened, and in return, Amber's emotions became a sort of instinctive guide on how her new powers worked. There were also times when Amber was quiet, Pyrrha didn't know if those emotions knew that they weren't exactly alive, but sometimes they lied dormant, now was one of those times, and she wasn't proud of it but she felt scared. Knowing that Beacon was most likely going to be attacked, that Vale could be attacked, and that she had been meant to die… it made her feel paranoid.

"Are you alright Pyrrha?" A voice asked her, Robert's voice. Ever since she had gotten the powers of the Maiden, she had need to practice a bit to control them properly, Ozpin himself was very busy lately, but other than him Miss Goodwitch and by extension Mister Urra, they were some of the best users of semblances in terms of control in Beacon, and Miss Goodwitch knew a lot with her time spent with Ozpin. She knew how to guide her while Robert helped. Their training session had ended and now she was about to leave, her team, after all, was going to enjoy part of the festival, but she didn't know if she could enjoy the festival when it in itself was in such danger.

"I… I don't know, I feel like, that may be the festival should be postponed or canceled or warned or…" the words failed her.

"I know," Robert sighed. "I feel the same, I even asked the same but… the moment that happens people will rile up, their negativity might not be enough, but it would be all that _they_ need to start a different kind of chaos, one we might not be able to predict." Robert said sadly, putting a hand on her shoulder. "At least with everyone here on Amity and in the festival, they're all in one spot and we can protect them much with much more ease than if they were scattered all throughout Vale."

"We're stuck then," Somehow she knew Amber agreed with her. "we are in a constant worry of what might happen and even then we don't know exactly what they will do or how, we are-" Pyrrha felt like continuing, but Robert stopped her.

"Pyrrha, listen to me, yes we are not in an ideal situation, but we are not as bad as you might think. I know you are afraid and I know we haven't been the best with you telling you so late, forcing you to make a choice and… well…" Robert struggled with his words. "Well, you what would have happened. But I want you to listen to me this, okay?" Robert asked, she nodded.

"In that future, nobody knew what was going to happen, it was a surprise attack that caught everyone by surprise, but this time it's different, we know we are in danger, we have taken steps to avoid people dying, we have the entire force of Vale, it's Huntsman and more in guard, all of you have also improved tremendously, from almost a year I have seen all of you improve in the ring and become better fighters. We have Hector, Ozpin, General Ironwood, and his entire fleet… me, and I would like to say we also have you. You didn't have the Maiden powers in that future, but now you do… When I said that your future is now your own, I meant it, you are not predetermined to die, or to be any different from before… you just are able to use magic now." He explained the best he could, knew his explanation had a few issues on his mind, but it was still true that they were more prepared than originally. Much more prepared.

"I know…" Pyrrha felt Amber's confusion, of course, she didn't know everything that happened before or now, but with her memories, she was able to piece it together. "I heard that Team HAMR won their fight, as did RWBY."

"You did too," Robert was quick to change the topic with her. "Good job with that, they never stood a chance."

"I… used my powers on accident," Pyrrha admitted guiltily.

"We noticed," Robert chuckled. "Don't worry about it, Glynda said that the powers would be like your semblance, just another weapon for you to use. The official story is that you started dabbling with dust and it didn't mix well with your semblance. And before you ask, yes it would have ended pretty much the same way if you had not become the maiden."

"I see," Pyrrha looked like she was relieved at that. "Is it okay if we stop training today?"

Robert raised an eyebrow. "I guess, why though? Do you have somewhere to be?"

"Well, I um…" Pyrrha's face went red. "I wanted to do something, with someone, before something happens… Is that okay?"

He was confused at first, but after realizing just who this someone was, he nodded his head with understanding."Hmm, I see. Can I give you advice?"

"Please."

"First, just take it calmly, remember I told you we don't know the future, don't take it as doing something to do before… possible scenarios, that would be wasting what you feel and what it means to you, do it as something else to fight for. And take it from the guy that was too much of a coward for relationships on his own world in multiple ways, you are doing great, you are actually acting upon it, and Jaune… he's a better person than most, better than me, I'm pretty sure he would give you a chance. Regardless of what happens, he's been a pretty amazing friend I assume, so just enjoy it. You have pretty good chances if you ask me." Robert finished his awkward advice. Mostly awkward because he did stumble on a couple of words.

Pyrrha looked at Robert, she was thankful for his support and advice, but she also was embarrassed about the whole idea, he had called her brave and that it was the right thing to do, but she didn't feel brave, just nervous, but she also admitted to be happy too, excited at the idea, and if she just tried to enjoy it, she actually could, she was afraid, but she wanted to just live her life far more, regardless of what was happening, her friends and the rest of the people of Remnant, she wanted to fight for them, but also to enjoy their company… Amber seemed to agree as well.

"Do you really think I have a chance?"

"He is dense, but his crush on Weiss is more or less over and if you are direct, I think you do,"

"Right… and should I tell him about…?" The obvious question she didn't speak lingered.

"Hmm… Ozpin and the rest might not like that idea, but if you ask me, I think you should tell him before they tell you otherwise." Robert's smirk told her that he would keep a secret, Pyrrha found herself more comfortable suddenly. She didn't know him very well, still didn't honestly, but save for Hector he was just about the only other person near her age who even has an idea about what is really happening with the world, and with her.

"I think it's time I go then," She said, politely smiling as she moved away. "Thank you for your comradery, Mister Urra-"

"Please, just call me Rob. Mister Urra just sounds way too formal for me."

"Robert, then." Pyrrha continued. "Thank you."

"No problem," Satisfied with their conversation, Robert let the maiden go. Ozpin or Glynda may have some words with him later about it, but Pyrrha wasn't some criminal or some object that they needed to constantly look after. She was her own person, and if she wanted to go after her crush before shit hits the fan, then she was damn welcome too.

"I see training has ended," Glynda said to him. Robert visibly cringed, that was right, Glynda was nearby, she was the one teaching Pyrrha after all.

"For today, yeah." He said.

"And I see you went out of your way to offer her advice," Glynda stated.

"I feel it's the right thing to do," Robert said, and he had that look Glynda saw very rarely on him, one that signified that he truly would stand for what he was thinking in the given instance. Glynda herself agreed in a way.

"Well I will trust your judgment, just don't put too much hope on her heart, if she likes someone of her team, any fallout, even if we all survive this could be… unpleasant, and not everyone can handle those situations maturely." Glynda said, experience clearly shows.

"She still has to try first and staying quiet is even worse in my view," Robert said.

"Because that's what you did," Glynda said. Robert groaned, she wasn't wrong, he had admitted this multiple times. "Even so I'm glad you are trying to reassure her, I just wish that you also did what you preached and managed to at least sleep well." Glynda pointed out.

"It's easier said than done…" Rober sighed, it was true, he wasn't sleeping well, he always on edge, expecting an attack at four in the morning and during the day he was constantly patrolling the stadium, looking for any sign of tampering or of any of their enemies, sometimes he patrolled with Seth, but most of the time he spent just watching, and waiting.

"Maybe, but we need you in top shape, there are plenty of people guarding the colosseum and Vale, you should take breaks, that is what rotations are for after all,"

"I'll try to do something else," Robert replied.

"No, you will, because during this time you'll do two things. First, we are gonna fix your fear of water." Glynda proclaimed.

"It has gotten better!" He rebuked.

"But not enough for you try and actually learn how to control it, you are afraid of not controlling you semblance, I gave you a solution," She said louder to him.

"That involves targets and you in a puddle of water and me trying to direct the lightning currents to specific points… it's dangerous!" Robert protested.

"I have Aura, and I can protect myself, you are just afraid," Glynda said, and Robert didn't answer, he knew she was right, and he knew that he didn't have an excuse, not a valid one at that, and he was also smart enough to know that the keeping guard excuse won't work.

"Fine," Robert said, sounding defeated.

"Good, and as for the second," Glynda said, leaving her sentence there on purpose.

"The second?" Robert asked.

"You are going to participate in the professional demonstration fights, if nothing else, you will test your skills and relieve some stress while you are at it." Glynda also proclaimed. And Robert's eyes widened.

"Ah… wait I am going to... wait what?!"

* * *

"Huh?" Jaune's face looked confused, but behind him, Ren and Nora smirked in utter satisfaction as they watched the scene before them unfold. "You want to go to Vale?"

"Yes," Pyrrha said, face burning with red. She couldn't believe she was doing this. "I want you to go to Vale with me, maybe we can watch a movie or something. I just want to spend time with you," Green eyes looked down but she steeled her will to keep going, she had to do this. "Just… you and me, together."

"Oh-" Jaune finally realized what was being asked of him and his face too became red. Nora laughed hysterically. "Y-you mean… you're asking me out on a… a date?" He stuttered.

"..." Pyrrha nodded her head, more embarrassed than she has ever been before. Finding her team was easy, they were in the stands with Team RWBY and they just got finished watching Team CFVY fight in their match. They won, of course, a second-year team had more training time, experience, and skill than any team beneath them. The team they went against were good, but they were simply outmatched. She was quick to pull her team apart for a 'talk', as she simply put it. But Ren and Nora quickly figured out what she intended to do when she took Jaune by his hands and pulled him to the side. She would have liked it if it were him taking the lead, and confessing that he like- _liked_ her, but there wasn't any more time for her to wait.

"Oh," Jaune laughed nervously. He couldn't scratch his face like he wanted to with his hands currently being grabbed by Pyrrha's, but it was clear that he was just as embarrassed, if not more, than she was.

If it wasn't for Amber's emotions giving her some kind of confidence boost, she feared she would have passed out.

"Y-you can say no if you want," Pyrrha stammered out after a moment. "You aren't obligated to me, I'd just-"

"Sure," Jaune shockingly nodded his head and gave his best awkward smile. "Why not… I mean, I don't see any reason to say no and I had this feeling that you kept looking at me sometimes and Nora keeps laughing when I ask her and Ren just _looks_ at me as if the answer should be obvious."

"Because it really is, Jaune." Ren finally spoke up. "If you'd just thought about it for more than a second, you would have been able to figure it out yourself."

"Er…" Jaune did think about it, he really did. He went back to the time he first met Pyrrha, and ran through the events that corresponded after that. Pyrrha saved him and became his partner, very quickly. He was only hanging there on that tree for a few minutes before Pyrrha found him. Then after initiation, he didn't notice then because he kept trying to win over Weiss, but Pyrrha, the champion of Mistral, offered to train him. _Him!_ He just thought it was because they were partners and everything, but then they trained alone, on a rooftop, at night, with no one around, and he could have sworn he heard her gasp every time he brushed against her when they weren't training.

One thing after another, Jaune finally pieced it all together. Pyrrha stood there as the confidence slowly grew more and more exciting, he finally got it, he finally understood.

"You have a crush on me…?" He finally asked.

"Oh my God, YES!" Nora answered before Pyrrha could even open her mouth. "Jaune, are you kidding me? She's liked you since the beginning! You were just too _dumb_ to see it. Now if I have to keep letting Ren hold me back I am going to smash your faces together and force you to kiss! Go, Go!" She began to push Jaune and Pyrrha toward the docking station. "Go on your date! Now!"

"O-Okay!" Jaune and Pyrrha answered in unison. Once Nora stopped pushing them, Pyrrha grabbed Jaune's hand and with her newfound confidence, pretty much dragged him to the nearest line to get on the next Bullhead down to Vale.

"It's about time," Ren commented as his partner stomped back up to him. "I was starting to wonder when she was going to make her move."

"I know right!" Nora exclaimed. "How can men be so dense?"

"Truly, it is a mystery," Ren said. "That troubles of young love I suppose, if only Pyrrha had simply confessed earlier this would have happened much sooner. A shame, really."

"Yeah… a shame…" Nora glared at her long-time partner. "If only it was that easy… not like I practically scream it at you every two seconds."

"What was that?"

"Nothing Ren!" Nora chirped and grabbed Ren by the arm. "C'mon, let's get back to the others! Haha!"

Ren sighed. Women were so odd to him, and no matter what he did, he could never understood them or their motives.

* * *

 **And everyone lived happily ever after… Pfft, yeah, like it's going to be that easy. Still got some more fighting to go, but for the ones that don't change I am not going to write the entire scene down, if you want to see the other fights that were mentioned you can go on youtube and watch them for yourself. I know that watching a fight that's animated go down is much better than reading it all.**

 **Please review and let us know what you think!**

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